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Hey folks,
I take my lifted Transit AWD down some pretty gnarly roads on the regular. That's my preferred usage, and I have zero plans of changing that. I'm aware there are ongoing costs of such usage, and I'm fine with that. Please, just assume this thread mostly applies to owners who have similar usage patterns. If that's not you, no sweat, just ignore it.
With that in mind, it appears the front inner passenger CV boot is not only exposed, but the material Ford uses is so stiff it's almost like plastic. Once the Ford CV boot material is depressed sufficiently by a small rock or other debris, it will permanently deform and/or puncture quite easily, then throw grease everywhere. At some point if you get enough dust/dirt/water into the joint, it'll fail, possibly causing other damage in the process.
I spoke with Van Compass and they said they get calls about this, and may even put together an upgrade kit. Fortunately, the driver side inner cv boot appears to be somewhat less exposed, although it's that same stiff material. And even though an aftermarket boot vendor said generally speaking outer boots rupture far more often than inner, on the Transit it appears the outer boots are somewhat better protected by the control arm. That may explain why all the forum posts I found on cv boot issues were only for the passenger inner, which is the same one I ruptured. I asked VC about a plate to protect it, but they felt like the ford boot material was the real culprit.
If you take your rig to a Ford service department with a ruptured cv boot, they'll only replace the entire passenger front axle, total cost around $500-$600, and now you have the same crummy Ford cv boot that will just rupture again someday. And they won't upgrade the boots to an aftermarket set, so obviously I'm not going that route.
You'd think upgrading to better cv boots would be easy, but aftermarket ones have to be expanded over the CV joint using a pneumatic tool or a sketchy but doable greased cone trick. Some split boots can be glued together, but they just don't look appealing to me. For the better expanding boot options, you have to remove the front axle, or maybe you could do it with the axle still installed and the vehicle on lift jacks while you try to stretch and shove the boot on, but you'd still have to remove the hub, and I can't tell just how much work that involves. You also need a tool for the CV boot clamps, a torque wrench (which I probably should own anyways), and the pneumatic expansion tool costs $230 while the greased "cone" trick has many people saying they ruptured the boot trying it.
I found a local garage that already has the pneumatic tool and says they can do it, and I just ordered some really nice high-angle silicone CV boots from a website Van Compass directed me to, but I'd like to double check the garage's work.
I believe removing the front axle will cause some of the front differential lubricant to drain, and the site I bought the upgraded boots from said they usually drain it to avoid making a mess when you remove the axle. UPDATE: my local guy says with the van jacked up on one side very little will drain. But if you do want to drain and refill, see posts later in this thread. I was able to get the front diff fluid info from my local Ford service tech, and sure enough it's not the same as the rear, which you can easily lookup in your owner's manual; ignore the fact that this lubricant is marketed for rear diffs, see top left below; this is for the front per Ford:
![Rectangle Font Material property Screenshot Parallel]()
If anyone has removed the passenger front axle on an AWD for any reason (@cosmicjumperalex ?), and can provide input on how easy that is (or not), please let me know. I'm half tempted to just do this job myself. The driver's side inner boot is somewhat better protected by the subframe, but it's possible I'll want to upgrade it someday as well, so learning now could help me avoid paying that shop twice. Right now I just want to do the passenger side and drive it for a month or two.
Here's my passenger inner cv boot damage. I drive through thick sand with small rocks fairly often, so this will happen again on an OEM ford boot. It's possible I got a little sand in there, but centripetal force has been flinging the packed grease out from the moment this happened, and I caught it pretty quickly (3-4 days after), so I think if I clean out the joint before repacking with fresh grease, it's probably fine. It's not making any metallic clicking or grinding noises, although the deformed boot does sometimes make a rubbery flipping sound at low speeds.
![Automotive tire Water Tire Tread Synthetic rubber]()
Below is a photo, and here's a link for the nice upgraded silicone boots I ordered from this site Van Compass directed me to (they didn't send ship confirmation, but they shipped very fast). VC originally pointed me to that cheaper set from the same site, but I want to try the high angle ones. They seem to have the right number of folds, and look like they fit well on this guy's install who had the same boot failure issue. He doesn't seem to be active on the forum anymore. I'm using his photo here, which also shows how the outer boot is protected by the control arm (black metal bottom center), but the inner boot, while higher up, sits forward of the control arm, and the entire boot is outward of the subframe (unlike the driver's side), so it's exposed to any rocks kicked up by high center berm sandy/rocky surfaces, which punctured mine at just 10k miles. That means it'll definitely happen again someday if I just replace the front axle at the local Ford dealership.
Cheers.
![Tire Wheel Motor vehicle Automotive tire Vehicle]()
I take my lifted Transit AWD down some pretty gnarly roads on the regular. That's my preferred usage, and I have zero plans of changing that. I'm aware there are ongoing costs of such usage, and I'm fine with that. Please, just assume this thread mostly applies to owners who have similar usage patterns. If that's not you, no sweat, just ignore it.
With that in mind, it appears the front inner passenger CV boot is not only exposed, but the material Ford uses is so stiff it's almost like plastic. Once the Ford CV boot material is depressed sufficiently by a small rock or other debris, it will permanently deform and/or puncture quite easily, then throw grease everywhere. At some point if you get enough dust/dirt/water into the joint, it'll fail, possibly causing other damage in the process.
I spoke with Van Compass and they said they get calls about this, and may even put together an upgrade kit. Fortunately, the driver side inner cv boot appears to be somewhat less exposed, although it's that same stiff material. And even though an aftermarket boot vendor said generally speaking outer boots rupture far more often than inner, on the Transit it appears the outer boots are somewhat better protected by the control arm. That may explain why all the forum posts I found on cv boot issues were only for the passenger inner, which is the same one I ruptured. I asked VC about a plate to protect it, but they felt like the ford boot material was the real culprit.
If you take your rig to a Ford service department with a ruptured cv boot, they'll only replace the entire passenger front axle, total cost around $500-$600, and now you have the same crummy Ford cv boot that will just rupture again someday. And they won't upgrade the boots to an aftermarket set, so obviously I'm not going that route.
You'd think upgrading to better cv boots would be easy, but aftermarket ones have to be expanded over the CV joint using a pneumatic tool or a sketchy but doable greased cone trick. Some split boots can be glued together, but they just don't look appealing to me. For the better expanding boot options, you have to remove the front axle, or maybe you could do it with the axle still installed and the vehicle on lift jacks while you try to stretch and shove the boot on, but you'd still have to remove the hub, and I can't tell just how much work that involves. You also need a tool for the CV boot clamps, a torque wrench (which I probably should own anyways), and the pneumatic expansion tool costs $230 while the greased "cone" trick has many people saying they ruptured the boot trying it.
I found a local garage that already has the pneumatic tool and says they can do it, and I just ordered some really nice high-angle silicone CV boots from a website Van Compass directed me to, but I'd like to double check the garage's work.
I believe removing the front axle will cause some of the front differential lubricant to drain, and the site I bought the upgraded boots from said they usually drain it to avoid making a mess when you remove the axle. UPDATE: my local guy says with the van jacked up on one side very little will drain. But if you do want to drain and refill, see posts later in this thread. I was able to get the front diff fluid info from my local Ford service tech, and sure enough it's not the same as the rear, which you can easily lookup in your owner's manual; ignore the fact that this lubricant is marketed for rear diffs, see top left below; this is for the front per Ford:
If anyone has removed the passenger front axle on an AWD for any reason (@cosmicjumperalex ?), and can provide input on how easy that is (or not), please let me know. I'm half tempted to just do this job myself. The driver's side inner boot is somewhat better protected by the subframe, but it's possible I'll want to upgrade it someday as well, so learning now could help me avoid paying that shop twice. Right now I just want to do the passenger side and drive it for a month or two.
Here's my passenger inner cv boot damage. I drive through thick sand with small rocks fairly often, so this will happen again on an OEM ford boot. It's possible I got a little sand in there, but centripetal force has been flinging the packed grease out from the moment this happened, and I caught it pretty quickly (3-4 days after), so I think if I clean out the joint before repacking with fresh grease, it's probably fine. It's not making any metallic clicking or grinding noises, although the deformed boot does sometimes make a rubbery flipping sound at low speeds.
Below is a photo, and here's a link for the nice upgraded silicone boots I ordered from this site Van Compass directed me to (they didn't send ship confirmation, but they shipped very fast). VC originally pointed me to that cheaper set from the same site, but I want to try the high angle ones. They seem to have the right number of folds, and look like they fit well on this guy's install who had the same boot failure issue. He doesn't seem to be active on the forum anymore. I'm using his photo here, which also shows how the outer boot is protected by the control arm (black metal bottom center), but the inner boot, while higher up, sits forward of the control arm, and the entire boot is outward of the subframe (unlike the driver's side), so it's exposed to any rocks kicked up by high center berm sandy/rocky surfaces, which punctured mine at just 10k miles. That means it'll definitely happen again someday if I just replace the front axle at the local Ford dealership.
Cheers.
