was under my car this past weekend and noticed it is torn now i need to take care of this. can i just replace the boot and re grease? or do i have to do the whole shebang?
if the grease looks good, no dirt/rocks/sticks, you should be fine with just replacing the boot. but it can be a pain, and is easier just to replace the axle.
axel is more expensive too i dont hear any clunks from it some on other forums HATE reman axels any preferences? i wanna just do the boot less expensive
I did a replacement axle, but also bought a new boot kit. There was just a pinhole tear in the boot, and now I have a spare.
I rebooted my axle because I caught it right away (cause it went 2 days after putting new wheels on) but, I've heard ok things about empi axles available online. I personally would reboot it ONLY if your confident you caught it early enough. Its a dirty job though!
IMO, if you can remove the axle, you can rebuild it. The cost difference, even if you buy the couple extra tools, cleaners, towels, etc. is considerable. I have had 100% failure rate on every remanufactured (either A1 Cardone or Napa) axle I've used within a year. They are absolute garbage. Lifetime warranty doesn't mean they'll last a lifetime. It just means their profit margin is so much, they can afford to give you a new one every year until you sell the car or get fed up and buy a real part. I know EMPI does good work, but I heard a rumor that they were going out of business, or at least not making axles any more. Also, Subaru remanufactures stuff, I'm sure that's excellent quality. Most parts stores offer brand-new axles (I work at AutoZone, and I'm very tempted to give the Duralast Gold new axles a try). No matter how you do it, getting a quality replacement axle is probably going to cost $100 at the VERY least. I have taken some pretty nasty axles that have been run with torn boots for a long time, and cleaned the sand and grime out of them, put some fresh grease and boots on them, and had them last years. Boot kits are getting harder to find, as the customer base of people who are willing to do the work is getting smaller. But they are still around. My write-up on the job. This is like 4 years old, so the prices are more now, but the process is still accurate: http://mnsubaru.com/threads/axle-shaft-rebuild.26725/
okay it looks quite involved but doable for me i will replace the boot only following his write up is the what i need only? http://www.carid.com/2004-subaru-wrx-cv-joints/ p.s. how long did it take? is it an hour? afternoon? day? weekend? its my dd
When I did mine, I called morries minnetonka for a rebuilt axle and I beleive they were 140 or so? I was gonna go that route but they only had rebuilts for 06 and under. +1 for what chux said. I've heard of stock axles with clicking cv joints outlasting a remanufactured axle.
This was my first axle job, it took me about 3-4 hours. Do both boots while you have your axle out though. Later models have a male end that goes into the transmission or differential. Be very careful to pull the axle straight out (and back in) so you don't damage the seal (start leaking tranny fluid). I believe 04s have the female end in which you have to tap out the pin. I may be wrong though. Just start playing around with google and youtube that's what I did.
I can probably do an axle replacement/rebuild, in my driveway, with my tools, in 2 hours, tops. Certainly less than an hour in a nice shop with all the right tools at hand. The first time I did it, it only took me an hour or so to rebuild the axle. And that was without the snapring pliers.... If you've never done an axle, I would probably leave a whole day, just in case something holds you up.
And have an alternate means of transportation to get the thing you forgot or didn't know you'll need.
