Passenger side axle on the SSEi is in need of attention. It's still nice and tight, but the CV boot on the inner joint is torn (and I'll say it, it's my fault it's like that). Knowing that these axles hardly ever fail, would it be worth the savings of taking the whole axle in and get new boots and grease installed?

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2005 GXP - White Gold Pearl, no mods...yet.
2000 SSEi - Resurrection in progress. Built L67 w/L32 fuel rail, ported heads, and cam. Camaro front brake system, GXP cluster, and much more in planning.

Wouldn't hurt to disassemble and inspect.
One of my boots failed and I simply replaced the boot and regreased. Actually only the clamp had failed.
If the splines are good and balls/ways not worn, you can save money.
How many miles on it?

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2000 SSEi - SilverBullet - 78,000 kms, 4" "straight shot" custom headlight ram air inlet, TOGs, 1.9's, Lsd, 2.9-3.4"MPS 10-15 psi, Ported GenV, EGR eliminated, OR pushrods, oil volume kit, trani cooler & shift kit, Titanium retainers, 90 lb springs, 160 Stat, 42# injectors, Fuel pump voltage increase, Wideband O2, 3" to dual 2 1/2" Magnaflows, Snow Meth/water injection, after SC temp gauge, 255/50WR17, timing commander set 15-18*@WOT, 2 speed Fan over-ride, disabled DRL, Solid motor mount, Meziere Electric water pump, adjustable fuel pressure regulator, Drilled & slotted rotors/ceramics, GXP sway bars and STB, Upgraded and rebuilt transmission with ZZP 2500 rpm stall TC, Pioneer Bluetooth stereo with sub and 800 W amps, PB 13.5 quarter, (April 2014 car of the month)

140k. No clunking or anything.

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2005 GXP - White Gold Pearl, no mods...yet.
2000 SSEi - Resurrection in progress. Built L67 w/L32 fuel rail, ported heads, and cam. Camaro front brake system, GXP cluster, and much more in planning.

Hard to say really. Myself, I would just see what prices are on used axles and go from there. In my area on car-part.com I see them for $20 - $50 all over. At that price it is not worth it for me to waste my time taking mine apart, cleaning it, inspecting it, packing it with grease, and throwing a new boot on.

As you said, it is pretty uncommon for these to fail, so no reason to go new or reman over a good used one. I have had new and remanufactured units fail on me but never had an issue with used ones if the boots were in good shape.

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Ryan

2003 Bonneville SSEi - The Black Mirror SOLD!
2002 Bonneville SE - The Mutt Complete 2004 SLE interior, drivetrain, and body harness swap, ECC swap, HUD swap, black GXP wheels, GXP headlights and tinted tails - SOLD
2003 BMW 540i M Sport, 2001 BMW X5 4.4i, 2010 GMC Acadia, 2017 Grand Design Imagine 3150BH
1982 Cutlass Supreme - The fun one

Fix the one you have. How big is the hole/tear? If it's smaller it can be patched (my one boot has 20k on it with an RTV repair), but it has to be done from the inside out, I used an aluminum tape to back it and give it support and used a wire wheel to rough up the bonding surface. I've recently discovered that the PU roofing adhesive works really good as well.

It's a messy job, if you've never done before, have a can ready to slop the grease into, and have some heavy shop towels to soak up the rest, and brake cleaner what's left. I replaced the grease with high-temp wheel bearing grease, I really just don't trust the stuff that comes with the universal fit boots. Just don't mix the old grease with whatever new grease you get.

I didn't care for the universal fit boots. But if the tripot is not a standard size (like mine) you might have as much fun as I did getting a replacement - in which case I'd PM Haro.

I used worm clamps on one set of C/V joints (Park Ave DS inner and outer), they work good on the outer and the small side of the inner. The large side of the inner is a rubber on plastic joint, and the band clamps work better if you have the tools. I used RTV to coat the soft joint first, and was careful to not over-tighten the worm clamp. That set of boots has about 85k on them now, no leaks.

I only had a problem with the one on my L67 passenger side, due to the plastic getting hard - I have a new boot waiting to go on, but I'm waiting for the 1/2" thick layer of the PU roofing adhesive to leak first. The adhesive is about the only thing holding the boot to the tripot at the moment, I have worm clamps keeping it aligned but I digress.

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Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

I'm more than likely going to source a good used replacement. There's a shop here in town that works on driveshafts, so I may drop off the axle to have the boots redone if it's within reason. I figure the cost of going either route will be close if not the same.

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2005 GXP - White Gold Pearl, no mods...yet.
2000 SSEi - Resurrection in progress. Built L67 w/L32 fuel rail, ported heads, and cam. Camaro front brake system, GXP cluster, and much more in planning.

Brad, if it looks good and feels good, Pull it and glance at it... If it appears good I would have the boot replaced... after working on many different cars and dealing with aftermarket axles, I hate them to an extreme... GM for what ever reason had some really good axles on the H bodies... Hell at almost 200K mine are still in great shape, The ones that went Onto Mariks car are still kicking...

If you can, have that sucker repaired as I promise you'll never get one half as good..