Driveshaft "half-shaft" replacement advice?

[Alex Funkhouser]

While rotating my tires over the weekend I noticed my passenger side half-shaft inner CV boot is torn.

Per Michael Taylor's advice, I'd like to get it addressed as soon as I can.

My question is this, is a half shaft replacement necessary, or would it be easier to use a boot repair kit?

Also if I'm pulling the half-shaft I'm assuming I'll lose a little bit of fluid and might as well flush the transmission while I'm in there simply for age sake. Would I be correct in assuming this?

Any other info, tips I should take into account before attempting?

Thanks guys!

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

[M-Pressive]

I’m sure about the boot or full replacement. I am sure someone will chime in.

If you do the whole piece make sure you get a special replacement one from rock auto. You will also need an oem circlip. I get them on eBay.

No fluid will leak out if you replace the whole piece.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LUNAT1C]

Fluid replacement --> No worries about fluid leaking out, but if yours is old anyway, now is as good a time as any to replace it regardless. Do the differential fluid while you're there. Mine was done 6 years/20k ago and I might do it again next year just because of age, even though I "whoopsed" during my trans cooler line repair this year and had to replace a few quarts. Literal horror show on my garage floor, in case you're wondering what forgetting to reattach a trans line looks like...

Replace boot or whole shebang --> Whole shebang. You don't know how long it has been torn, so I would expect dust and dirt and water and grime has got in there, not to mention the grease is gone now and it has been driven without grease for who knows how long. There is a slim chance replacing the boot would be fine, and a larger chance you'll be pulling it out a second time to replace the bad shaft in a few months. Like Keith said, OEM circlip only, the aftermarket ones are no good and the shaft will slip right out while driving.

Replacement parts --> Get refurb units, NOT new aftermarket. I went through three aftermarket shaft assemblies (one of them ripped a boot after two years) and always had an issue where the car would "thunk" badly when switching between reverse and drive. As if that change in direction had a ton of slop. Not sure if that was inherit in all assemblies from poor quality or because they were really for base cars and they offered the same unit for base and Special (they're not the same, shaft diameter and spline count are different), but I replaced both sides with refurbished Special units from A1-Cardone (Rockauto), and the issues disappeared. A1-Cardone Special halfshaft assemblies, refurbished OEM units.

Additional note on the refurbs: Measure the shaft diameter when you get it in and confirm it's correct. Special is thicker than base. Having that diameter isn't really important, mainly you want to ensure the refurb unit is a factory OEM Special half shaft and not a refurbished aftermarket unit. I asked them if they had a way of guaranteeing it was a factory unit and they were honest in saying they really don't know for certain if it's factory or aftermarket, they refurbish what gets sent back to them as cores. I rolled the dice and luckily both sides that I received were correct. I didn't send my aftermarket ones back, in an effort to keep them out of circulation. They hit the trash when we moved last year.

[FIREM]

Swap the assembly as previously noted. Boot kits not worth the effort. Outer stub usually not a problem to get out. PB Blaster and some persuasion without damaging the threads works.
Inner can be another story so start there.
Once it releases it can easily go back in place so get it to cooperate before taking anything else apart.
Rotate and tap, rotate and tap, rotate and tap, finesse may get it to release. Gradually tap harder as needed. ( I have had 2 that never came off) Some have had to go to extreme brute force to get it off.