medent

I've found a 996 C4 (year 2000) that I would like to buy. Had a PPI and was told that the boots on the front axles were ripped. The mechanic said that he would have to replace both front axles (part # 99634903811) at around $2000 ($1300 parts and $700 labor). The car is about a thousand miles away from me so I can't go over to see it. So I called my local Porsche specialist and it turns out that he has never replaced them before. That made me wonder if the remote mechanic was just trying to get a little extra business?
So my question goes out to you. Has anyone else experienced ripped boots on the front axles of a C4? And what was the remedy? Can the bearings just be repacked with grease and new boots put on?
I was hoping to be able to fly down and drive the car home. Would this be safe? The seller never noticed any problems or unusual sounds.

gnat

No issues with ours, but from BMW experience it all comes down to how long they've been torn. If the car is otherwise what you want, go for it and budget/negotiate the worst case scenario of having to replace the shafts. Chances are unless they've been ripped a long time and the grease has all dried up you'll just need to replace the boots and do a bunch of cleaning.

If you do go for it I would suggest not having it repaired before you get it (e.g. Having the seller do it) so that you can inspect it yourself for how it looks and drives.

fpb111

You could always do this if you want to build up the budget before you do the fix.
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...96-to-rwd.html

rb101

The boots will eventually rip from age or damage. I replaced one (outer driver side) about 3K miles ago at 130K miles. The outer seem to get more damage/wear as it has larger range of motion then the inner. It's not that hard to do, but you have to remove the stub axle nut, break loose a the lower ball joint, and tie end to get the shafts out. If the CV joint is still clean and greased inside a new boot can be installed. I also swapped shafts left to right to even out the wear on the joints. If the joint is worn, rebuilt joints can be can be installed or you can replace the whole halfshafts. The mechanic, I'm sure is giving you the easiest/quickest for him, replace the halfshaft. I would repair it, but I don't do anything easy.

medent

Thanks for the replies. I plan to keep the AWD so removing it is not an option for me.
Any way to see if the CV joints will make it home on a 1000 mile drive? Any telltale signs that I should be looking for that will warn me of imminent failure?
Anything I can do before leaving to protect the joints? I would have the boots replaced/joints rebuilt when I get home.
And if I do drive it home with the joints in their present condition, what could happen along the way? Anything that could be unsafe?

Sneaky Pete

The boots are about $20 US each. Mine are cracked / ripped too. I have a price of $750 to replace both front outer boots. The inner boots are good. Or if your car has high miles like mine (122K) you might look at the just changing out the entire axle assembly. I have seen them for $400-500 per.

Sneaky Pete

Mine have been cracked for 3 years now. They still have grease in them and I'm a daily driver. I have no strange noise up front. My bet is you would be fine to drive it home.

gnat

There are quick fix kits you can pick up in auto parts stores that you can throw on without disassembling everything for a full boot replacement. That would probably be best for what you are talking about doing. I'm not recommending this particular one, but here is an example of what I'm talking about.

Before you start of driving it for that distance, drive it locally a bit and see how it rides. If the axles/joints are in bad condition, you'll know it. As far as the worst case, the knuckle can break and the flapping axle will do all kinds of wonderful damage. Also find a shop that will throw it on a lift for you so you can get a good look at them yourself.

Generally speaking you should repair torn boots ASAP and beyond taking it to get repaired you shouldn't drive it. That said, I've put a few thousand miles on torn boots with no issues and I have no idea how long they were torn before I got the car (which was subsequently wreck before I got to that particular repair). Definitely not the recommended approach though

medent

I just talked to the mechanic that inspected the car and he said that although the boots are ripped, there is still some grease in there. And they don't make clunking sounds when driven with the wheels turned hard to either side.
But he says that they don't just repair boots since that would leave them liable. They would only replace the entire axle shaft with a new one from Porsche.
Opinions?

gnat

I might have missed it, but is it the inner or outer boots we are talking about? If it's the inner then the majority of the labor is the same (you have to pull the axle) so there would be no extra cost to him in replacing the full axle, but there would be the potential of some nice profit if he can get the shafts significantly cheaper than he charges you for them.

KrazyK

Im starting to have the same issue with the outer boots. The joints are usually fine its just that the boots cant take the extra stress caused by steering and constant movement when in the outer position. Remember they are probably original and now 10+ years old.

The good news is that they are cheap to replace provided you are going to DIY.

Capt. Obvious

It's about $50 in parts and will take an afternoon to DIY the boots on the axles. It's not particularly difficult to do, it's just messy and time consuming.

Macster

Well, my dealer tech talked me out of buying 2 new axle shafts for my 02 Boxster when the boots finally split/cracked. They had not been cracked/split for very long and were not in tatters so he suggested just dis-assembly, cleaning, inspection and if found ok repacking with grease and reusing. A bit cheaper than replacing. I was quoted around $900/axle for new parts.

So I gave him the go-ahead the tech found the axles just fine, the bearings just fine. A repack and new boots and done.

Been over a year ago now and at least 10K miles (at least) and so far things are still fine. I expect to get another 250K miles out out of the things.

BTW, years ago I had based on the advise of a tech at a Dodge dealer the CV joints in my D200 pickup replaced. Not too many days later one joint failed at the joint at the transmission and the drive shaft end at the transmission whipped around and broke the tail end of the transmission housing. The dealer accepted responsibility for the CV joint failure and replaced the driveshaft and the automatic (727 H-D model) with a factory new one.

So even new CV joints do not come without some risk.

But what should you do? Uh, I'll have to get back to you on that...

KrazyK

Just do what Darrick said. Not that hard, especially with air tool for boots. I think I have seen some DIY's for this but not sure. I may do a really nice one with pics and if it meets SP's standards I'll post it.

993GT

Hey Nick,
The inner and outer front CV axle boots are definitely available, cheap, and a replaceable item, good practice is to re-pack the CV joint while replacing the boot(minimal grease cost). I wouldn't worry to much about the drive home with it, try to avoid overly-high speeds(grease flies out) and dirty road/dust etc(contaminate and damage the Cv joint). The job itself is messy and takes a number of hours to do but is DIY possible for most; if you are looking for someone to do the job, PM me