Date: 29 March 24, 00:40 AM
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 2006 Legacy GT Front Axle



scuzzy


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It was a great Thanksgiving day and the weather was nice here. So I took advantage of the situation and I replaced the front passenger axle on my 06 Subaru Legacy GT. I followed instructions from a member of Legacy GT Forums and I quickly got the job done. I think I spent a little over an hour in labor, with my oldest son to keep me company. Overall the job was fairly easy, and it save me a bunch of cash.

Our Subaru dealer wanted $207 just to repair a single, torn CV joint boot on the axle. I instead bought a complete new axle for around $65-ish, and I invested in a new torque wrench to tighten down the axle nut to 137 lbs. The Kobalt 50-250 ft lb torque wrench I bought at Lowe's set me back $85. With tax, I spent about $160 total. Plus I didn't have to driver 80 miles round trip to the dealer. :)

Scuzzy; I have money left over, and a new torque wrench to boot (pun intended).

Bill


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Did you look at after market boots?  I had that problem on an older car while we were still in NJ.  When I objected to the dealer estimate to replace the boot, the service writer suggested a replacement that didn't require removing the axle.  It had a seam that allowed you to slip the new boot over the joint and than seal  the seam closed with a series of stainless nuts and bolts. As I recall the pat was a third the price and labor was equally low.
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Bill


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I don't really know, in the long term.  The problem developed about a year before we moved and shortly after we arrived we replaced it with a new Hyundai.  But in the short haul it solved the problem, car was 15 years old when the original split.
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scuzzy


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I did not consider the boot sleeve, Bill. I don't know if you know my history, but prior to being a cop I was a database analyst. Before that I was an automotive technician for well over 20 years. However, I'm at a point where I'd rather pay someone else to do the dirty work. But not always, as in this case.

My car's inside CV boot was torn and I went longer than I should have to repair it. Not from laziness or finances, but from lack of time. Regardless, the joint had lost most of the grease. I still could have salvaged it, but it's a lot of work to do it properly even with the shaft out. It would have been much harder to do it right while it was still mounted.

The cost of a brand new shaft was cost effective, and it was easy to replace. It's no exaggeration that it took so long only because my son distracted my work (not in a bad way, and I'm not complaining). Otherwise the entire job would have taken all of 45 minutes... if I had taken my time. To fully clean and re-lube the joint would have been a lot of effort and taken much longer.

Best of all, I got to justify a new torque wrench. :)

Scuzzy; grease monkey.

Bill


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Well, it sounds like you did the right thing.  If I remember the dealer's quote (Caddy) was in the $250 range and I didn't want to spend that on a very old, but low mileage car.  My wife used to hold on to thing she really liked.  When we finally gave to Goodwill it was 17 years old and only had 87000 miles on the odometer.

And John, no I didn't DIY, a local garage did it.
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scuzzy


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Bill


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No I don't think so, it was my job to take care of the dog, who she really liked!
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