Both of my front axle seals seem to be leaking. Is there a replacement boot, or do I have to replace both axles?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

The axle seal is a seal in the transmission. It will leak when it wears out. Mine are dealing. The cv joint boot will sling grease when it gets worn out. If you catch it early you can just replace the grade and the boot. If you didn't and have vibration or clicking commuting from the axles you will need to replace the axles.

 

Re-boot them. It is messy fun!

If they do need to be replaced, Don't fall for cheap axles. If yours are bad, you are better off getting used OEM axles and rebooting them then wasting money on the cheap aftermarket versions.

 

Well Coopa is on blocks, rebuilding the tranny. She's on 18 inch HD Tuning Wheelspin's. Never really noticed any clicking but slight vibration maybe. So replacing them completely would be the suggestion gentlemen?


Sorry about the blurry second pic.



Btw, she's around 120k miles. Doubt they've ever been replaced.

 

A better picture.

 

Since you have them out, you might as well remove that boot the rest of the way and see if there is clean grease inside or gritty-crud. If it is still clean grease, then you can just re-boot. If there is grit inside, or you see any sort of scoring, wear, broken bits, then it needs to be replaced.

I still prefer to buy used (with good boots) OEM axles and reboot them myself (a used axle is around $60) then spending a similar amount of money on a _really_ poorly made knock-off.

Of course, new OEM axles would be great, if the $500 price doesn't slow you down...

 

There is also the drive shaft shop. They make high end axles but are $400 for a pair plus $75 shipping. I have a set in my garage waiting to go in. My oem axles went out at 160k. My cheap replacements lasted 70k and I have had a vibration for the last 6 months.

 

Wowee, $400 - $500 on axles! Will definitely check for crud, or good grease with no wear, and (hopefully) they can be rebooted.

If not I'll have to go with some cheap replacement, 70k miles doesn't sound too bad.

Thanks for the input, greatly appreciated guys!

 

Just for the hell of bringing this thread back to life...
So the MINI ran for about 800 miles, then my 3rd gear gradually died. Now I'm running without 3rd gear.

To rebuild again or time to go Mustang? :(