My st185 celica all trac has a busted front axle boot. I was planning on replacing the entire axle with a new unit, but I ran out of time. I am now at school, away from space and tools... I've already driven 500 or so miles on the axle..My question is this, how much longer can the axle hold up? will anything worse happen? I'm trying to stay away from taking my car into the shop, I would much rather try to fix it myself and save $$$ at the same time....
I got a feeling that if you've driven that far on a CV with a busted boot, the joint is totally shot.
It will probably last a couple years like that, then unless you can get new ones from somewhere, you can replace it with an autozone rebuild, and get a free replacement once year when the rebuilt joints wear out. For only 500 miles, i think id try to put a new boot on it, becasue new joints (not rebuilt garbage) are probably $150+ each.
Depends on how much dirt has gotten into the cage. Wrap some gaffer tape around it, topped by a GRM sticker to make it truly water proof, and you'll be OK until Thanksgiving break.
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I usually get about 100k miles on a bare CV joint.
smog7 wrote: My st185 celica all trac has a busted front axle boot. I was planning on replacing the entire axle with a new unit, but I ran out of time. I am now at school, away from space and tools... I've already driven 500 or so miles on the axle..My question is this, how much longer can the axle hold up? will anything worse happen? I'm trying to stay away from taking my car into the shop, I would much rather try to fix it myself and save $$$ at the same time....
My "HalfTrac" had a busted axle boot when i bought it a year and a half ago. I put 25k miles on it before the boot finally completely disappeared, and i couldn't get the cup side out of the axle out of the tranny, and the parts store gave me the wrong axle anyways. (I had a flange type, they gave me the earlier spline type, brilliant!)
Soooo... Yeah. I cleaned out the cup and the bearing end, repacked it, and threw another boot on there.
It's held with no problems or noises for about 5k miles since then.
Unless it's going to take you a year to get to it, i wouldn't worry too much.
If you're in the north (snow and slop area) I'd fix it sooner than later. But a month or 2 of local driving shouldn't hurt.
I drove my sentra for a solid year with both cv boots completely ripped, slushy Ohio winter included.
It wasn't until after a rallycross or two that they started voicing any complaints, at which point I promptly replaced them.
Probably safe to drive until you start hearing loud crunchy noises. Then the CV joint will give out.
Couldn't you test the strength of the CV joint by cranking the boost up to 400+ HP, putting racing slicks on it and doing holeshots on pavement? That should tell you if it will hold long enough to get you home. Yeah, that test should be in the book somewhere.
Dr. Hess wrote: Couldn't you test the strength of the CV joint by cranking the boost up to 400+ HP, putting racing slicks on it and doing holeshots on pavement? That should tell you if it will hold long enough to get you home. Yeah, that test should be in the book somewhere.
I heard that the CT26 is COMPLETELY detonation-proof at 400+hp.
That's just what i heard! 
If it's not making any noises, put a new boot on it and go. If it clicks while turning, replace the joint.
yes, the clicking is a GOOD sign all is not well in CV land
I stand corrected 
thanks for the advice guys.
I'm thinking I will just replace the entire thing since rockauto list a reman. half shaft for $50 with core exchange.
93celicaGT2 wrote:Dr. Hess wrote: Couldn't you test the strength of the CV joint by cranking the boost up to 400+ HP, putting racing slicks on it and doing holeshots on pavement? That should tell you if it will hold long enough to get you home. Yeah, that test should be in the book somewhere.I heard that the CT26 is COMPLETELY detonation-proof at 400+hp. That's just what i heard!
E36 M3, i'm already at 600awhp with my stock ct26 and top mount
According to an article The Mag about 3 years ago, it's always best to get a new, not reman half shaft. They usually aren't too much more. Reasons come down to worn out ball holder thingies, etc. So, either get a proper boot kit with magic grease, circlips, etc., and do that yourself (major PITA), or buy a new half shaft. And if you're going to just put a new one in, then you can do that 400 HP load test on the old one and put the video up on youtube so we can all laugh, I mean critique it.
I agree with the good Dr. I remember going through a number of remanufactored half shafts in my old Hyundai Excel until I finally bit the bullet and bought a brand new one.. no problems after that
When I got my Civic wagon it did the telltale clicking at full lock indicating a bad CV joint. Being dumb, I ran it another year anyway (admittedly not a lot during the summer - I took my bike whenever weather allowed). Eventually, not only would it click, but sometimes, at certain speeds, a certain resonance would kick in, causing a vibration the passenger could feel through the footwell (it was on the right front wheel). When I finally replaced it, a year after I got the car, the inner CV joint FELL APART as I removed it. 
It also seems that my transmission fluid leak was coming from the right axle seal. I suspect that all the vibration the bad joint allowed also made the seal go bad.
So you can get away with it for a little while, but the longer you put it off, the more parts the bad CV joint might take out with it.
that is the same with any bad part. Eventually it will get so bad it will start breaking other parts
If it's not clicking, it's not worn out.
I had a friend with a VW Fox. It kept eating outer CV joints to the point thy would just explode and free wheel without warning, the boot would even be mostly intact. It always happened close to my house so I would go tow him to my shop and put a reman axle in in about 30 min. he was too cheap to buy new ones, so cheap infact he wouldnt spring for a timing belt. When the belt broke we pulled the tag off of it and left it on the side of I-75 in south side Atl. Never heard another word about that car.
So plus one on a new axle. I need to do the drivers side on my wifes Altima this month. Rock Auto is the place to go.
so new axle as in toyota oem?? that's pretty expensive
Well, I dunno 'bout them fancy Four Wheel Drive 'Yotas, but I buy new axles fer my Two Wheel Drive 'Yotas at O'Reilley's.
They aren't that expensive. I think a pair for the AE92 was only like $40-50 more than remans.
smog7 wrote:93celicaGT2 wrote:E36 M3, i'm already at 600awhp with my stock ct26 and top mountDr. Hess wrote: Couldn't you test the strength of the CV joint by cranking the boost up to 400+ HP, putting racing slicks on it and doing holeshots on pavement? That should tell you if it will hold long enough to get you home. Yeah, that test should be in the book somewhere.I heard that the CT26 is COMPLETELY detonation-proof at 400+hp. That's just what i heard!
The sad thing is that i loathe those damn turbos with the wrath of a thousand suns.... and of course. My daily driver has a 57trim CT26 on it. Go figure, huh? And it's not even a Toyota. Kill me now.
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