CV boots and rear brake shoe

[Crystal Shine]

Folks,

While the body shop is working on my 2000 Boxster S with 59,000 miles for the accident that happened last month, they found out the CV boots are bad on the driver's side and the rear brake pads are thin.

All 4 shocks had been removed already for the body repair, therefore, the CV joints are right there and only connecting with the transmission/engine at this moment.

Questions:

1) It looks pretty simple to remove the cv joints and intalled the new boots myself. I am planning to remove the 6 bolts that connection the transmission with the cv joints and put the new cv boots. Is there anything I should be aware? special tools? Please advise what to do.

2) Do I need to buy the shoes for the rear brake pads? No tracking or hard driving, 1st to change since new. 59,000 miles.

Thank you for reading.

Edited August 29, 2006 by Crystal Shine

[sleepy]

Replacing the CV boots is not a terrible job, but messy, and involves disassembling the CV joint, cleaning it, and repacking. The only special tools would be a set of cv boot pliers (for re-fitting the boot clamps) and whatever special bit is required to fit the cv joint bolts (can't remember the shape, off the top of my head). There are at least 2 decent sets of instructions for rebuilding cv joints available online...

But maybe you can clear something up for me - the car is still at the body shop? Are you able to work on it there? Because if you are, you'll need to figure out a way to counter-torque the axle when you're removing the cv joint bolts. If you're going to do this after you get the car back, then just be aware that getting the axle out is a little involved...

As for the "brake shoes" - do you mean for the parking brake? Unless I'm misunderstanding how the rear brakes work, you should only have to replace the pads.

Edited August 30, 2006 by sleepy

[tommy914]

Replacing the CV boots is not a terrible job, but messy, and involves disassembling the CV joint, cleaning it, and repacking. The only special tools would be a set of cv boot pliers (for re-fitting the boot clamps) and whatever special bit is required to fit the cv joint bolts (can't remember the shape, off the top of my head). There are at least 2 decent sets of instructions for rebuilding cv joints available online...

where can I find instructions on cv joint rebuilds?

thanks

Tommy

[pjslowik]

Volkswagen factory manuals have an excellent section on CV joint disassembly and boot replacement. It should be similar, if not identical, for the Porsche joints. I have been refurbishing the original joints on my 87 GLI for 240,000 miles. They go through front boots about every 100k, but sometimes I do them if I have the axel(s) out, even if they are good.

CV joints are self-correcting for wear. If you clean and replace boot soon after boot damage, and prevent galling from lack of grease, they can last for 00's of 000's of miles.