

| Subject: | Re: Cheapo CV Boot repair(emergency only) |
| From: | craig cowan |
| Date: | Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:52:48 -0400 |
I have some giant marine shrink rap in various sizes (Carry it in an "OH SHIT" bag that goes with me in my bus when I travel, and on the boats when I "work".). Believe it or not, you can purchase 4-5'' shrink wrap, even the good stuff with the glue in it. Once, I repaired a CV this way on bus when the boot went bad. I had a new boot in a box, but didn't want to put the effort into fixing it, so I sliced the shrink wrap length wise, wrapped it over the boot, and used a soldering iron to singe the two ends back into a tube, then a blow torch and a screw driver to shrink it down "just snug" over the boot. It held for a year untill I rebuilt the axles (And restored the entire drivetrain with a Zetec engine....). The point is, they make giant shrink wrap, and it's great. Heck I just busted out a roll of the 3/4'' stuff last weekend to wrap the ends of the hemp around my shifter knob-shaft. If you haven't wrapped your shifter-knob-shaft in hemp yet and put a giant wooden shift ball on the top, you're missing out. Best upgrade i've made. Shift knobs the size of a baseball rock! -Craig '85GL turned WESTY BOSTIG in the back '87 SUNROOF Syncro (Hopefully taking for it's first ever test drive this weekend!!!!!!!) On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@gmail.com>wrote: > Now that's what I'd like to see in a "Glad Wrap" or "Saran Wrap" > commercial..... :) > > > > On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 3:05 PM, Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@cfu.net > >wrote: > > > Our Subie Outback had a front inner boot blow and not having the cash > > for a new axle jsut yet, I got creative for a "keep the rest of the > > grease in there until I can fix it" shade tree repair. Most Walmarts > > and Harbor Freights have these small rolls of shrink wrap for > > shipping stuff and such and they come with like a white plastic > > handle for the wrapping part. The roll is maybe 7-8" in width. In > > additon to that, I used part of a roll of 3M 33+ electrical tape and > > a pair of semi sharp scissors or maybe a razor type knife might work too. > > > > The inner boot on the Subie(and Syncro for that matter) is pretty > > congested in there making the rolling of the shrink wrap around the > > old boot somewhat difficult, so I jacked up the vehicle and had y > > wife manually spin the right front tire while I fed the shrink wrap > > through the smallest of gaps above the exhaust. I went back ands > > forth over the entire area from axle to CV joint buit didn't put a > > lot of pressure nthe stretch wrap. Snug, but not way tight. I made > > sure I was rolling the wrap so the end flap was pointing to the rear > > for roation's sake, and then had her rotate slowly and I covered it > > more or less with the electrical tape too. > > > > My thinking was that the width and elasticity of the shrink wrap in > > combo with the ability of the electrical tape to stick to clean > > shrink wrap, maight jus t make a decent temporary boot. We've driven > > it for a few days with positive results so far. I didn't try to heat > > shrink the wrap over the old boot, but that may make a slightly > > cleaner temporary fix. I would feel lucky to have access to a heat > > gun during a roadside repair. > > > > Anybody ever tried this fix??? I'm thinking the inboard CV's on the > > Vanagon could benefit from this, but how you'd feed that shrink wrap > > inside the hub housings, good luck with that. > > > > YMMV > > > > Max > > >
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