406oc.co.uk

Hi All
Just cleaned up the cv joint this afternoon. I bought one of those bailcast "stickyboot" cv boots as a quick fix to get the car back on the road looked like it might work as well. Got home and had a read of the instructions and it turns out that the inboard end of this boot is to small only goes upto 35mm. The cv boot i took off the car measured 40mm. Needless to say i took it back and got my £14 back.

Has anyone fitted a new cv boot recently? If so did you use the proper peugeot part or did you find a universal one to be okay? I had the o/s/f one changed last year by a local garage they used a universal cv boot and 2 days later i had a look underneath and the whole thing had come apart the metal wire had not been done up tight enough! Took the car back and they admited that they should have used the right part and they fixed it the same day!

So it looks like i might have to go to Peugeot again.
Is it hard to change the CV Boot? Bearing in mind i have the strut/spring removed while i'm rebuilding suspension after the spring snapped.
I've seen other cv boots that just require undoing the driveshaft nut and then sliding new boot over the top of the cv joint so theres no messing about with taking the driveshaft out uses a special tool to stretch the boot over the joint...........

If i use the driveshaft out method I guess I'll loose the gearbox fluid and probably need a new oilseal and dust washer for the inboard joint. Seems a lot of work just to change a rubber boot!

Any help or advice/what to look out for would be appreciated.
Thanks
Marco

Hi
First thing :- you will not loose much oil from the gearbox - just jack up a little higher on the up side with a tray to catch any drip. The CV detaches by removing the split pin and nut as you know (It'll be a pig with the strut off) . The shaft will require drawing over the hub with a three footed draw - not very tight usually. Get the whole shaft preferably in the vice. Remove the the gaiter clips, hold the shaft end parallel and with a soft drift knock the joint off the sliding shaft - it's held in with a small circlip wire that will be guided through with a chamfer on the inner boss. Sometimes can be awkward but should give with persistence. Don't get any muck in. When you fit the correct boot make sure there is no grease on the boot and contact surface of the CV outer housing cos it will be difficult to make it hold with the clip if it is all slippy and slimy. This will test your skill applying grease into a condom like thing and keeping the end dry. It is a good opportunity to examine the CV for wear using a strong magnifying glass to inspect all the surfaces for pits. Chuck it if in doubt. It is recommended that you also replace the gearbox drive shaft seal, though if it shows no weep age I have not done so and been ok. Hope this helps

Thanks for that bit of advice so from what you said i'd better get the strut/spring re-fitted before doing this job. Looks like i'll need that tool you talked about maybe the hire shop will have one......

I was having a look at the haynes book and the torque setting for the driveshaft nut is 325Nm looks like I'll need another torque wrench mine only goe's upto to 100Nm!

Marco, you will need to refit the strut first so that you can undo the nut, then remove it again to be able to remove the driveshaft from the hub.

With the nut screwed back on a few threads, use a block of wood and a hammer to hit the wood against the nut...the wood is to avoid damaging the driveshaft thread, if you have a copper or plastic hammer, use that instead...the shaft will move back easily, undo the nut and knock the shaft out.You will not need a 3 leg puller, I've never needed one in 30 odd years.

The modern method of fitting a new boot is to use "stretchy" boots and an air tool with prongs that fit inside the narrow end of the boot, air pressure is applied and the prongs spring out widening the boot big enough to make it fit over the outside of the CV joint,air pressure is reomved. Once fitted over the CV joint, CV grease is applied and the boot secured.

If you want to use old school methods, either remove the driveshaft, I've not done a 406 CV boot job for a while, but if I remember, there may be a bearing on the shaft, bolted to the engine or engine mounting, these bolts fit in direction of the shaft as it fits towards the gearbox, the left side does not have the bearing.If you take out the driveshaft you will lose about a litre of oil, no matter how high you get it.Consequently if it has the bearing on, this will need removing before you can fit the new boot from the gearbox side of the driveshaft (right hand side).

The other old school method, is to use a hammer with a plastic head and physically knock the CV joint off by hitting the outer metal casing of the joint very hard thereby jarring it off, refitting using this method means you have to compress a spring clip as you fit the CV joint onto the splines.....after fitting the new boot of course.

Don't worry too much about tightening the nut afterwards, tighten it as tight as you can get it, then use a large bar on the end of a T bar and tighten up tight before fitting a new clip to the shaft end.

Hi Jasper
I think i will go with the new method and use a stretchy boot. I doubt that a peugeot boot would go on with this method.
I've seen people using one of those cones that the boot just slips over. I was surprised that the "stickyboot" i tried today was no good the fat end of the boot was a perfect fit at 100mm but the smaller end was 35mm which was too small. I know they are not ideal and some folk frown upon them but they do seem to workas a quick fix.

I remember years ago when they 1st came out they just used to tear apart. The new ones have a tongue & groove on the join and use a special superglue with rubber particles in it.

The old method seems a lot of work for something that costs £10-£15............

marco2002 wrote:I was having a look at the haynes book and the torque setting for the driveshaft nut is 325Nm looks like I'll need another torque wrench mine only goe's upto to 100Nm!

The way I was told to do these is mark the nut to the driveshaft and (once it's loose of course) count the number of turns it takes to undo it, then you can put it back together in exactly the same place and the torque should be more-or-less the same. Or guesstimate it (325Nm is about 240lbf f, or my weight on a tube about 17" from the nut) and get your friendly local garage to torque it up right when you've done.

Cheers Steve
I'll remember that. Stretchy cv boot seems to be the easiest option off to the motor factors to get other parts to do the suspension on the other side now! I'll Probably need the tool to tension the metal band. Not in a position to pay £77 for a garage to do it.

