Nissan CV Boot Replacement

How To Replace CV Boots:

(Applies to most Nissans except the Quest)

The simple gist of it: Put the front end of the car up on jack stands. Remove the left front wheel. Remove the retainer pin for the center hub nut. Remove the center hub nut (BIG breaker bar and 32 or 36 mm socket, car in park, 2nd person standing on the brake pedal). The 2 bolts that hold the strut to the spindle need to be removed. The ABS cable running around behind the strut needs to be unattached from the strut (so you dont break your ABS wires). The clip holding the brake line to the strut removed and the brake line unattached from the strut (neither of those 2 items need to be disconnected from their ends,only detached from the strut before removing the 2 bolts in the strut). Pry the spindle out of the strut mount.

Now, the whole brake rotor and spindle should move pretty freely. Slip the brake hose under the strut end to get it out of the way. Screw the large hub nut on until its outer edge is flush with the end of the threads. Hit it with a hammer (preferably deadblow with rubber head or plastic mallet) until it slides in. Rotate your steering wheel (left for the right axle and right for the left axle). Pull the axle the remainder of the way out of the spindle as you should be able to move the spindle around pretty easy. You would have had to have completed all that to do the axle as well.

Now, here’s how to get the joint off the shaft: Rotate your axle so the clamp that holds the boot on the shaft has its retainer pointing up. Both the inner clamp and outter clamps should have their retainers up. That is the trick to making this job a whole “hell of alot” easier. If it is still a factory axel, those clamps signify how the retainer clip on the axle is setting. It should be setting with its split up too. Now, make sure the boot is split all the way around so it will seperate in half. If it’s not, help it split the rest of the way. Now, take your hub nut and thread it back onto the shaft and grab the end with your hand (place your hand between the nut and the face of the CV joint for better grip). Smack the lip of the cv joint, boot side, with the boot half still on it till it pops off. Remove the boot pieces from the axel and the joint.

Wipe the grease off the axel and slide the small clamp onto the axel. The new CV boot will need to be stretched a bit to get it on. Make sure the axel retainer clip has its gap toward the top at all times and dont let it catch the boot and get half cocked on the shaft. If it becomes distorted, it could make getting the cv joint back on really miserable. That clip is the worst part of this job and can make or break ya, so be sure it always will participate with what you are doing. Always have the gap in the clip up. Once you have the boot on the axel clamp it down in its original location. Repack your CV joint with the grease supplied with it. Now quick retainer clip check. Set up your CV joint on the axel and slide it on until it butts up against the clip. Make sure it’s on the axel straight. Your nut should still be on the joint at this point. Grab the joint in the same place while holding it with some pressure against the retainer clip. Smack it with the deadblow hammer or use a light hit with the sledge and it should pop on. You should not have to beat it on. If, after a couple of good hits, it hasn’t just popped on, you will need to pull it back off and see if the retainer clip rolled up onto the shaft and fix it. This whole process, without problems, should take about an hour with hand tools or 45 minutes with power tools.

I strongly recommend the factory boot too. It comes with a tube of grease to repack the CV joint. Also, the factory CV boot is a better quality then the aftermarket ones. This should not be done if the grease has mostly escaped and the remaining grease is all dried out. That would mean the bearing has suffered wear. It may not be clicking at the time but it may start after doing the boot.

Information provided by:NISTECH