I recently bought a Dorman Help/CV Joint Boot and Air Installation Tool Part Number: 614-035; Pneumatic Installation Tool 614-030 with the 614-012 (12 boot kits) on Amazon for $148.

That seemed like a good dieal but I found out that outside diameter of the Cans on the Mecedes 3-15/16" and the crimped Lip at 4-5/16" outside diameter is most likely way over the range of the Dorman 614-030 Tool which is claimed to be 3-1/2".
I found that if I lubed up the Fingers the Boots came off. If I wiped off the lube I couldnot slide the Boot
Thet other thing that I found is that some Boots will hold up to more stretching than others.
I was able to stretch the Boot in the Pic enough but that was when I did not lube the fingers. I was unable to budge the Boot even when I retracted the Fingers.

I tried another Boot and it Split and I gave up on the Tools

So without some sort of modification I don't think the Dorman Tool can be counted on.

I finished the job with a Cone Tupe Tool but when I followed the instuctions with that I also ripped a Boot. Also that Single package of Grease that comes with the Dorman Boot Kits is not enough.

I bought a $10 Tool from Powerbuilt #648479 that worked OK on the Dorman Type Band/Clamps.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I am a little late getting on this thread so my questions are 2.
Has any one had success with the cone type ? I saw one on YouTube ( Aussie I believe ) and off the car it seemed to work well. I have however just moved and have no garage and more importantly left my 2 awesome and ancient bench vise'
there. Any way the second question is in regards to the 2 different materials offered Silicone versus Neoprene. I would think the Silicone would handle the heat generated better but would like some feedback here. I am getting under my 300SD within 2 weeks and I know the boots were cracked but not split when I inspected them in August. I do not want to go into the Winter with them in their current state. I will be doing the Frt/Rr flex discs as well as center bearing at the same time.
Alan

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92 500E Silver 66k
82 Porsche 911SC 84K
68 Cadillac ( Gone Now )
03 Suburban Z71 200K
85 300SD 217k From Original Owner ( Dad )

I have used the Cone Tool that is shown in My Thread. It is not a Dorman Cone Tool; but it did work.
The details are below:
CV Boot Installation Problems with Dorman Pneumatic and Cone type Boot Installation
I am guessing the Cone Tool Works Better than a Funnel.

I assume you are speaking of Dorman Boots because they make a Silicon Boot. But, you might know of another source of Silicon boots.
From My readings on the Forums I have not read of anyone using a Silicon Boot on Mercedes rear wheel drives.
Dorman has it that the Silicon Boots are for Front Wheel Drives on the Side of the Axle nearest to the Engine. From what I read the heat they worry about comes from the Engine not the Joint itself.

Maybe someone with one of those remote infared Thermometers can tell us how hot a CV Joint gets; I have one but mine is missing in action somwhere.



A smaller issue is that from what I have read people occasionally rip a Boot during installation. If that happens the Silicon ones cost more to replace.

There is one Member who bought the Dorman made Cone set but I don't recall a thread on that.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Diesel 911, Yes it was on the Dorman site. As for the heat I have misplaced a number of my tools during my move. And of course one of them is my infra red
thermometer. I am thinking about going the cone route.
Thanks
Alan

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92 500E Silver 66k
82 Porsche 911SC 84K
68 Cadillac ( Gone Now )
03 Suburban Z71 200K
85 300SD 217k From Original Owner ( Dad )

The typical CV joint design rated operating temperature range is -120° F to +550° F
The typical CV joint rated lubricant temperature range is -30° F to +500° F. Note: they warm up beyond -30 very FAST under load..

Assuming ambient temperature of +70° F...
A (normal use) correctly lubricated CV joint runs cool, roughly +80° F to +220° F, note: there are many special application/extreme designs higher/lower. Extreme use/environment will impact operating temperature.

Either boot material will handle normal operating temperature.
I prefer the Astoria Flexx Boots for durability.
If you pre-heat the boot in a crock pot, they go on easier.


.

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In the past I had wondered if the Silicon Boots would simply last longer because I think that material might not crack with age as easily as the normal Boots.

But, this last time was My first experience re-booting Axles and I did not want to experiment with the more expensive Boots.

By buying a whole bunch of Boot in a kit the pre-Boot cost went down to less that $8 each. Autozone sells the single Boot Kits for $17.
And, I in fact did end up ripping at least 2 Boots.

I have been curious to see if someone tries the Silicon Boots and the results.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

WOW! Holy exploding air tools, Batman! That's just bad!

Packman

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83 240D - 4 speed manual - Manilla Beige
189K miles, Tachometer mod, cool wooden shift knob from PeachParts, CocoMats, Original factory paint, manual windows, manual sunroof. Starting to add AudioWrap to this car too!

I'm very late to this thread. I seem to come here only when I'm desperate for help.

