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

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

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.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

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

X2 on the memory issue. In Aug I have an appointment at the VA Hospital to take a test for memory.

I was trying to explain to someone what having a bad memory actually does to you. The easiest description I could come up with is that it is as if you are dancing but you lost the rhythm. Once the rhythm is gone what happens next just gets worse.

My Wife ruined My Van Engine by driving it when it got overheated. I had not done a rebuild on an Engine since 1992. In 1992 I had a energy and look forward to the job. Not any more.
It has been more then 3 Months and I am still not done; I am on about the last 15% of the job (at least the Engine is back in the Van).

I lost several sets of Bolts on an Engine and Chassis that has metric and SAE Bolts. Fortunatly I have the Chevy Parts manual and it tells the threads and lengths of the Bolts and that was a big help.

But, when I rebuilt Engines on the Job I had been extremely careful to package and lable where bolts came from and and where the came from. Now I have no patience to do that and I only made more work for myself.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

So I've moved. Unpacked my tool cribs. I have a three car garage now. The Dorman CVs are holding up. I cinched the small sides in too close and they looks scrunched up but they don't leak. I may or may not readjust the clamps.

I revisited this thread because I realize I have two of the green air tools now. I finally got to look at them side by side in all their glory. I spent an extra $190 buying the clamp tool and boot tool plus boots and grease because I had the idiot sense to ship my tools to socal before I drove the SD there. But we made it and I'm good. Still cheaper than hiring an Indy.

Funny the silicone CVs are grey now. They were black when I got my first tool. They were much stretchier than the neoprene and you had a fighting chance to get them on with a funnel.

That's a funny one. Before I left town I decided to return the ripped boot to O'Reilly. The clerk said you didn't use the right tool. I said I did. He said nobody buys that tool and they rip the boots and want a refund. I whipped out my phone and showed him a selfie I shot with the tool. . He gave me a refund.

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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

Are from Mercedes.
They last EVEN Longer IF you apply 303 Aerospace regularly.

BUT you're not gonna be able to use any of those "Boot Guns" on them.

(Old Fashioned,Pull the Shafts out of the Joints,Clean and re-grease the Joints,
Install the NEW Boots.)

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'84 300SD sold
124.128