Took the T in for an oil change and found that I have a tear in my outer right cv boot. I will be doing the replace with a reman half shaft route, but cant really afford to do it right now... surprise root canal, and owe money on taxes, leaving the bank account empty for a bit. I do have manual hubs, so I am not spinning the shafts, but not sure if any other bits and pieces can go south as a result... I was thinking about cutting off the old, and putting a split boot on just to hold it till the summer....

thoughts?

does anyone know of a split cv kit that would be useable? I heard rumors of a kit on autozone...

I guess cheaper (since yer replacing it) is just RTV that puppy back together. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

They work okay for you Lower 48 folks. Main thing is to make sure you don't have any road debris (rocks, etc) up in the joint; pack some grease in there before you put the kit on. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Buy the new boot kit from Toyota for $50. If you haven't been turning the shafts the joint should be fine. I'd flush all the old grease out and repack it. Put it back in the truck and don't worry about it. If you leave the truck on the ground its a bit easier than with it up in the air.

My problem is that I live in an apartment complex and they frown on anyone working on their vehicles at the place... I also lack the tools and confidence to pull everything apart... I know that with the t's ground clearance, I could quietly slide under, and pull the old off and slap a split boot on...

I've used the blue split type that you glue (solvent weld) the seam. On a 87 camry, they outlasted the originals and were still working after 120K of service when we sold the car. Don't know if they are available for the T100. The trick to using them is to hold the seam together when the glue dries with rubber bands or strings, etc. I think they made some claim that it was NASA technology. First Tang, and then CV boots, gotta love NASA.

If you're just holding out til summer, just leave it. Not worth worrying about at all if you're trying to save money. It will be fine as is as long as you don't use 4wd very much, and especially with the freewheeling hubs.

You'd be surprised how long some people run split cv boots, even w/o freewheeling hubs and using 4wd occasionally. Sometimes years!

Mmmhmm. Ran a bare CV joint on a Honda for something like 150k miles. Once it started lightly cracking on sharp turns, I finally replaced it.

The T-100 lost a front axle boot well over a year ago. It's low on the list of priorities.