Replace boot on FWD CV joint, or replace halfshaft?

[92saturnsl2]

It's not the same thing to think in terms of yours becomes a reman, because if you catch a boot failure early on, yours doesn't have any wear yet, while the reman is likely to have more wear, components that just didn't fall below the threshold that the reman required.

This pretty much sums up why I want to fix my OEM part. I'm willing to guess that the vast majority of CV joint/halfshaft cores turned in have been run dry where they were clunking / making noise before the owner noticed and replaced it. And a decent percentage of those likely drive with the clunking until the last possible mile.

The existing axle is smooth as glass, I'd like to keep it that way instead of swapping with an unknown part; my experience with reman CV axles tells me that. It's a spare car, so I have time on my side.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Got the axle out no problem. Getting the inner CV apart was as simple as removing boot clamps, cutting the boot off, and pulling it apart. Required two simple hand tools (flat tip screwdriver and box cutter) and very little effort to separate it by hand. Once I got it apart, removing a C-clip allowed the tripod assembly to slide off the shaft with zero drama.

Internals look good. Seeing all those small needle(?) bearings inside the rollers, I can see plenty of opportunity for Chinese parts to be inferior / substandard. The choice was ~$50 per axle plus shipping for new Chinese axles, or $75 per side for OEM Mopar boots. I chose the latter.

These types of threads are why I keep going back to BITOG. I really appreciate everyone's input and the wealth of info and links provided.

 

[92saturnsl2]

The Mopar boots finally arrived, I have one side assembled. Wasn't difficult, but a messy job. The new boot is plastic (like the outers) instead of the original one which was rubber.

Putting the new clip on that secures the tripod was the hardest part; need to align it just right and tap it down with a light hammer. For the boot clamp, I used a nail puller (pictured) which has worked great for these style clamps in the past. They're plenty tight and not going anywhere.

Ended up having to pull the whole shaft / carrier bearing on the pass side, the halfshaft would not budge off it while in the car. Once I got the assembly off the car, it freed up no problem with a few hammer taps. No big deal, I'm going to replace the axle shaft seals while I'm there.