Hi, all. I just got done replacing the left front CV boot on my '99 Xplorer. I would rate it as between 6 & 7 difficulty level, with 1 being airing up a tire and 10 being an engine rebuild. If you have a helper, or 3 hands, you could probably drop it to a 5 or 6, as I will explain later.

When I last greased my Xplorer, I noticed a little bit of grease where it normally isn't. I looked into it, and figured out it was coming out of the CV boot. (If I had one of those non-greasable machines, I might not have noticed it until it started making funny noises. One of the advantages of HAVING to grease your machine is that you are forced to look it over every once in a while).
I didn't know what to replace it with, stock or aftermarket. After doing some research, I found that boots from www.gorilla-axle.com were lifetime warrantied. They cost a little more than stockers, but I liked their guarantee. From my understandint, they will replace it (save the reciept) for as long as I own the machine, for any reason, even if I wind some wire around it or something stupid like that. They were very nice on the phone, and in about 3 working days, I had my new $50 (includes shipping) boot delivered by the UPS guy.
To replace the boot, first clean up your machine as good as is practical, and get it up on jack stands. You want to have all 4 wheels in the air if possible. Remove the wheel next to the bad boot, as well as the CV guard, and brake caliper. It is a good idea to hang it with wire instead of making the hose hold it. Now wire brush off the clamps, and where the boot meets the axle, as well as the CV joint bell. You will need to rotate the driveshaft by spinning the rear wheel to be able to brush it all off. Now blow out any and all dirt you can with an air hose.
To remove the stock boot clamps, I used ignition pliers. I think small vice-grips would work good, too. Grab the 2 'humps' that overlap each other where the outer and inner layer of the clamp overlap.(you will know what I mean after looking at the clamp). Use a small screwdriver or knife blade to 'unhook' the end of the clamp from the little 'hooks' that grab the holes in the outer layer of the clamp. This way, you saved the clamp, and can use it again in an emergency if you need to.
The axle is held in the CV joint by a spring clip. To get it apart, you will have to remove the bottom of the strut from the A-arm. I think a tie-rod seperator is the best tool for the job, and is what I used. There are other ways to get it apart, but I had the tool, so I used it. Just remove the cotter pin, loosen the nut up, break the stud loose from the A-arm, then remove the nut & A-arm. I left the nut on a few threads to catch the A-arm so I could control everything as it came apart.
Now pull the strut away from the axle as far as you can, until it hits the end. A few hits from a soft-face hammer on the bottom of the strut housing got the axle to pop loose. Now you can remove the boot. I caught mine right away, it was just barely seeping, and the grease was as clean as could be inside, so I didn't have to disassemble the joint & clean it. If you have to, just twist the inner race around far enough to get the little ***** out one by one, then remove the inner cage. Wash in solvent, grease it up, and install reverse of removal. Self explanatory once you see how it goes together. Now for the FUN part. You should have used roughly half the grease in the kit in the joint, and saved the other half to put in the boot. Put the boot clamps on the axle BEFORE you try putting the boot on, unless you are using the stock-style clamps. The ones from Gorilla Axle are easier to slide over the boot, than try to thread the end through after it is put together. Be sure to orient the clamps so that the forward rotation tends to make them want to 'hook' rather than 'unhook' if something snags them.
Slide the boot on the axle, a couple inches past where it needs to be. This will allow you to see to line up the end of the axle into the CV joint. You may have to rotate the rear wheels a little to get it to line up. It will go together with a slight 'pop' when the spring clip pops into place. Tug on the hub to be sure it locked. The hub should slide in & out on the axle a little bit, but the clip should keep it from coming all the way off. Put the stud in the bottom of the strut through the eye of the A-arm, and tighten the nut finger tight. Now add the rest of the grease (or if you were like me & didn't have to clean out the joint about half) and start working it into place. This is where having a helper or a third hand would be nice. You can't reach all the way around the end of the joint, so you will have to rotate the rear wheels (or have the helper do it) to make the front driveshaft turn, so you can work the lip of the boot over the outer edge of the big end of the joint. This takes time, patience, and possibly earplugs for your helper, if they are under the age of 18, if you get my drift. Eventually, though, you should be able to get the lip of the boot into the groove. Spin it around a couple turns, to be sure it is centered, and doesn't slip off.
The Gorilla Axle clamp requires pliers to tighten it. It uses the kind that grab the end of the clamp, and tightens it agains the clip, so you can bend the end over, cut it off to length, and tap little ears over the end to keep it from trying to unhook. I might add that comparing the stock and gorilla boot side by side, the gorilla boot was MUCH thicker, and seemed stronger. On the down side, the lip where it grabs the CV joint bell isn't quite as well defined, which I think made it a little harder to get lined up where it belonged. Once in place, it seemed to clamp up as well as the stocker, I am meaning the stocker probably would have been a little easier to get into place. One more note on the Gorilla clamp, it is 'thicker' than the stocker, and on my bike, it hit the strut housing. I wasn't sure what to do, so I tried taking a hammer & punch, and whacking it a couple times, to get it to lay flatter. It worked, and now spins around without catching on anything. I think it is because both the boot, and the boot clamp & clip are thicker than stock, so it made clearance an issue. It should be OK as long as the boot didn't tear when I hit the clip.
Install the small clip, making sure that the lip in the boot is in the groove in the axle, and clamp it down.
Tighten the nut that attatches the strut to the A-arm, and re-install the cotter pin. Rotate everything again a couple times, to be sure it looks right, and nothing snags anywhere. Might be a good idea to turn the bars both ways while rotating, to check clearance. Now put the CV guard & brake caliper back on. Re-mount the wheel, get it off the stand, and you are ready to roll! I noticed that on my '99 machine, if you have the bars turned as sharp as they go one way or the other, the CV boot on the INNER wheel will be slightly exposed (where mine was torn, actually). I noticed the '01 models have a bigger boot guard, probably for this reason. Just something to keep in mind when driving. Maybe not a good idea to turn as short as you can when going through brush.

Hope this helps someone.

 

Good post ,but I think it is easier to remove the cv joint from the hub.Plus you get to change the hub lube that seems to get over looked.

 

Truck, good point, but I just changed the hub oil before I greased it (spring cleaning, you know). I have also heard stories of hub seal leakage if you take it apart without putting a new seal in, and since mine was holding, I figured why mess with it. I never have taken the hub apart to change the boot before. I must say, the stock boot is easier to install than the Gorilla one, I think it is thinner so more flexable. This one is tough to get stretched over in comparason.

 

IMHO i think its easier to just remove the 2 A arm bolts, 1 tie rod end and the boot guard. then just pull the A arm away from the bike and pop the shaft out of the cv joint.

 

Keep up the hints. Always looking for ways to make it faster or easier for 'next time'.

 

The problem I had was trying to get the large cv boot clamp on,so I finally just took the cv joint out of the hub.For the amount of time I spent doing that it was 10 times faster for me do do it that way.I guess no matter how it is done it is better than waiting till the joint is toast like some people do.But like farmer said if you don't do mant you never know when something is going bad.