=========================================================================
Date:         
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Edward Claiborne Gould" <CLAIBORN@cw-f1.umd.umich.edu>
Subject:      

Date sent:      Wed, 6 Mar 1996 12:16:07 EDT

=========================================================================
Date:         
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         
Subject:      your c.v.s'

=========================================================================
Date:         
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Edward Claiborne Gould" <CLAIBORN@cw-f1.umd.umich.edu>
Subject:      

Date sent:      Wed, 6 Mar 1996 12:06:45 EDT

=========================================================================
Date:         
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         
Subject:      your c.v.s'

In response to your split c.v. boot, I recommend completely 
disassembling all 4 joints, along with cleaning, repacking, and 
replacing the boots.  I just did the job on my '72 and it wasn't 
nearly as bad as some people make it out to be.  Doing the whole job 
because of one split boot may seem like a lot of extra work but it's 
not if you look at the big picture.  When i did mine, I got the 
german boot kit, and factory grease.  Two tubes for each joint.  The 
total for that came to around $68 but i don't expect to be doing it 
again for a LONG time.  The main reason i recommend cleaning and 
repacking all joints is because you may have one or more getting 
ready to go and not know it.  Also, when was the last time they were 
repacked?  I think that's supposed to be a 30,000 mile job.  Anyway, 
I thought i had one bad joint but as it turns out, the other three 
were about to have their revenge.  I ended up replacing all four at a 
price of $35 per used original joint.  As for a time scale, It took 
40 minutes to remove all the joints and about an hour and a half to 
reinstall them.  The time in between really depends on how bad the 
joints are, if you can reuse them, count on about 2.5 hours to 
disassemble, clean, and change the boots.  If you need to buy joints, 
count on an overnight wait for parts.  
    The job seriously isn't that bad.  If you decide to do it or want 
more information, write me and i will give you a detailed decription 
of what to do and a bunch of tricks i came up with to make the job 
easier.
good luck.
Ed.