In April Marshall submitted this:
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Dennis Perkins wrote:
This site has the gun for $234.75.
http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/ARA-FB5000PK.html
You will also need four boots. In the article the boots were the same no
each end. It showed the FB3000 boot. They are on sale at this site for
$10.80 each.
http://thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/MAN238.html
This page shows how the automotive boot can be shortened to fit many
applications:
http://www.astoria2000.com/fb3000info.html
The last thing you need is the locking ring pliers.Here it is:
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/flxb0000.html
As I may have mentioned before there is a site that shows a manual method
of
installation without the gun. it's at:
http://www.astoria2000.com/instpage.html
So at the end for about $400 you can do all four boots. I'm thinking you
have to weigh this against the other options:
New axles: $? Anyone know what that costs please reply.
Rebuilt axles: $? Anyone know what that costs please reply.
The other thing to remember is that rear boots tend to wear much longer
than
front wheel drive boots that must flex with the front wheels turning. May
Marshall would like to jump in here and give some experienced advise.
I have had to replace only 2-3 axle halves/boots in the 42 years I've
been driving Mercedes. That's 22 different cars (18 used - usually with
100-200kmi on them when I bought them) and I've driven them more than an
additional million miles. Only one of those failures was for a failed
boot. Unlike most "rice rockets" where the boots seem to average 100kmi,
the boots on my cars have been fine for the life of the cars and
compiling the data I've collected, many more cars go to the recycler
with the original boots/axles than with replacement boots/axles.
I would be VERY cautions about these "universal" boots. I suspect
(GUESS) they are much more like the boots on US and Japanese cars and
VERY unlike the boots on Mercedes (that last the life of the car unless
damaged by substantial outside forces).
Marshall
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Mercedesshop.com has this posting about a shop in Denver:
......If your own axle boots are intact and not failed, you can take them
out and send them to these fellows who will regrease them and put on new
boots for $100. per axle. Not cheap, but, at least you know what you have.
http://www.cvjreman.com/
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Mitch Haley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Fmiser wrote:
I know about split boots. I've looked at the manual and an axle shaft
and know that I would rather not dis-assemble a joint to put new boots
on.
I saw a thread on a forum about this, a forum member had purchased a kit,
including a power stretcher to open up the boots so the small axle hole
would fit over the joint. You've got to get the outside of the joint
perfectly clean before you can safely slip the boot over it. I believe
the stretcher tool cost him $200-300.
I'm 90% sure I read the above on Mercedesshop last summer or fall. He
posted pictures of the whole procedure.
