Spring is around the corner and its time to get the cars back out, I was adjusting the valves on my dads 240 and doing some other checking around and noticed his inner rear CV boots are torn. I did some reading about rebooting the axles, I would like to use the greased funnel method so I need to use a boot that will stretch.

It sounds like my two options are a dorman boot, and an astoria 3001 boot that VSTech seems to really like.

Are the Astoria boots available from any parts stores? I would like to buy them in person if possible. Does anyone have a part number for the Dorman boots? NAPA seems to be able to get everything dorman.


On greasing the joints, I've heard Mercedes used gear oil from the factory, but all aftermarket boot kits have a packet of grease with them. A friend has one new old stock factory boot kit from Mercedes and it too has grease, not oil.

Is there a consensus on going with grease, or sticking with oil?

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

I've used both and I'd stick with Astoria. Dorman is just a little bit thinner and I've ripped a few.

I use oil. There was some talk about them originally filled with oil but later filled with grease, mainly because grease technology had finally caught up.

Of the dozen or so pairs of axles I've done so far, all have been oil and none have had any issues. I've used both store brand homokinetic oil and my personal choice Lubro Moly 75w90 fully synthetic. (both of which were used to fill their respective differentials.

I've got the cone from Astoria. It works well. Its slightly easier if you dunk the boots in hot water before installing them as it softens them up a bit. Then lube up the cone with oil, grab the boot with some paper towels/rags to get a good grip and then use your body weight to pull the boot over the axle can in one swift motion.

But then again you could just buy the pneumatic tool that vstech has and it would take you all of ten seconds for each boot.

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I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]

Or ... work out a deal with vstech to have him do yours. The Astoria gun is just super

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1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

If I can do it with a lubed funnel, why incur the additional expense?

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Well give it a go. Here in Holland I could only find wanky junky crap boots that spilt and split and split.

This is to date the absolute worst job I've ever done on a W123 - it is so simple and yet so frustrating.

The W201 annular axles are so so so so so so so so so so so...






...so so so so so so so much easier to do!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
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I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Where are people buying the Astoria boots?

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Concerning the Grease Packet that comes with the Dorman Boots. It is not enough Grease. You really want to packed the whole Can with Grease.

There does not seem to be any obvious disadvantage to using Geese over Oil. I guess unless you live someplace extremely cold.
Grease has the advantage that if the Boot Rips you are not going to lose all of your Grease as easily as you would loose all of your Oil.

I used Dorman Boots but the most success I had installing was was using a Cone by itself. Not the Dorman Pneumatic Tool is not like the Atoria Flex Gun so don't compare them in Use.
The Dorman Boots use Clamps that are not as wide as the Astoria Boot.
Remember if you use grease you are going to need a lot. Autozone and other places sell special CV Joint Grease in tubes.
I don't know which thread it was mentioned in but Astoria also sells a Cone Tool but you need to contact Astoria at their website and ask for it as it does not appear on their catalog.
My Axle Boot Thread
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/317950-cv-boot-installation-problems-dorman-pneumatic-cone-type-boot-installation.html

See post #2 these pics were from someone elses Axle rebuild thread.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/292391-cv-axle-report-question.html

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

You buy them from the company's site.

Astoria 2000 LLC. FLEXX BOOT

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

I don't see an "order here" tab lol. I'll give them a call.

WHOA! It says do not exceed 230km/h, may have to dial the pump back on dads 240D.

__________________
68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

I was going to replace the boots on my 85 300 but when I looked at the joint itself there was enough wear that I decided to replace the half-shafts. You might want to look first. I know everything on a MB lasts forever but sometimes it doesn't.

Yes, pull and check for play at least before buying parts.

If the boots are already torn, and you don't know how long they've been torn, the condition of the joints is in question.

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That's weird, I can't find it either. There was one when I was looking to buy some in December.
Thanks for the laugh, I needed it . A "240"D does 240 Km/h, right?

Edit: Found the order page! And don't ask me how .

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Rebooting with the funnel is a major pain.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Spending money is a major pain.

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."