I have used the green Dorman pneumatic tool that Diesel911 used. I had great success with it after I did a couple of things. First let me say though that I am amazed that the Cardone shafts worked so well. I had the same set and got about 100k out of them on my 240d. All my pals said they'd be done in 10k but they weren't bad. They cost me $180 ea at Kragens. I sold the car with them on it and the boots had the usual cracking by then.

So on to the Dorman tricks. I have done both my cars with the tool along with the occasional friends Camry or Honda. The secret is how you oil the metal fingers. As you say, too much oil and the boot won't stay on the tool. Too little and it sticks to the fingers and won't come off. I dip my gloved hand in ATF and rub it over the fingers. Just a film. Not dripping with oil. You want it to be lightly coated so to speak but not slathered.

Then it will slip off and hold repeatably. You can get there by starting with light amounts and increasing to the point where the boot slips off the fingers during stretching. Wipe down and start over. It is subtle. Dont ask how many boots I trashed to figure this out.

Recently I noticed the uni fit boots have changed. I recall when I got the tool back in 2004 the boots were this chewy silicone. Almost too gooey to be a CV boot. The new ones say Neoprene and are much stiffer. I wouldn't like to try stretching one with a cone. I tried with one of the gooey ones back in hthe day with a tranny funnel but I was too damn wimpy. I couldn't do it so I bought the tool (for $300 back then).

I also install from the wheel side. The can looks a bit smaller on this side. You need to make sure the spline goes all the way into the green part of the tool or you cannot drop the fingers around the CV joint. I invert the inner boot and flip it over once I get it on the shaft...kind of the opposite of what you do with the cone.

That's it. Hope this helps. Once you master it the tool is great. My only complaint is once pals show up to my house with a ruptured boot the joint is already contaminated. it kind of defeats the purpose of the thing. Good when you catch things early.

The reason I stumbled across this is I need to change boots but my tool is in another city. I bought a new tool on eBay and some boots. I noticed the boots are neoprene and this thread came up. I noticed Raysbestos makes a boot that looks like a quick boot. They are stiffer and only work right side out on the tool. When I invert them they rip...so no flipping to get my inner boot.

Good luck.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

Forgot to say agree do not touch the stretched boot on anything especially the sharp splines or the caliper. It'll pop like a balloon on grass. Also agree on buying the banding tool for the Dorman style bands. A screwdriver and needle nose plier never worked for me.

I used steel wire for awhile till I found out about the tool. Even the cheapes tool with the tuna can opener type nut works great.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

Anytime is a good time to share information!

I am not sure where I saw or read this information but I think it was a pic I saw somewhere.
It showed before you install the Boots on the Fingers of the Expanding Tool to telescope/fold the Boot into itself as is in the thumb nail pic.

I don't know if that will work or not as after 3 years the Dorman Boots are fine and I have not had to re-boot anymore Axles.

Dorman sells a set of Cones + Tools and there is a can of spay lube with it. However, there is no part number for the spray lube and Dorman never answered my question about that when I Emailed them.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Other stuff.

I picked the Dorman Boots because when I bought 12 of them (with clamps and grease) they cost about $7 each as opposed to $16 each from Autozone. I did that because I fugured I would rip some learing and I ripped 2 that I can remember.

I could ripping the more expensive Astoria Flexx Boots to learn on.

Also I have read of others ripping Boots using the ATF Funnel so it is not uncommon.

Also since I over bought I have extras incase some road hazard comes under the Car and rips a boot. That is where filling the CV Joints with Grease is an advantage.

A ripped CV Boot filled with Oil is more likely to losse all of the lube then one filled with Grease.

Note that the little Grease Packet that comes with the Dorman Universal Joint is not adequate to fill the CV Joint. The Grease Packet comes with the Astorka Flexx Boot Kit has about 3 times as much grease.
CV Joint Gease is in-expensive and not much more then Wheel Bearing Grease.

The Cardone Rebuilt CV Axles are filled with Grease. When I re-booted the Axles I left as much of the origional Grease in there as I could and added more so as to fill and Pack the CV Joing and a like 1/2 of the Boot with grease.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Yeah the Dorman grease pouches are small. You can buy extras in the help section at o'Reilly auto for $1.99. I bought a big tube of BMW grease years ago on eBay and I supplement the pouch by 2x.

For the longevity of my boots. This is a tough question. The problem was the first boot was silicone and it went on a diesel rabbit that was destroyed in a fire shortly after I booted it. Hence my entry into w123 diesels in about 2003. I then booted one side of my 240d but it got sand in the joint and even though I had four nice Dorman Silicones on the car after a year it started clunking. I bought the Cardones and never looked back. They had stock boots on them and they naturally cracked by the time I sold he car last fall.

