price too high?

[rayeve]

I had my 09 Outback inspected at a dealer. It passed the inspection, but has a mild case of bad CV joint on one side. The dealer wants about $700 to put in a new axle and joint(s?) on that side. If memory serves me correctly from years gone by thia is way above what I would pay at an NTB store or good local shop? Can someone tell me if I'm correct about that???

 

Also, anyone know of a good online Subaru OEM dealer parts source where I could buy the OEM

parts needed at a fair low price?

 

Thanks, guys.

[xt2005bonbon]

Are you mechanically inclined? If it is caught early, the fix may cost you less than 50$ and your time to swap the torn cv boot. Sometimes, the boot is not even torn. The clamp may just be loose. It happened to me three times. I just added grease (using a syringe) and then tightened the clamps (without pulling the axles).

[ChrisJapan]

Don’t speed $700!

 

I agree. If it’s not too late (you don’t hear your axles grinding yet) I would replace the boots and grease.

 

Aftermarket axles are infamous for having horrible tolerances, so I would avoid it if possible. I’ve replaced my boot on one side and an axle on the other side of the car.

 

The axle replacement from my local shop only cost me a few hundred dollars including labor at my local shop, and I have no issues with it so far.

 

As for the cv boot, I bought it from Carid.com for less than $50 and it did the job myself. But you will need special pliers to remove the clips that hold the axle and boot in place. Those are sold at any auto parts store for about $12. It’s a messy job (cv boot grease gets EVERYWHERE!) but I was able to get it done in 2 hours.

 

You will need an alignment once done since you will have to loosen the bolts to your upper control arm.. UNLESS you buy one of those universal boots that are glued together at the seam.

 

The issue with the outbacks is that the cv boots sit too close to the exhaust manifold, which cause premature wear on the boots.

 

 

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[nevets27]

You could take the kunkle out of the LCA. Either the ball joint out of the knuckle with the pinch bolt that will be difficult with any rust. Or remove the ball joint taper from the LCA, which would be easier. Just don't use a pickle fork if you want to keep your ball joint.

 

I did it that way no problem and no need for an alignment. I had some pictures of my teardown and rebuild of both the inner and outer of both my axles but I need to repost the pictures.