Hi I am looking, no doubt naively, for an easier method than pulling the entire drivers side steering knuckle apart just to replace the CV boot.
I used to be a VW mechanic , frankly I made decent living rebuilding CV joints. Fondly recalling how it was like solving a Rubics Cube. Big difference :twisted: on the Isuzu, the books say remove the tie rods and ball joints, disassemble the auto lock hubs. Jesus, what a pain!


I was in there replacing the brake pads when I saw the broken boot.

On the other side I found a massive power steering fluid leak. I have not started the engine to definitively determine where the leak is, but I suspect it it the power steering box as I already swapped the pump from my parts Trooper.

Thinking of trying a split CV boot, but of course this won't address contamination already in the CV joints.

Why, you ask don't I take the Trooper off the jack stands and start the engine? Well of course while I was doing the rear brake shoes I noticed the tail pipe disconnected from the muffler, which of course is bad and needs replacing as well. :roll:
I love my 223 turbo-diesel Trooper, but dang, it almost seems like it would be simpler, to pull the engine out of my work Trooper and install it in my parts Trooper.
Dismayed, in New Mexico

CV Joints can be done much easier than by what the book calls for.

You can get away with disconnecting the brake line or removing the caliper, popping the upper ball joint from the spindle and twisting the top downward toward you to pull the CV out of the inboard cup (remove the band clamp first). Once that's done you should be able to slide it right through the front spindle toward the truck.

This does of course involve you removing the front hubs so you can undo the axle clip which really doesn't take a lot of work to do so.

Removing the boots is simple.. there's a C-Clip on the inner axle CV up that allows you to remove the ball bearing & cage and then it's as simple as popping the band clamps and removing the boots. I used NAPA kits on mine. They also have plenty of band clamps in stock for a few bucks a piece for re installation.

Excellent info, thanks

I have the hub off, backplate, tie rod end, and outer boot clamp which came off intact, so there is one I can reuse if the inner band breaks. I'm taking a break, but when I got back to the shop, I'll remove the inner boot band clamps and look for the C-clip holding the inner U-joint, although from the book I thought it slid out of the differential, without a clip, but I really couldn't see from the two books I have, what was going on in there.

The upper ball joint nut looks like a bugger to get at. There is a cap on the upper, I hadn't got that far, so I don't know what the cap does or how it works. I do see a grease zerk on the cap, at this point it is unclear to me how grease gets from the top of the ball joint to below the knuckle, where the ball is. I suppose I am soon to find out. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />

I finally got the boot off! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />
The boot I ordered didn't fit <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />
I went back to the site I bought it from and found out a rebuilt axle was nearly the same price as both boots which after all the work I figured would be wise to replace.
Anyway I couldn't get either ball joint loose, so I removed the lower ball joint at the control arm. Sheesh what a rigmarole <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />
The good part is the axle is loose on the outer side, now that I am replacing the axle, I need the inner loose as well. There must be a clip in the transfer case side holding it in, donknow, but I will find out

Good to see the progress.. as an FYI - the factory axle that came with the truck is going to be stronger than any rebuilt one that you buy. There is a weekness on the outer hub of the CV axle that people snap alot offroading.

I can get you a NAPA part number for my replacement Boots if you like which seem to have fit perfectly.

I already bought a rebuilt axle. I don't know how many KMiles are left on this Trooper, and I only use it for work. Although I have been on some pretty steep mountains working on WiFi towers. Mostly though this Trooper stays down the mountain.
This is ours at 7500 feet above sea level

Since this is an off road forum, let me find a image of my Trooper way way off the road.

For more information and pics of my tower work check out
70 foot tower ascent
Anyway I have big problems at home, my father is dying, and I am spending all my time with him, and the Trooper is on the back burner. This is a bummer for many reasons, the least of which is I got the axle, now I need to install it. The old one appears to be clipped on at the differential <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />
The books don't seem to show how to get to the clip <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />
The bad news is after spending the day with dad while mom took a break, I received the axle and hoped to at least figure out how to get the axle the rest of the way out.
The guide which came with the axle says put the clip on and slide the axle in until it snaps.
Great but how do I get the axle out?

P.S. I don't know why the second image isn't showing up, I made it smaller, don't know

Do you have an FSM? If not, I will check tonight or late this afternoon for the info. My FSM is for a '90 Gasser, but the design for the 10-bolt should be similar to your 8-bolt front.

Howdy, don't know what a FSM is, but I did a WiFi installation for a guy I used to work with when I was a mechanic. He is still in the trade. When I told him the installation paper which came with the axle said install the circlip and snap the axle in, he said just give the axle a good yank, and it ought to pop out. Wheeugh <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Still, I can't do the work, I'll be bed side with my dad <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
Perhaps sometime this weekend can sneak away and put my beloved Trooper back together, I miss it terribly

FSM is Factory Service Manual.

On the inboard side of the axle mount brackets is an oil seal, a snap ring, a bearing, and another snap ring. However, there is no clip within the diff case itself.

Sorry for the use of the unexplained acronym. I thought I learned that lesson years ago. In the 70's I was working as a technical sales analyst for Univac, a now dead computer company. We were giving a presentation to a hard-bitten comptroller of a tobacco distributor in Los Angeles. Early in my presentation I used an acronym without explanation and the comptroller called me on it. For the rest of my presentation I was careful not to make that mistake again. Unfortunately, the presentor who followed me missed the lesson.

He was presenting the hardware arquitecture. Every other word out his mouth was ROM or RAM or PROM. The comptroller was getting redder and redder. Eventually he pushed his chair back, stood up, and said "I have an acronym for you - F*** you all", and the meeting was over.

(We did eventually get the deal, but it took some real work).

Great and thanks Jim, I can relate. I've been in the service industry all my life, well I made Indian looking jewelery for a decade or so. These days, I install wireless Internet in rural mountain locations, the easiest thing to do in produce the glassy eyed look, all it takes is one word, acronym or even a colloquialism, and most people are like talking to a wall.
Anyway, I'm what used to be called a foreign car guy, I guess since industry globalzation the term is as obsolete as DOS I had mastered in the 80s. Okay okay, this generation probably doesn't know what DOS is, or was. Disk operating system.
I digress
I was a big reader in my prime, believe it or not my favorite material after college was technical manuals.
I did a whole newsletter the other morning when my new Dodge Cummins FSM (the book) came in.
Big beautiful Dodge Book
Now this is a service manual worth mentioning

We have three 86 Troopers tds, one Isuzu PUP, 2.3 gasser, the whole range of factory service manuals, including a book dedicated to parts and descriptions. As a tech book connoisseur I can tell any new mechanics to beware of "foreign car" tech books, they don't hold a candle to a good ol' Merican book.
Even my 89 Ford FSM had a section where each and every device is described as to how it works, as well as how it interacts with the other systems.
As a diagnostician I gotta say the Isuzu books suck. They have blank pages where they easily could have had five more pictures. Technically they are worded, or translated well enough, but they lack any real meat. In fact the Chilton book which is often a copy of select pages from a FSM, is just as good or better than the Isuzu factory book.
It is too bad for those of us who love our rare Isuzu diesels and hope to keep them alive through understanding of the IOSs (Isuzu operation systems)
Quite frankly this is why I dread waiting two or three weeks to reinstall the front locking hubs, the books are worthless, one picture which for some reason, the authors decided would be better to print portrait style, instead of landscape so it fit on the page instead it is quarter size
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" />
Anyway that's my rant and I'm sticking to it