Last one i had done at the garage came off after 2 days wasn't impressed at all .The metal band around the cv boot wasn't tight enough.....
Makes you wonder what they get upto at some of these garages if they can't get something like that right.

Sorry but I'm not getting the point of this "stretchy boot" - I remember my dad (Mr "I-can-do-any-damn-thing") making up a jig involving 3xmeter lengths of half-inch silver steel rod and a block of wood to fit cv boots to Renault 16s because the cv joints didn't come off the shafts but they do on the 406s (or at least it says so in Haynes ). As Longintooth says, all you need to do is tap the outer joint off the shaft - the cv boots should come with a new snap ring, although they don't do a hell of a lot once the shaft is in place. It's a bit more of a nuisance if it's the inner boot because you've still got to get the outer joint off to slide the boot down the shaft. I like to stand the shaft upright in a vice and clean it out with white spirit. If the ML5T is anything like the BX16valves (which is a BE3 I think) you will loose a little oil, just a dribble though. Could be a good excuse to change the oil in the 'box anyway.

Hi Steve

The stretchy boot is used with a fitting cone (saves splitting the cv joint from the driveshaft) you spray some lubricating fluid onto the cone turn the cv boot inside out slide the boot onto the cone and the slide the cvboot over the top of the cv joint. Because the cv boot is stretchy and has that much more give in it than a normal boot it will go over the cv joint then once it is over you turn the boot inside out again fill the joint with grease and whack on the metal ties and hey presto job done in 30 mins max!

I'm going to give this a go. It seems that a lot of garages use this method or an airgun method which is similar but has a set of prongs that enable the boot to go over the joint ican see why they would use this method it would obviously be cheaper. if you type stretch cv boot into a search engine you will see what i mean a lot of the companies even give you a demo to show you how its done.

My view is if this only takes 30mins then thats a good thing. I've never done one of these on a 406. I'm not sure of the timings if you do it the way it says in the haynes manual. I bet it takes more than 30mins though?

I'm not dissing anyone who uses the old school method far from it. If i had any doubts about the cv joint and thought it needed a close inspection then old school would be the way to go but seeing as the spring only damaged the inboard end of the cv boot . Its had a good clean up and it all looks fine so a new cv boot on it is all thats needed


Saved myself a fortune in labour at the garage. I reckon the cost of fitting new shocks/springs with new cv boot and drop link must be between £400-£500.
Its lucky i kept a set of spring compressors in the garage came in handy this time the only thing i didn't have was a 7mm hex socket for getting the nut off the top ofthe strut mount.

I live in a rural area the prices here are dear nearest peugeot independent is a 50 mile round trip so you can see why DIY is the best option.........

Moved to sunny Dorset last year. Love the place but it is expensive. I lived in the NE of scotland for 6 years and i have to say you could get parts and tools a lot easier there but thats just my opinion plus i had the best mechanic i've ever encountered Peugeot trained runs his own garage now 30 years experience plus his labour costs are a fair bit cheaper up north any problems i've ever had he would just ring me if there was any other jobs he could see needed doing and crack on with it. You could drop car off on way to work and pick up on way home. Great service never come across anyone to match it. Friendly bloke as well if you ask him what he he thinks he will tell you how to do it.

I really appreciate all the great advice i've had off everyone on here I think this website is the only place to go if you need a bit of advice. Thanks to Steve, Jasper, Longinthetooth and Teamster.

Steve, the stretchy boot thing is to make fitting new boots easy and fast, you only need to free the driveshaft out of the hub and remove the old boot, using the cone, or the modern air tool, the boot can be slipped over the outer part of the cv joint without removing it....much less time involved.For a garage this gives us maximum profit because it takes only about 20 minutes to replace the cv boot using stretchy boots.

I personally charge £50 fitted, I noticed that Supa was charged £85...the stretchy boots cost me £3-95 to buy, I make £46 for 20 minutes work.

I recently fitted one to a Suzuki Alto, took me 15 minutes tops.

Hi Jasper
Does The cv boot that peugeot supply stretch enough to go over the joint using the cone fitter? Also what make of boots do you prefer have u used any of the bailcast ones i think they are called duraboot?

But but but... Taking the driveshaft out of the hub is the hardest bit! It's plain sailing from there and it's easier to clean the joint out off the car too. It kind of makes sense for the inner joint though.

Another point with these shortcut methods Steve is they make an easy profit for the garage and many problems later for the owner. Can't check the Joint properly for wear, risk of more muck getting in, need a tool to do it, risk of tearing the boot. Just slip the thing out on the bench, if your doing it yourself, and do a proper job of it - you are not pressed to make a profit.

Also , not using a drawer to push the shaft out of a tight hub risks subjecting the CV to shock loads it was not designed for and possible damage to the threads on the shaft. These are typical fast short cuts used by garages, including not torquing up important nuts and swinging down on springs with big bars changing oils as a remedy for defects. Make any wonder there are so many problems.

Steve, to remove the driveshaft out of the hub is sooooo easy, you do not need pullers, some driveshafts merely push out using your fingers!!The hardest job is removing the ball joint or strut bolts, depending on how they are put together.

Longintooth, I said use a long bar to tighten up the nut, I personally use a 3 foot, 3/4 inch drive bar used for tightening truck wheel nuts, hardly going to leave it loose am I? A DIY person will not have a torque wrench just lying about.

It's so easy to clean off the old grease and repack it, why waste time taking the whole shaft off the car?

One important factor that you may have missed, I have to give a guarantee for all my work, I'm hardly likely to have people come back and have me do the job twice!!!

About making a profit....I'm hardly likely to want to do anything for free, I have bills to pay like anyone else, the sooner you turn around a job the better.

I've been in business for 28 years plus, I must be doing something right!!

Marco, these stretchy boots are for use with the cone and the air tool, the Peugeot ones wouldn't stretch that far.