Rebooting rear axles
 

I contacted CVJ axles in Denver to inquire about rebooting the axles on the SD and/or the SDL. The boots remain intact, however, 18 years has developed some pretty severe cracking.

Their response:

Hi Brian:
We can re-boot your axles. My catalog shows the 300 SD up through 1985, and the 300 SDL from 1986-1987.
On the older axle we replace part of the metal can with a new piece hydraulically crimped on the small end. On the newer axle we remove the sheet metal as needed and re crimp it. We install a new gasket, o-ring and neoprene boot (with the internal metal ring). We grease the joints with a high grade Moly EP grease. The boot clamps are low profile stainless steel and are pneumatically tensioned and secured.
The cost is $50.00 per boot, or $100 per axle plus freight. We accept VISA & MasterCard, and can ship your axles back the day following receipt. Hope we can be of service to you.

Steve Skirrow

CVJ Axles, Inc.
4101 Brighton Blvd.

Denver, CO
800-292-2953

303-297-2448

303-297-0650 Fax

Information@cvjreman.com



Anyone have opinions regarding rebooting in advance vs. the aftermarket rebuilds? My thoughts would tend to go this way to keep the original factory joints, provided the axles are rebooted prior to boot failure.

Brian,
I'll be certain to follow this one . . .

PS Package arrived. Thank-you. Return trip should be within a couple days (should have been tomorrow but I got side-tracked). :)

PSS My timing chain crimper is on its way out over the Thanksgiving week. I asked the forum member to provide his opinion of it on the forum after using it.

Now, back to your subject. :)

Steve,

I probably will not do the axles for awhile because they are not quite to the point where I would be concerned about them. I just posted this to get feedback on what others might think of the idea.

Keep the wrenches as long as you need. I won't need them for at least a couple of months. Let me know how they work. Also, you may need to grind one of them thinner. Don't hesitate to do it.

Brian,

I had a set of CVJ's on my wrecked 300D. They are now sitting in the garage until my current boots fail. Was very happy with the rebuild and CVJ didn't take any chances sending me bad axles. I have 11K on one axle and about 25K on the other. The CVJ axles were packed very well but with just OK instructions.

For those reading about rebooting vs. rebuilding for the first time.... The cheap CarQuest (et al) rebuild (heat up the axles, destroy the temper etc) vs. just rebooting an otherwise good axle (CVJ, BoostNBenz etc) could generate an entire series of threads. I opted for the more expensive CVJ route.

The original axles came with a rather thick oil. The factory rebuild kit now contains a thick concoction of lubro-moly grease.

Thats a good thought Brian. But $200 to get both axles done plus the car will be down for a few days. My boots look kind of tired also, I will probably just wait for them to crack and start making noise before I replace them. Then I will just buy the cheaper aftermarket ones with a lifetime warranty. Heck my boots could take years to crack, I might not have to deal with them for many years.

I guess I'll start saving my $$$ as I will need them eventually. The book show's 8.1 hrs. for the job :eek: , what has to be done drop whole rear end? Then it will be time for front end. :eek: Maybe it's time to sell and buy new car. :confused:

To replace both axles it's more like two hours. Three tops.

$100 per axle to reboot?

Rebuilt CV axles can be found for around that price for most cars. Why bother rebooting when for about the same $ you can get the whole axle rebuilt?

Or am I missing something.

Kindly define exactly what "rebuilt" means. It's a nice word, but................ :mad:

Just bought a rebuilt axl for my 300TDT, the rebuilt one cost 175. Looked brand new, works great. Took 3 hours to put in.

:cool:

How does anyone know that reman axles from Carquest, etc. are junk? How do you know that the original axles aren't worn out and at the end of their lifespan? Rebooting make little sense if there is no warranty. I have reman's with 30K+ and no issues. Lifetime warranty. That means they ever fail they replace them free. Since it takes a mere two hours to swap them even if they needed to be done yearly it would be no big deal. If you are really concerned about the quality of reman's and you need the car done quick go get a really crappy set of axles from the junkyard, so bad they will just let you take them, and use them as cores on the reman's. That way you can keep your originals and get them rebooted if you want later. RT

I assume rebuilt means they take the old axle apart, clean the bearing cage, balls, whatever, inspect for wear, scoring, pitting, etc, reasemble, pack with new grease, put new boot on and basically give you back "new" CV axle shaft.

AZ lists them for $79 for my 1982 300TD with lifetime warranty. For that price I'm not gonna mess with replacing the boots. I don't really care what "rebuilt" means if they are gonna give me a LTW.

Your SDL might be a lot more. Then the reboot price is pretty good then.

I have seen new not rebuilt CV's for our SDL's listed for $595 each! :eek:

Carquest here I come! :D

Just think what you could do with an extra $1030.00! :D

Yeah I could get some dents removed! :D Or maybe a new trans. The SDL always has a place that wants money.