CV Joints Leaking

[Justin Imel]

I have 01 vehicle that just hit 75k miles. (It was an old person’s car before I got it, in fantastic condition for a solid deal.)

I noticed both CV joints are leaking around the big band clamps towards the transmission. The boots are pliable and in good condition without tears, fading, or cracking. I’m thinking the clamps have either loosened up or the grease is just old (probably this).

The joints are silent, without vibration or play, and seem to be fine.

One has lost a decent amount of grease and the other just a little. Obviously if the one that lost a more has nothing inside when I pull the boot back I’ll just replace them.

Am I safe to cut the old clamps off, re-grease, and re-clamp them? Or should I just replace?

The cost to replace them will be about $120, plus more of my time and an alignment, versus $15 dollars tops for grease and clamps. The aftermarket clamps that I can get allow you to open them up so I don’t have to take the axles off the car to slip them around. I can borrow the clamp tool from a friend.

Topic

[Joaquin]

I will replace both no matter what the cost is against having a peace of mind knowing that they won’t fail for a long time. I tell you this from experience, cutting corners is never a good solution.

[Erik Lucas]

If its a subaru with stock axles id fix them for sure or you will get a vibration when stopped at lights. also Ive had bad luck with the cheap aftermarket axles, wearing out in 60000km usually. Sometimes better to fix. 75000miles isnt crazy high.

[Jake F]

Interesting replies. Sounds like the clips took a dive and unless there’s a handful of grease on the inside of your wheels, you might be okay with just throwing on some fresh C-clips with the proper tool. I’d still inspect the boots tho…

[Author]

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