these axles went in last winter, and one popped a clamp and is already ripped, while the other side of the same axle is loose at the inner clamp.

Id estimate there are less than 10k miles on them, probably not that much more than 5-8k. They are not even a year old.

Driver side seems ok, but both are AC Cardone axles bought on clearance. I know, I was being super cheap and now im going to pay for it. Time to do all 4 boots now with quality rubber.

Anyone buy the boots from fastlane? any reviews on the febi or empi parts?

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Your shocks look leaky too....

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Already on top of that

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

No personal experience but from what I've read, I'm going to use Astoria
boots when the time comes. The rubber is supposed to be better.

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85 300TD FED-Daily
84 300SD-Wife's
86 XJS-Sunday
66 GMC-Work- Given to my stepson
83 BMW Airhead- Given to my stepson

ill check it out! thanks for the tip

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Where the New or rebuilt Axles and are they Mercedes Axles or some aftermarket axles?

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

They are both reman axles. Quality of ride and noise has been excellent. If I hadn't been under there related to the shock, I would never have noticed they were an issue. Weirdly there does appear to be no oil or grease in either boot, its certainly not leaking out in a way I would expect.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

I've installed cardone axles 2 times before and the ride has always been good. But the problem with both installs is the boots always started surface cracking after year two and the cans were loose at the seems in that the grease was slinging from it. Cardone uses grease, never oil.

If the cans are tight, than an Astoria reboot is good option, if not, than new cans would be needed. Which means the axle joints would need to be pressed out.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

It does look like some wettness around the cans, have to investigate further later on, but it certainly wasn't what id call dry. Could be from the blown shocks though, or from the diff seal


Ive researched where ive got them via former threads

these are both axles new-

Top one I bought from parts geek, bottom one I bought from rock auto. Both came in AC Cardone reman boxes, but notice the difference in how the boots look. They seem to have undergone dramatic different reman processes, even down to using a different boot souce, and painting vs no paint.



and installed, looks like I put the rock auto no warranty discount on the passenger side with the shiny boots, and its the one ripped-

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looks like you nailed it.

The driver side is not yet slinging grease, but its awful wet all around, so both axles turn out to be junk.



The passenger axle boots were really hardened rubber, compared to the driver side. what a waste of money these axles turned out to be

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

I bet you still have a warranty on this. You might want to try take advantage of this.
http://my.cardone.com/English/Club/Products/Brakes/Warranty/16107WARR%20Caliper-Booster%20Warranty.pdf


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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

In the First Year I got My Car I replaced the Axles with Cardone rebuilt Axles. The Boots lasted somewhere within 3-4 years and started cracking.

The Cardone Axles were rebuilt with Grease.
I one of the threads I believe some one said that they ask CVJ about the Oil Verses Grease issue and CVJ said they used Grease.

When I rebooted the Car Done Axles I left as much of the Original Grease inside as I could and added more and even some in the Boots.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

if you still have your original axles, the Astoria Flexx kit is the WAY TO GO!
I've got the gun, and you can order the boots direct from astoria, or I can ship you the gun with the boots you'll need. the boots come with grease (not enough... but it does have some) I just toss the grease, and fill the can with 75W140 synthetic gear lube.
or, I can pull a set from a parts car, and clean and boot them for ya.
just lemme know if I can help.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

cool thanks!

do you consider the astoria flexx universal boot to be better than the empi or other brands available listed on pelican? Its better rubber?

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Finding no lubricant present in those boots was important as well. I still believe finding a set on a wreck that appear to be original with the boots still in decent shape. That's if starting from the time of original difficulty.

Relubing them as well then installing is perhaps the best way to go. .Even rebooting original axles that are not constantly clunking. Otherwise to be sure it is going to be expensive. Off of gas cars may even be better as there is a chance of lower overall accumulated milage. New oem axles are just a little too pricy but are the optimum solution. That's if they are still manufactured by the original high quality suppliers.

This reversing of sides is also important when using used replacement or having current axles rebooted so mark them.

I also think grease with a good shot of heavy oil is superior to grease alone. Some of that depends on how the grease acts with time. That unfortunately is an unknown.

My issue with grease alone is from examination of failed front cv joints. I felt some of them failed because the grease hardened up and was displaced leaving the joints to run basically dry until failure occurred.