Front axle boot repair

[BimmerPower]

Heavy do you happen to have any more pictures of you zippered boot install? I'd like as much info as possible before I attempt it!

 

[Heavysteven]

Not really of the zipper boot. In that last one you can see the inner and outer grove that need to be cleaned. Here is a picture of the front axle on jacks. You can see the guards that need to be removed.

If this is your first time I would pull the hub. Picture of that to

 

[Munk]

Heavysteven, how long did the silicone boots last for you? Do you put a lot of miles on your truck?

 

[Clay James]

I'm curious about this too. I just put some on the trucks I'm doing. The new rubber ones only lasted a few months before becoming totally dry rotted. All of these new ones are from China I would much rather pay more for quality US made ones like the trucks come with. The ones that came on my M109A3 aren't dry rotted at all and they're over a decade old I'm sure.

 

[littlebob]

Heavysteven, how long did the silicone boots last for you? Do you put a lot of miles on your truck?

I'm curious too, I replaced mine a couple of years ago with the non zipper, non silicone ones from OD Iron and they didn't last but a little over a year. I don't want
to do it every year and a half.

 

[OverSizeHeavyHauler]

Do they make a Zippered Silicone boot? if so, wouldnt that be the best of both worlds (ease of installation and longevity tah boot)

 

[Flyingvan911]

I haven't seen any silicone zipper boots. I wish they did. I just got a pair of silicone boots from Erik's. I will put them on soon. It is hard to find quality stuff these days.

 

[tah081]

wow I hope they last a little longer than that. No worries if ya did sound like a commercial Barrman because he does have great parts. I found the whole kit for something like $150.

$150 per side or both sides?

 

[Munk]

I just installed the 4th set of zipper style boots. Any feedback on these silicone boots.

 

[bsorcs]

I put the [nasty green] silicone boots on in November 2010 in the course of a complete brake and bearing job...1st venture into deuce work. Wasn't particularly difficult. Suggest clean everything really well and be patient; it's not eye surgery. Subsequently recovered a boat...Az to sw Oregon and back, then drove Tucson to New Orleans...~8K of machinery in the back, towing ~10K of boat an stuff. Looked at the boots yesterday; they appear to be intact...no cracks seen or felt. Observed tiny leakage at outer two of the lower bolts [see pic] on both front hubs.

 

[Tinwoodsman]

Bsorcs, I did the exact same boots and cleaned everything. I notice the same leak on one side but very slight. ????

 

[DeucesWild11]

Bsorcs, that's go to be the cleanest axle/wheel hub I have ever seen on a Deuce.. great job!.. I hope I get mine looking that good someday.. Now that I just picked up a Blast Cabinet..one part at a time..

 

[Munk]

Bsorcs, this is good to know. I didn't want to p[ost right away as soon as i heard about the silicone boots, but wanted to see how they were gonna hold up over some time. Thank you for the reply.

 

[buddy_holly]

I don't have the one-piece boots apparently? I wasn't familiar with these and at first I thought they were busted since there was grease coming out where it's split but that's normal? Or am I just wishfully thinking?

 

[Tinwoodsman]

Looks like a zipper to me!!

 

[DieselBob]

I enlarged the image and it looks to be torn in the indicated area.

 

[buddy_holly]

So, dumb question, it's not supposed to be split like that? I'm in AZ so this thing won't be going through a swamp or anything like that anytime soon but I'd like to get ahead of the repair curve while she's still in rather good shape and I have time to learn before stuff starts going wrong with it.

 

[DieselBob]

So, dumb question, it's not supposed to be split like that? I'm in AZ so this thing won't be going through a swamp or anything like that anytime soon but I'd like to get ahead of the repair curve while she's still in rather good shape and I have time to learn before stuff starts going wrong with it.

Correct, it should not have that opening. They should be totally sealed. I would repair as soon as possible. Not only does that boot keep out water but also dirt, sand and any other debris kicked up going down the road.

 

[Tinwoodsman]

Besides B-H, you will miss the fun of doing it.

 

[DeucesWild11]

Yeah looks like its leaking out the zipper. check it out and see how bad it is. You probably have to replace either way but the zippers do leak to a point. When you do replace there is some sort of silicone or something similar that you smear on the inside of the zipper to keep it from leaking. That being, you zip it up seal it and then flip it over and clamp down.. at least that is how I understand it. I haven't done mine yet but I don't drive mine regularly.