outer CV joint boot?

Well, a rather unfortunate mishap has let to a hole getting poked in my outer CV joint boot. Annoying, but I figured I'd just order me up a boot kit from Subaru and reboot the outer joint - done and done. Unfortunately, it looks like the 10-14 Legacy and Outback are somehow special in that the outer CV boot isn't available from Subaru (pretty much everything else takes 28323AG020, except for the 10-14 Legacy/Outback...) Searching around, I can't even find an aftermarket version - everyone carries the inner boot, even Subaru has a kit for $35 (28323AJ010) or you can buy the outer CV joint as an assembly (28391AJ011) or you can just buy a whole axle (28321AJ011) but no one seems to have an outer boot kit.

 

Since the whole axle appears to be the path forward, I figured aftermarket, but reviews for the various vendors (Cardone, etc.) are all over the map, which to me sounds like poor QA Chinese parts... so I opted to just bite the bullet and order up an OEM replacement - cost is about twice as much as a "decent" aftermarket, but I figure the extra $100 or so is worth it to first avoid having to reboot the axle in the heat or go through what sounds like the russian roulette of buying an aftermarket unit...

 

I figure I'll hang on to the one with the hole (it's super annoying - it's just a small pinhole real close to the large/outer band) and see if a rebooting option is out there, then I'll have a quality spare for if the other one goes bad.

 

 

Has anyone else had to deal with replacing an axle? Did you go OEM or aftermarket?

i haven't in this car, but i always pull junk yard axles, pull the boot down and slather in some new grease, and go along my merry way. i've had some bad aftermarket axles in the past, just not worth the time and hassle installing junk.

Not saying this is a good solution, but I ran mine with a small hole/crack in it for over 20k miles. I did try to repack it and seal the hole at one point, but it slung back out almost immediately. I replaced the whole axle when I did my suspension assuming that I would've done some damage to the joint, but the bearing surfaces looked fine, and it never had any problems.

 

So maybe stuff some grease in the hole, make an attempt at sealing it and see how far you can go?

I wish the junk yards had anything worthwhile here! We tend not to get newer cars - which, sadly, 2010+ falls into... For now, I have some sealant (I forget what it's called - it is fuel and oil resistant stuff - it is holding now) - I'll drive it like this for a bit - I think the parts get in later this week, but we are going to be over 100 for the latter part of the week and the weekend, so I might not really be inspired to work on the car if the patch is still holding. If it starts slinging grease, though, I'll swap it out.

https://www.car-part.com/ my man. online wreckers. i've ordered a bunch of stuff from them--some allow local pickup, some don't, just depends, but super handy. I personally try and go locally since i usually use it for interior stuff and the like and like to inspect before taking it, but i'm a paranoid nutter so...take that as you will.

I had a 91 Prelude for almost 20 years. Best car I've ever owned. I went with new aftermarket axles around 100,000 miles, and the right one clicked around hard turns, every time, for the next 15 years and almost 95,000 miles, until I sold it.

It was annoying and a constant reminder of saving a few dollars on aftermarket, but it never let me down. Obviously the clicking is something binding and wearing, but it held up..

That really sucks that Subaru doesn't have an OEM CV boot only. Hopefully I don't have to deal with that for a while...

https://www.car-part.com/

I wish I had that before ordering all the parts this weekend... looks like they even have a couple in town! I am a little leery of buying a drivetrain part without knowing the car history, but the price is right (for grade A they range from about what a new one costs down to 60!)

How big is the hole?

 

If its pencil eraser size or smaller I've had some success with turning the hole to the bottom, cleaning the boot with some degreaser and using a small dab of black RTV and a bit of electrical tape to hold it until it sets. Black RTV holds up to the grease and stays flexible enough to move with the axle.

 

I've never tried it but I bet a bicycle tube patch kit would work on a small hole.

 

As far as replacing them, never done one on the GT, but on my son in laws NA 2010 legacy and my sons 2001 outback I used Autozones Duralast gold new axles with no issues. The one on the NA legacy is about 20k miles in.

Edited July 8, 2020 by poconoracing

It's literally a pinhole, and it's in a spot that doesn't really flex (right next to the larger band) - I sealed it on Sunday with something called "Seal-All" that I had bought a while back to deal with a potential fuel tank leak in my wifes previous van. It's supposed to be fuel and oil resistant, and has been holding just fine since Sunday, anyway. (I am guessing it will last a long time - I have a replacement axle en route, though, as I am paranoid and it figure it will fail at some time when it's really inconvenient... paying for peace of mind, I suppose...)

Installed the new axle this morning, so hopefully all is well. The stuff I put on there seemed to be holding, but was discoloring a little and looked like it might be peeling up, so probably good to replace. I replaced the axle seal too - looked like I might have nicked the old one, as it was leaking a tiny bit. Didn't have the special tool, and the service manual says not to deform the sealing lips, so I didn't want to use a regular seal driver - thankfully, it pushes in just fine by hand after lubing it up with gear oil if you take your time (had a similar experience with our old Odyssey). With any luck it will hold! (weird that Subaru has left and right side specific seals - sort of curious how they are different...) - ended up replacing the strut bearing on that side as well (the old one was leaking lubricant, so I figured I might as well - oddly enough, the online shop (Heuberger) sent me two (only billed me for one) - and hasn't responded to messages about getting it back to them. I figured if it was me, it would be worth paying to have it shipped back...