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Saga of a torn CV boot Posted by John Fitzgerald [Email]  (#77)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from John Fitzgerald) on Mon, 8 Sep 2008 10:42:53
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Last week, while underneath the '97 Aero [fixing a leaking windshield washer reservoir - both the Aero and my son's CSE needed a bit of Auto Goop] I did my usual glancing around ... and whoa! the driver's side outer CV boot was not only cracked pretty bad, but had furiously slung out lots of grease all over the fender liner, strut, lower A-arm, etc. Ok, guess we're not driving this car for a few days.
So, onto eEuroparts.com for a new boot kit. In many years of Saab work, this is one job I've always farmed out to others. Done my share of water pumps, heater cores [3], alternators and other semi-nasty jobs, but never a CV boot. So I decided to give it a shot. Ordered a crimper tool and a 'axle puller' [actually a pusher] to get the splined hub out of the wheel bearing, as well as the boot kit.
So, Saturday, the tools were all laid out, along with a few pages of notes from Quasi's website http://www.quasimotors.com/cv_boot_replacement.htm
and the Haynes manual. My 9000 Saab dealer manual makes it sound pretty easy to slide apart the outer joint, while holding a 'circlip' apart with a snap-ring pliers. Quasi's site suggests taking the whole axle out to work on it outside the car. Nah, I'm thinking. I don't have to fool around with getting a crimping tool in a pretty tight space to clamp the inner boot if I just take apart the outer joint with the inner in place.
Well, after a couple of hours of trying [and it really helps to have an extra pair of hands to hold/tug/pull ... and by the way, a well-intentioned eight year-old daughter isn't quite up to the task] I gave up on the whole 'in the car' idea. Pried up and snipped off the inner boot clamp to take the whole axle onto the workbench. Only thing: the outer joint still won't come apart.
This is the factory axle, although I'm pretty sure the boot was replaced. All I can think of is the note on the axle assembly [complete] at the eEuroparts site:
"This axle assembly is not designed to be serviced once installed. The axle assembly must be replaced once worn out. The individual components for this axle are not available separately."
Hmmmm. Surely it can't be for a torn boot, as well? So I drove over to a friend's garage - he teaches auto shop at a local vocational college. He smiled, we put it in a huge vise, and I held the snap ring apart while he took a brass drift and a big hammer. Well, little chunks of brass flew all over [while I squinted, since my safety glasses were safely at home] but the outer joint just sat there, frozen. He didn't have a torch at his home, and by this point, after some pretty prolonged hammering [including my own efforts at home] I wasn't too excited about a) trying to clean all the brass shavings out of the joint and b) what we might be doing to the bearing surfaces, splines, etc.
So I'm back to the web, ordering a complete new axle assembly. Next time, IF I don't just hand it off to someone else, I'll go straight for the inner and take the whole thing out. My back, knees and shoulders are getting too old for the 'fix it in the car' method.
John
Burlington, Wisc
'73 96 RHD sold after four years in Middle Barton, Oxfordshire, UK
'80 99 sold after 20 years/192,000mi
'86 9kT sold after 12 years/approx 121,000 mi
'87 9kT sold after 9 years/approx 174,000
'97 CSE 225,000
'97 Aero 154,300
and a couple of 'non-Saabs':
'01 Suburban 94,xxx
'03 BMW 330 Cic 23,000
_______________________________________ John Burlington, Wisc '73 96 RHD sold after four years in Middle Barton, Oxfordshire, UK '80 99 bought new, sold after 20 years/192,000mi '86 9kT picked up at Trollhatten, sold after 12 years/approx 121,000 mi '87 9kT sold after 9 years/approx 174,000 mi '94 CSE given to my son after 8 years @ 245k; he sold it at 254k mi '95 Aero 146,xxx mi sold '98 CSE 248,xxx mi gave it away '97 Aero 317,xxx mi my daughter’s school car … gave away [we put 300k mi on it] still driving: '97 CSE 170xxx mi 'project car' for myself and my daughters to drive '07 9-3 2.0T 240xxx '08 9-5 191xxx mi my wife's daily driver and a couple of 'non-Saabs': '01 Suburban 201,xxx mi '03 BMW 330 Cic 84,xxx mi '14 Mercedes E350 103,xxx mi
, Mon, 8 Sep 2008 10:42:53 <-- Viewing This Message
, Mon, 8 Sep 2008 11:40:20, Tue, 9 Sep 2008 19:32:58, Tue, 9 Sep 2008 05:51:42
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