Shady Mechanics Drilling Holes in place there aint suppose to be holes.

[5.0L96Exp]

Heres a new one to watch out for. A while back I had my Ex in to have a lower ball joint replaced. Normally I do all my own work, but in this case I didn’t have the time. So I take my truck to a shop that my buddy recommends, says he has all his work done there and that they are very good bla bla bla. I take a leap of faith and drop the truck off. Now having had the truck apart myself the day before, I made a not of checking the CV boots. In perfect condition!!! Its now a month later, the snow is melting, the slush is gone, and I am starting to notice a dry creaking sound. I wash the truck, and giver her a good once over. What do I notice, a 1/8th inch hole drilled in the CV boot and grease all over the place (yes the hole was drilled – next time I will trust my instincts). To make matters worse it’s the driver’s side inner boot. No easy task to replace. I now have a "failing" CV joint, and in 1800Km drive 3 days from now.

Anybody have any ideas. Can I get away with pumping the boot full CV grease then gluing the hole shut with some Permatex weatherstrip adhesive or GOOP automotive. Has anyone glued a CV boot back together before if so what glue did you use?

 

[zhanx]

i would try it.. use some blue rtv the kind that doesn't get "hard" but dries pliable. and pump it full full of grease. cant hurt to try.. beside if it dont work its and easy to change. disco the upper ball joint and the tie rod end and you can get it out.

 

[MONMIX]

Odds are good you already have enough dirt in the CV that it is on its way to a slow death.
I am not aware of a way to clean it well enough. " patching " the hole will give you some more life, but odds are good death approaches.

 

[Papa]

Around here the state goes after a shop that does stuff like that. It is called consumer fraud and you need to put a shop like that out of business so the rest of us do not get ripped off.

 

[5.0L96Exp]

Believe me, if I had noticed a day or two after having taken the truck in it would have been a $&#^ show for sure.. But, a month later I don’t think there is anything I can say or do that will get them to replace it (how could I ever prove it). They only thing on my side is the fact that it’s a small town shop and word gets around quick. Like MONMIX said, the damage has already taken its toll. Hopefully, others will not fall for the same trick.

On another note. I got the Ex a little airborn last week driving down some logging trails. I was fiddling with the in cab control for the Rancho 9000 and lets just say, when set to 7-9 the truck bounces like a basketball!! Well, I landed so hard that I bottomed out the front suspension and took out a wheel bearing while I was at it.. Lousy Ford wanted 450 bucks for the hub assembly. I was able to pick up a used one (talk about gambling) for 75 bucks. Took about 1 hour to install. Good to go.

 

[IAmTodd]

I don't think they fly apart when they fail. You should be alrite to drive on it. You have for this long.

 

[mynameisaric]

i just replaced both cv's and bearing hub units, shocks, rotors and pads. if i was just doing one cv, i could have it done in an hour. its easy. while you had the bearing off you should have just popped out the upper ball joint and taken out the cv. they are $60 at autozone(with a $30 core). the bearing assemblies are $170 at autozone, and they are made by timken. to take the upper ball joint out, just take out the pinch bolt and take a 2x4 and put it on the upper a-arm and strike the wood block with a hammer. the lower a-arm will come down farther and it will give you enough room to pull out the cv shaft. it takes some force, but you can just pull it out.

 

[5.0L96Exp]

I put almost 400km on the failed hub. It started out as a voooovvv sound, and 400km later is was a skreeeeach. Sorta sounded like the squeal you get from brake pads, but real loud. You can also tell from the temperature of the hub. Pasengers side was warm, drivers side was too hot to touch.

 

[mynameisaric]

same here. it wes going "voooovvvv" for quiet a while. mine didnt squeal, but i got that metal on metal vibration every time the tire went wround and it just go worse and worse and started shaking the cab. the "voooovvvv" went on for a long time, but when the hub started to fail, it just went out, probably in about 2-3 miles it went from vooovvv to "errrrrrr.... errrrrr..... errrrrr...." and i could feel it vibrate the cab. got home, took the wheel off and i could move the wheel stud disk thing inside the hub(and its not supposed to move).

the only reason i think you should replace it now before it actually fails is because it would suck really bad if you were half way into your trip and your cv fell apart. then you are at the mercy of a shop. while your at home, you can have it done for $60(if you have autozone in canada)