CV boots - the easy way
 

A couple of years ago I had to replace the CV boots on my 2000 S, so I followed the Porsche/Bentley instructions which say to pop the two ball joints on each side of the rear suspension. Even using the proper tool, it was a pain, and I ended up ripping at least one of the boots on the ball joints. To top it off, with the joints separated, you still really have to muscle things around to get enough clearance to get the splined end out of the hub and pull the half-shaft.
Today, I started doing the same job on another car. After having a look, I decided to drop the catalytic converters and see how much space that gave me. Bingo! the shafts came out, no problem, without ANY suspension disassembly. Less than half the time, less than half the work.
I know the CV boots are an issue on our cars...hope this helps someone else get the job done a little easier.
Cheers

My car is currently in the shop getting a 3.6 in it and the CV boots are torn. I did notice the car was a tiny bit difficult to turn at low speeds, would that have caused it you think?

Yup, j.fro... it can actually be done by just loosening and dropping the exhaust down on the driver's side. I did a writeup on this forum a couple of years ago. I didn't have the special ball joint tool, and another forum member had just done his in his garage. He pointed me in the right direction. Pulling both cats would certainly give you plenty of room.

I'm doing a CV boot replacement right now. The passenger's side rear was torn. I've read that the passenger's side is easier to do than the driver's side. I also didn't take any of the suspension apart, but I also didn't drop the cats (Boxster 2000 S). I dropped the two aluminum braces that are a part of the rear sub-frame and I dropped the aluminum stress plate. This gave me enough clearance to drop the axle below the transmission as I pulled/pushed it out of the hub. No problems... Now I haven't put it back in yet though, so I'm not sure if that's still relatively easy or not. :p

Kirk

Wow! That's great that you were able to get the half-shaft out without any more dissassembly than that. Both my own car and the one I'm working on now didn't have enough room.

It's an angle of attack thing... jacking up the wheel carrier gives you more room and a better angle to get the axle past the diff and in / out of the car. Otherwise it will hit the diff and will not come out easily.

Ahhh...there's the difference. I didn't jack up the wheel carrier.

Thanks Jack! You are correct, I did jack up the wheel carrier to get the axle at the right angle to slip under the transmission.

Kirk

So i guess there isnt a difference on how hard it is to turn the steering wheel when the cv boots are torn? :confused:

I don't know why it would. If the CV is going bad you get a groan from the rear when turning and possibly grit from having the boots allow it in. This could be felt especially if the joints are really bad.

"CV boots - the easy way"

Actually, the really easy way is to drive the car to Hans and give him the keys and tell him to take care of it.

But since I am now flat broke and still a porsche owner, your information is going to be very handy one day.

Thank you so much for this!

Nope... the CV boots are on the half shafts or axles that drive the car, two on each half shaft (inside and outside CV joints). The Boxster is RWD, so there are only CV joints in the rear. I had no problem with the steering with my torn CV boot, but I did hear more rotational noise in the rear and it was worse when cornering hard.

With the layout of the Boxster I couldn't see how torn CV boots would be related to difficult steering.

Kirk

Thanks Kirk, I'm wondering why my Box feels kinda stiff to turn? I got plenty of pressure, etc in tires.

Slipping belt, power steering pump or rack going bad, low on fluid? Probably should have a mechanic check it out.

Wait, so you guys are saying that I don't need to remove any ball joints to do this job, just maybe the cat?? I can just unbolt the axle shaft from the hub, then unbolt the inner CV from the diff, and then just wiggle the thing out (after unbolting the cat and raising the wheel hub)? That would be awesome, since I was planning on doing this job this weekend, and was worried about trying to find a ball joint separator... Thanks to the OP for bringing this up at such a perfect time!

Pete

The good news: Don't bother with the ball joints. It's much easier to drop the cats.
The so-so news: you may have to press the studs from the cat flanges, as the bolts may break...pressing them out takes some serious force!
The bad news: you will need a couple of specialty tools. The bolt holding the axle shaft in the hub takes a 32mm socket, and it is torqued to 340 ft-lbs. My impact wrench wouldn't budge it. I used a breaker bar and set up my floor jack to apply enough torque to get it initially moving ( I covered the jack-bar-socket setup with a heavy moving blanket just in case things came apart suddenly).
Then, you will need a hub puller to press the splined end from the hub.

I'm more barbaric. I've found that a hammer with some gentle persuasion works as well.

For the axle nut I used a breaker bar and about a 6' long torque multiplier (cheater bar). That is certainly one tough nut!

I think it looks like this is a case where YMMV (your mileage may vary). I'd take the hub nut off, take the wheel off, disconnect the axle from the transmission, jack/raise the hub up, and then see what kind of angle you can get on the thing and what's in the way. You can then either drop the lower stress plate or the cats depending on what's necessary in your case. But yeah, definitely don't go busting those ball joints, as that's definitely not necessary.

Kirk

Here's a thread that will help:

http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/4961-replacing-cv-joint-boots.html?highlight=Boot

It's my step-by-step procedure for doing this without any ball joint removal.

Thanks for all the info guys! Assuming I receive the parts by Saturday, I'll let you know how everything goes.

OK, just got done with the driver's side CV axle tonight (in the dark on wet pavement...). It took me about 3 hours yesterday to get the axle out and I ended up going a slightly different route than others have mentioned. Instead of risking snapping off the exhaust manifold bolts, I decided to just remove the secondary cat section (the theory being that any of those bolts/nuts would be easier to replace if broken than the manifold ones). I'm sure it took more time than just dropping the whole exhaust (or separating the ball joint), but messing with header bolts/gaskets is not my cup of tea. It then took me about 6 hours today to disassemble, clean and regrease the CV joints and then put everything back together, but now that I know what I'm doing (this was my first time underneath the Boxster) I'm sure the passenger side will be quicker.

Thanks for all the help!

Pete