My 88 CRX Si needs a new driver's side outer boot. I had intended to try to track down a new or used boot by itself and just replace the split one while I was replacing the hubs. However, a friend of mine suggested that it might be easier to just replace the whole axle with a boot already on it. I'm not used to working with a car this old where parts are so cheap, so that didn't occur to me. Is that the way to go? How do you guys do it? Thanks!

 

yes that is the way to go both axles stock coast you around 150 bucs its realy easy to do!

 

My .02-

Rebuild kit from Honda = $50 ish, You have to buy the entire kit, which includes the grease and boots for both the inner and outer boots.

Core exchanged axle - $75 from local parts store.

Save yourself the time and hassle of rebuilding and swap the entire axle for a 'new' one, an axle swap on that car is a 15-20 min job with the right tools

-Todd

 

So are you saying that I should buy the rebuild kit from Honda (since I have no reason to believe that my joint is bad, and I have tested it)?

What is a good source for a "new" (I assume that's a rebuilt unit) axle with boots and everything?

 

Remanufactured is the only way to go!! Not rebuilt, big difference. Around here at Pep Boys or Autozone, axles are remanufactured and some come with a lifetime warranty, all setting you back 60-70 with core. Just to put the boot on the outer joint means having to take apart the inner joint as well, so you would require a full boot kit as long as you're that far, and for the cost of the kit Vs. purchasing a remanufactured axle, you'll want to go with a remanufactured for the reliability of newer parts. It's not worth the hassle to rebuild an old and probably tired axle.

 

Got it! So I'll need to pull the axle and bring the core to autozone (or pepboys, or wherever) and swap it out for a remanufactured axle that will include all the necessary boots, etc. Sounds easy enough.

Last question. Are all remanufactured axles created equal? A lifetime warranty is great, but I don't want anything to fail on the track. Thanks!

 

In my endevours I've found that if it looks like a good well built axle, it probably is. If it looks like it has a crappy paint job and no rubber doughnut like factory, and just generally looks crappy right out of the box, it probably is real crappy. If you're using a factory setup, you shouldn't ever have any problems with a remanufactured axle.

 

While I agree that going remaned is easier and the better choice, it should be noted that you can replace the outer boot without removing the inner. I've done this numous times. The outer joints pop off with a little force. Honda might not recommend it, but they don't recommend a lot of things that we all do on a regular basis. If you took the car to a mechanic to replace the boot, they would just pop it off. I've done it and put tens of thousands of hard miles on axels and never had any problems at all because of this.

Either way though, just get a replacement. Word of caution though. PEP boys sells DX (pink or green stripe) axels as Si replacements. I don't know if there is a difference or not, but advance auto sells the orange stipe like all of the Si's I've ever seen have as Si axels. I've never measured them, but the CV's look different to me. Like I said, I'm really 0% sure on this, but look in to it.