My front passenger drive shaft boot is cracked. As a result there was tons of grease on the DP and surrounding lines, etc. From estimation it busted around 400 miles ago.

Questions:

I managed to cover the boot with aluminum tape and tip ties. Is there something else that you can think of to cover the boot until I get it fixed?

Should I put more grease in there until it is fixed?

How long can I drive on it?

What are things that I can break if I drive on it?

I know I have to take off the hub etc to get to the boot. Do I just replace the boot/grease or is there more?

How hard is this job? I have done all the work on my car except for the timing belt job.

 

You should be ok as long as no debris can manage to get inside the cv joint. You can get a kit from subaru (~$40) that comes with a new boot, grease and band. Its not too hard, it took about 2 hours to fix with the help of my mechanic friend.

Before I fixed it, the rear boot was ripped for quite a few months, I drove in the snow and everything was ok (there was still grease in there). If it starts making clicking noises, the axle/joint is probably broken.

 

Did you need any special tools?

 

You need a something for the band clamp...?..I cant remember, it was over 2 years ago. Thats the only tricky part. I was lucky cause my buddy had lots of tools.

 

Yep, the old Subarus (late 80's early 90's) had bad problems with CV joints. I don't know how many times we replaced ours.

 

its easy enough to do. I did mine on the side walk out side my apartment in SF (not the best place I know) it took me about an hour on my own, you will need a 32 mm axle socket and a torque wrench, plus a basic socket set and a special tool for clamping down the bands. They are the hardest part of the whole project. You can do it yourself, it's easy and about $150 cheaper than any mechanic quoted me. I got the kit from Ray Price on fell street i think for about $40.

there are step by step instuctions on here or nasioc.