Well spent the whole weekend under the Jeep to put new bushings in. Now it won't start/run I assume this is just horrible luck.

I noticed on Thursday that my MINI has a torn inner CV boot on the passenger side so I was depending on the Jeep to get me to and from work this week till I get the new CV boot kits I ordered (the MINI stealership her in Austin charges $75 per boot )

It's been about 104 here, my commute is about 24 miles round trip (mostly highway). I know I'm "on God's time" with this CV joint but figured I would get thoughts on how long I can safely drive this, as I don't think I have much of a choice right now.

 

IMO, none. That joint is spinning around many times per second. If there's no lube in there you're going to run it dry, replace the boot, then have to replace the joint/axle shortly thereafter. You could try a temporary split boot, or even a wad of duct tape. 120 miles on a boot you know is blown is rolling the dice.

 

Imo is the boot has been torn for an unknown length of time, it is likely grit has alreadygotten in it....so you might be best served replacing the cf joint and the boot...
To reboot a bad joint is a waste of time.

 

weeks or even a month or two and typically ok. Longer than that and joint is likely accumulating too much grit internally. Depends on total miles sriven and some on time of year/weather, and local conditions--water carrying winter road grit not good, dust not good, etc.

My experience is from many front Audi boots over 10 different cars and probably close to 1 million cumulative miles. Had axles/joints go bad if neglected for many months/year plus [some really old Audis had axles that could not be removed w/ out a press, and that was on a good day!]. Usually no issues (which start as clicking noise usually on sharp turns) for short term failure to fix. Pending repair, if I noticed the grease seemed to come out excessively, I would just apply some more bearing grease in through the tear as a stopgap too, trying to smear it on the interacting metal parts of course--what's a little more grease to clean up if it already went everywhere anyway...

And if it is clicking by the time you replace the boot, figure it's all over for the joint longer run anyway and time to get a new one (or full half axle). Your good news too is its the inner--subject to less general wear and stress since it doesn't take all the turning movement the outer ones do.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't been experiencing any tell tell signs of a bad CV joint (i.e. clicking when turning, or wheels feeling heavy). I'm gonna try to close the boot with zipties/duct tape for the time being. Should I go ahead and add some grease for good measure?

I ordered new boots but it is starting to sound like I'm gonna have to plop down $600 for a new CV shaft at this point, as I've heard the aftermarket CV shafts are crap.

I do notice if I fully take my foot off the accelerator while driving and jam it to the floor quickly the car pops before starting it acceleration. This car also has bad FCA Bushings so I assume this is more of a symptom from that than the CV joint? This car is starting to feel like a huge mistake, I've only had it for a month and have spent almost every weekend underneath it. :(

 

Ok pulled the right axle shaft (surprisingly easy) and I got the inner joint apart using a towel, socket that fit the shaft and ball joint puller from Harbor Freight (worked like a dream). The grease was thin and felt gritty. I got everything cleaned up and there is nothing about the metal that indicated wear. Because the process was so easy I think I'm just going to clean everything, regrease and put on new boots. I figured this is a good alternative to a $400 new driveshaft and if I end up needing one I don't see it taking more than an hour and a half to do the job again (P/N 31607574850, ECStuning has the best prices for this part).

I'm gonna go ahead and do new ball joints and front control arm bushings while everythings apart. I'm suprised people are dropping the subframe for that job unless they just have to change the sway bar bushings.