axle woes?

[wallyip]

About three months ago I had my 02 986 S inspected at my local Porsche dealer. I was told that the rubber boots around the rear axles were broken, but since it was an expensive and tedious fix I could wait. Yesterday I took the car in for a different reason, but was told that the free inspection revealed that the axles were contaminated because of the broken rubber boots and needed to be replaced, on both sides, with a price tag in the thousands.

Can anyone comment on this? I'm clueless!

[JFP in PA]

About three months ago I had my 02 986 S inspected at my local Porsche dealer. I was told that the rubber boots around the rear axles were broken, but since it was an expensive and tedious fix I could wait. Yesterday I took the car in for a different reason, but was told that the free inspection revealed that the axles were contaminated because of the broken rubber boots and needed to be replaced, on both sides, with a price tag in the thousands.

Can anyone comment on this? I'm clueless!

First, I would comment that whoever first told you about the ripped boots did not reinforce the potential damage that would occur. With the boots torn, the grease lubricating the CV joints can come out (an usually makes one Hell of mess under the car), after which water will get in and slowly destroy the CV. You should not have continued to run the car with the boots ripped.

Second, it is usually cheaper to replace the axel assemblies once the CV’s have failed then to remove, disassemble and repair them; the issue is the amount of time it take to do the axel assembly rebuild. Now comes the fun part: A lot of shops have been replacing the OEM axels with aftermarket rebuilds out of China. These units are cheap, but nowhere near the quality of the OEM units. So specifically ask about the source………

In any case, this is going to cost you unless you are ready and able to do it yourself………..

[N41EF]

I did this over Thanksgiving. Ordered two new axel assmblies from Sunset. The price with shipping was just under $1,000. I bought a long set of allen sockets and a ball joint tool from Harbor Freight. It took me about 3 hours to do both sides including breaks to warm up and eat lunch. The dealer wanted something rediculous like $700 per shaft just for parts. It wasn't a hard job I used the guide from Pedro, and the Bently's manual.

All 4 of my boots were torn, my intention is to disasemle, clean and repack the joints with new boots, then vaccum bag them and put them on the garage shelf. This means the boots on the car will last forever since I have spares.

My research says the S cars with a 6-speed are harder on boots because of the angle the axels are at.

Sunset sells a "boot kit" that does each boot with clamps and grease, price is about $100 for all four. I'll rebuild mine this spring.

As far as if you ruined them, don't know, mine were torn, had thrown grease, but had no noise and feel smooth, can't really inspect them without taking them apart.

[martialmedia]

I have a 2003 S and I just removed, repacked, rebooted and re-installed my two half axles. It took me much longer than 3 hrs. More like 2 days, but I took my time and really cleaned the CVs out. Make sure you mark the Cams and clean the bolts that go into the transmission well so the lock-tite will stick.

[wvicary]

There are companies that rebuild these axles and take your old axles as a core value, some of them have a life time warranty. Mevotech and Cardone are just two that I have used in the past.