well i am half way into it now and i cant figure out what to do.. the torn boot is a rear outer on a 2004.5 sp 500 ho. I only have the boot kit for the one boot so i hope you dont have to remove the other boot on that shaft?? i took the the castle nut off the end of the shaft, removed the brake rotor and the upper bolt on the hub housing so the hub can swing down but the hub is not out of the housing yet....so could someone please tell me what the next steps would be???THANKS.

 

This will be the info for changing the boot WITHOUT taking the shaft out of the rear diff.

take the hub off of the cv cup shaft. take the bottom housing bolts out, so the housing can come completely off, take it off.

cut the torn boot off(to get it out of the way and give you some room to view inside) once the old boot is cut off, try to clean out some of the greese that is in the cup(enough so you can see the inner race that has the clip that you hvae to spread), but don't use chemicals so it doesn't hurt the paint on your suspension.

once cleaned, take a needle nose pliers and put it in the clip and spread the pliers open, when you have the clip "opened" jerk on the cv to get it off the shaft. it might take some force to get the cup off the shaft, but it will come off. if possible have two people for this, one to spread the pliers and hold the shaft, and the other to pull on the cv cup, you can pound out on the cup to get that blunt force if it sticks(with a dead-blow rubber mallet)

once you have the cup off, clean it out really good(gas or carb cleaner works well), let the cup dry and then repack the cup with greese(i use my greese gun and pump good amounts of greese all over inside the cup). rotate the race to get it all coated with greese.

then take the new boot and push it up on the shaft, push it up the shaft a ways so you have room on the end of the shaft(where the cup goes) align the splines on the shaft with the splines in the cup. pound on it with a rubber mallet(or dead-blow rubber mallet) until you hear the clip "click" into its position, look inside to double check that the clip is in its groove on the shaft. it is a nice sounding click, so you will be able to hear it.

then slide the boot down, put it on the cup. clamp it on... and re assemble.



if you need more info on any of this, let me know! i'll gladly give you more information if you need it.

 

ok thanks i will try to find that retaining ring and open it enought to get the cup off....thanks.