drive shaft rubber gaiters

[Ally]

Has anybody fitted a new boot gaiter from caterham for the drive shafts? Does anybody know if the boot gaiter kit is cheaper from a Ford garage (I preume the drive shafts are from a Ford Sierra) Is this the best option, or I understand that there may be a kit that you can fit while the drive shaft is on the car?

 

GC

[irrotational]

You *can* buy the rubber gaiter from any motor factors - I searched on here and got three different part numbers, none of which matched the supply at my local place - they looked up a sierra in their magic book and got it down to a choice of two - One was noticeably larger than the other and was incorrect...

 

The idea is that you get a large plastic cone, slide the gaiter over it using silicone spray as lubricant, place the cone onto the end of the driveshaft and slide it over the large metal can.

 

The driveshaft has one thing at each end blocking this technique - the diff and the brake disc/hub assembly.

 

If you want to keep the driveshaft on the car then youll need to remove the hub, using a 41mm spanner and 200lbfeet of torque.

 

The other way is to unbolt the ear from the dedion and pull the driveshaft out of the diff - you can then slide them on from the diff end...you'll need to catch any oil that comes out of the diff and replace it afterwards!

 

After researching all this i got as far as sliding the boot down the cone and couldnt get it anywhere near strecthed enough! Just wouldnt budge!

 

In the end i took it to a caterham specialist who did it properly, pulling apart the CV joints, cleaning them and re-greasing them from scratch. They said they had tried the stretchy technique several times in the past and the boots were always weakened/ripped.

 

Plus if the original has split badly you may have dirt in the CV joint in which case a new boot will just seal it in and leave it to grind away in the joint.

 

Unless you can pull apart CV joints, or find a stretchier supply of boots I'd suggest getting a garage to do it....

 

 

 

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my mind is blank....

[Jason Plato]

repair kit from ford is : ford part 1058427 @ about £11 per boot

 

I tried the duraboots kit but when used on the drivers side they rub against themselves and failed in 5K miles. The nearside was Ok .

 

I took mine to a transmission specialist who replaced them all for £24 per shaft labour - I figured that it wasnt worth all the aggro of what is a orrible dirty 5 handed job if I did them myself

 

here is C7 TOP

Taffia rear gunner

 

[Ally]

Dave

 

Who was the transmission specialist?

 

GC

[Jason Plato]

Based in South Wales and do transmissions ........

 

South Wales TransmissionsUnit A-B/Valley House/Pantglas Ind Est, Bedwas, Caerphilly, CF83 8DR

 

Tel:029 2085 2010

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here is C7 TOP

Taffia rear gunner

 

 

Edited by - Dave Jackson on 25 Jul 2008 15:32:33

[Jason Plato]

the £24 was plus a box of pies 😶‍🌫️

 

here is C7 TOP

Taffia rear gunner

 

[elie boone]

Working with a Welshmen ( Blenylice ? )i know they can be a bit weird but that they have 5 hands i do the job with 2 hands and a bench vice 😬

[Tony Whitley]

We changed the one on the Calvert's car in the paddock at Llandow under Dave J's technical guidance (i.e. he made sure he didn't get his hands dirty 😬) For the "large plastic cone" we used a pop bottle slit to make a cone shape and then a LOT of force to stretch the small hole over the CV joint, the whole process strangely reminiscent of childbirth (or was that just me ). The only way to do it was hold the drive shaft vertically and push the gaiter down with all your weight behind it (praying it didn't slip on suddenly and impale you on the end of the driveshaft )

[Englishmaninwales]

I can recommend Raceline for this.