About two years ago my SD started showing cracks. I whipped out the Dorman tool and bought some Raysbestos boots that looked awfully like unifits. They were cheaper. They were not as flexible and like the neoprene dormans I bought this week. I tried to put the inner on inside out and invert (I've done all these with the axel clipped in the diff cuz I'm lazy and that is kind of the purpose of this tool). It tore. I was careful but the Raysbestos boot wasn't flexible enough. I had to crank my air pressure way up to open it and it tore.

So I went to o'really and got a real Dorman boot. -001 variant. It didn't tear. Then I mounted a non inverted Raysbestos boot on the outer joint. These still look great.

Now let's think about the friends cars. About 2006 me and a pal got laid off and we were trying to help each other save money. I booted his wife's 1996 Camry with the tool. It worked till she bought the first Camry hybrid (and maybe beyond that) so that must have been 2008. Two years.

Then another pal showed up in his 94 Acura integra in 2012 and needed a boot. Dorman again. He sold the car in 2014. For all I know this POS is melted down.

Hope that gives some indication of how long they last. I didn't pay attention to which were silicone or neoprene hence why I dug up your post. The two on my SD Dorman and Raysbestos are the stiffer rubber so I think they're neoprene. There were two pn that come up for he boots. Lemme see if I can find them. Ah yes...Dorman 03680 and 614-001

Hope this helps. Overall I've had good luck with the boots. The guys who complain a lot about them are the ATV guys. But that is a very harsh application.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

So my big problem now is I'm in the middle of a move. I'm a big dummy and I crated up my Dorman boot gun and sent it to LA. I'm still in the Bay Area with the car. So I just bought another boot gun. It seems like a lot but heck, if I pay an Indy to do my boots it'll make the $150 for the Dorman tool look like nothing. And I can trust my own work.

So on the SD I got lazy and only Dorman booted one side two years ago as I said. The driver side had no cracks so I left it alone. I don't know why but maybe the PO swapped a half shaft on one side. So now I go under the car because I hear clicking when I put the car in reverse. I see oil on the CV can and some on the diff and some flung on the muffler pipe.

Dang I say. My tool is in LA. My banding tool is in a box with it as well with some extra boots. Argh!! Why didn't I just boot both sides. Why didn't I boot it a month ago when I had the tool crib here when I had an inkling (saw surface cracks on the stocker boots) a reboot was in my future. But I said it'll wait till I get to LA and set up my garage. Darn! I hate it when I had several chances to get something right and I just got lazy and now I have to pay for two tools.

Again it's a bargain at $150 from ebay. I was gonna do the Amazon deal but I had a bunch of credit at eBay so rather than burn cash I got the boot gun without the pile of boots in your promotional kit. Sigh. Not to mention Ima gonna do this without a compressor. That's also packed. I have a foot pump and some hose barbs. Maybe I'll buy one of those 5 gallon air tanks and fill it at the gas station. I think it'll work.

Oh well. I can afford it.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

Ok, well I put on my boots today and boy oh boy did I have problems. I learned another trick so I thought I'd share. I tried using a foot pump to pump up the tool. I no longer have my compressor. So I pumped up the tool and it didn't open it up enough. It was 1/2" on the diameter shy.

Suddenly the boot ripped. I'm pretty careful. It happened when I was holding the tool in the air trying to pump it open.

I Got a new boot and a tiny $55 pancake compressor. It worked well at pumping up the tool. Then I noticed the fingers on the tool weren't closing down enough to let the boot slide off. Hehehe...I guess my memory of how easy it was distorted. The can is too big just as diesel911 said.

So the boot either wanted to slide off the tool or stay on. I got the inner on by using just enough oil to let it slide off but not so little that it would stick. It took a lot of fidgeting to get this right.

Then I put on the outer. A bit too dry and I couldn't get it off with my fingers. So I splashed the inner side of the boot with some oil. A few teaspoons. Then it worked its way around the metal fingers I could push it off.

It's funny, the older I get the more distorted my memory gets. I actually had a tough time today considering how easy I recall it being.

So maybe the trick is to oil on the light side then slather the inside with oil after you get the boot over the can.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

If you believe the Dorman Catalog the Silicone Boots are a different color and have a different part number. Also unknown is if they will stretch as much as the Black neoprene Boot 614-001 (the one Dorman lists for W123 Mercedes). The Silicone Boot that is the same size is 614-002.

From what I have read the Silicon Boots are for the Engine Side of the Axle on front wheel drive vehicles as the Silicon Boots are made to resist the heat more.
It is a shame that the Silicon Boots cost more as one would think the Silicon would not crack as soon as the neiprene ones would.

In Post #3 there is several Linkes and an attacment of a .pdf. The pdf is part of the Dorman Catalog showing the Boots, Boot Tools and an application list.
W126 Axle Boot Questions -- Brand Preference, etc.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel