xt2005bonbon

You have to order a new nut? Cause when I bought the OEM kit to change my boot, it came with a brand new nut. Huh... IMHO, I'd get a new nut and make sure it is properly torqued and crimped. You don't want to waste a wheel bearing. ^ daaang. good on you. I actually meant original stock turbo and engine. If that is really the case, then you may be the only one that I know of with that many miles still on the original turbo. Awesome!

Thanks for your write-ups. So u have 165k?? dang! sorry to go off topic but still running stock turbo and never had major engine problems? just curious..

Oh man! Sorry to hear that. kina sucks. gonna get your hands dirty again. I hope they gave you the right one free of charge. They better especially if they screwed up. So what really happened then? they gave you the right part number with the wrong boot inside the box? Or they just gave you the wrong part number?

Yeah, on pic 3 the boot sits real funny. Did you go underneath the car with this axle and boot, to compare with the other "good" one on the car already? I'd say pix 1 and 2 look OK. Interesting that you're having problem tightening the smaller band. I am really wondering if you got the right boot. When I tightened mine, it did not move even though it had some grease too. I can't recall how many 'turns' I did to tighten it. It was more to the feel. part number?

I can't really say which one would be best. In my case, I used an OEM kit and it cost me around 40-50$ iirc, bought online. Not sure which kit (i.e. OEM vs. the rest) provides a more durable boot though..

And I would add that once you have loosen the nut and lifted the car up, if the axle still spins while taking off the nut, use the brakes to hold the wheels in place. And gently loosen the nut. It worked for me. Did it 4 times.

^ same for me on the driver side.

^ what he said. Keyword here is "caught EARLY". If yes, then I believe there's no reason to change the whole axle. But it is up to you.

^ Just make sure to check it on a regular basis. Never know if that sucker decides to fail real soon.

^ 19$ for the parts? wow that's cheap. Regarding your left inner one leaking, that is the EXACT same thing that happened to me. Then it actually got torn 10 months later..

here is a picture I took when I was changing the boot last september 10. You can see the kit I got with the grease container. As you can see, the container is fairly small and comes less than half full. I can't tell you exactly how much there was in there though. The other picture shows how I temporarily covered up the torn boot. This is how it was AFTER 800 miles of driving!

^ From my experience, It will be muuuch easier to use a heavy duty thick and large plastic bag which you can easily wrap around the torn boot and zip tie it. Cause as you'll steer left and right, the boot will extend and stuff. And in my case, duct tape did not last. It was a pain. ^ Yeah here is the key point: it depends how much dirt and crap may get into it. I know I caught mine real early. I could see the grease was fresh and clean and there were still plenty in the boot. So I quickly covered it until I could replace the boot. the OEM kit comes with the necessary amount of grease to repack. In any case, it is not much; I'd say about 10oz.

I first had the passenger side torn. I knew I caught it early. Since I had to use the car, I temporarily did use duct tape but it would not stay long cause of the spinning/extending/heating of the boot. Then a year later, I had the inner driver side boot that got torn. I caught it 30mn before a major road trip!! This time, I used a heavy duty plastic bag (thick and somewhat stretchy) + zip ties, and carefully wrapped that around the inner boot. Drove 800 miles with that and it hold up! Came back from the trip, and I changed the boot myself (OEM kit is cheap). It's been 5000 miles since and it is working just fine. So temporary use of duct tape or plastic bag is not a dumb idea as long as you do it well AND the boot barely started to loose grease. If it's been a while, then whole axle may need to be replaced.

What's the 'BIU'? Yeah I originally planned to get a blank button but I want to look as close to stock as possible. The best way would be if someone had the EDM schematics for the electric stuff.

I am ready to install mine now. Finally got my case resistor and EDM LED rear fog. But I would like to turn them on as the EDM people do; A junkyard here sells an EDM combination switch (i.e. turn signal stalk). Would you think that it would just be a matter of plug and play? Have you finally added a separate switch for them?

note sure if Subaru from Japan made a mistake but I ordered part 84963AG000 which corresponds to the case resistor which plugs into the rear of the OEM LED fog light. I got the part from Germany who got it from Japan. Well, the one I got fit the right side rear LED fog light (i.e. JDM/Aussie/UK and whoever else has right hand drive subies). I have a USDM subie and wanted the case resistor for the left side (or EDM). So I just wanted to note that the part number I used came from this thread and may NOT refer to EDM as it says, but instead to JDM. Though I am not even sure if they do distinguish part numbers for left and right sides. Either that, or Japan made a mistake.. :confused:

^+1000 on this one Congrats on doing the job yourself. As I also said earlier, this is indeed an easy job. Not bad at all. I actually enjoy it. Ia orana to you brother! (from a Tahitian boy who did live in La'ie and enjoyed surfing the bombs at Sunset point, AND currently driving a USDM OBXT in Norway lol).

^ no problem ^ good call. Good luck.

From the time I prepared my tools to the time I lowered back the car down, 3 hours for the total work. I took my time though. I am very picky and meticulous. As for strictly rebuilding the axle, it took me 35mn (I only changed the inner boot. The outer boot was just fine) kit info: see picture attached. I think one of the cheapest place is http://www.subarupartsforyou.com (Connecticut dealer I think). cost 39$ for the kit for the inner boot. I am almost 99.9% sure they are the same on both sides. I have not seen any difference whatsoever. I bought two exact same kits. And I both changed the driver and passenger side with them.

I guess overnight would have made the trick. I just don't have a garage though.

Did the passenger side inner boot last November. Just rebuilt the driver side cv axle today. used Subaru boot kit once more. Followed that thread again. It was a breeze. Went very smooth. As usual, the part that took the longest time was the ball joint. I just had to be patient. Will need to buy another kit already for next time LOL. edit: this time, I had quite a bit of tranny oil coming out when I popped the axle out. I only used one jack stand like last time too; so I would have thought that no oil would come out like it did on the passenger side. So I had to temporarily plug the hole while I was rebuilding the axle.

That's true. So then 1hr extra work and 80$ spending then instead of half of these values if you need to change 2 boots.

I slightly disagree. Well yes it is technically more work but it is really not that much. It is basically an extra 30mn max to get rid of the old boot, clean up the parts, add the new grease in and put the new boot. Plus the boot+grease only cost like 40$ for genuine subaru parts online I think. So I would encourage to go that route. But there is still an important assumption to take into account: the cracked boot has to be noticed or caught very early with the grease noticeably still fresh (and stinky too). Then you know it should be just fine to change the boot with a new one. My two cents..

Did you use a torque wrench? You can rent one from Autozone. That is really important since you could destroy your wheel bearing very very quickly if it was not torqued properly. Oh and did you pinch the nut? Cause it could get loose if it is not pinched. Just a thought..

sorry man. I don't know why the link got posted this way. If you click on the title of the blank 'picture' (i.e. "Photobucket (videos)"), it will bring you to the link. It should work. I clicked on it several times after I posted it.