Driveshaft CV Joint Boots for 93 ATX

[etcsho]

I have my 93ATX passenger side driveshaft out because it had thrown some grease out.

I could never find a large cut or anything on the boot (inner boot was leaking). All I could see was a very small hole in the large end of the boot near the clamping surface. From my reading of the shop manual, it discusses a vent, but it is near the small end, not the large. I couldn't really tell if the grease was coming from this small hole, or from the clamped joint.

One idea given to me is that, since I had recently had a transmission replaced, the reinstall of the shaft could have caused the clamp seal to give, allowing the grease out of the clamped joint.

Has anyone else had a similar experience as to the grease leak? I really don't want to go to all the trouble of rebooting and reinstalling the shaft, only to have another leak.

Does anyone know if the small hole on the large end of the boot is supposed to be there? It doesn't look to me like it is, but I don't know.

 

[jthomas68]

Unless it was mishandled,or just a defect,i don`t see how the tranny work could have affected the clamp.If you just want to change the boot,make 100% sure there is NO grit in there.Generally,if you see a tear in the boot,the damage to the bearings is already done.Since you don`t see anything,you should be all set.Are you sure it`s coming from the boot,and not just an overgreased bushing?

 

[etcsho]

It wasn't overgreased, or I would have noticed it before. The driveshafts and boots are the original ones on the car with 116,000 miles on them. I had never noticed any leakage until I got back to Missouri from FPS Automotive in Georgia (where I got my new ATX).

Doug Lewis told me he would be glad to pay the cost to replace the shaft if they had torn the boot, but after looking at it when I got it off, I could not see any tears (other than the small "pinhole" that I mentioned in my first post. My only real question is would that much grease have come out of this hole? I guess at the RPM's the shaft is turning, a hole in the large end of the boot would throw out a lot of grease (as opposed to a vent hole in the small end). Does this make sense?

I just want to be sure the new boots hold on for a while after I get the shaft reinstalled! Pulling the driveshaft off and putting it back on is not my idea of a fun day.

 

[jthomas68]

I don`t see how the vent hole could blow out any significant amount of greae,unless the wrong grease(too thin)was used.I know that they come pre-greased,and Doug would never make that mistake anyways.All i can think off is clean the boot off 100% with a degreaser so there is absolutely no doubt the boots are good.If it turns out that maybe a clamp is the culprit,you can still replace that with the shaft on the car.If you still are leary about the whole situation,a set of Moog CV boots are only around $17.You may want to just replace them to give yourself peace of mind,and at 116k,it couldn`t hurt anyways.Mine lasted until just about 100k,then both sides split within 1 month of each other.

 

[etcsho]

To clarify, the boots, shafts and grease are all original (from the factory). They did not put new grease, boots or anything when the transmission work was done.