Drive Shaft Gaiters

[wooders]

Just put my Chim ('99, 4.0) on axle stands for Winter check over and found rear drive shaft gaiters are split.
Considering d.i.y. to change all four (in-board and out-board).
Anyone done this before? Any advice on how to approach this task will be gratefully received.

[ratbane]

Had mine changed by an independant in the summer. Not enough time to do it myself.
Only cost £50 in time, and the bite (about £38).
Had the drop links changed at the same time, at no extra labour cost, as the axles need to be dopped for the gaitors.
Don't use the gaitors which are ready cut.

[tahiti450]

Did all of mine early this year and took the opportunity to clean up and paint the drive shafts whilst stripped. It is a pesky dirty job which takes several hours and if you can get it done by someone for anywhere near £50 labour I would jump at it (provided you trust them). I was doing a few other jobs at the same time and don't trust anyone so I accepted the pain!

[that daddy]

£50 to do all four he must of been mad,unless that was for one or two,i wouldent get my hands dirty for that much to do four,this job is not nice to do messy as well.im rebuilding the diff over the winter,so best time for me to do all four gaiters genuine ford,(dont want to do again) clean & re/pack with cv grease.as far as diy is concerned make sure you have the right tools for the job,those bolts that secure the cv joints can be very tight,but as long as your keen i cant see why not,circlip pliers as well for this one and a tub of cv grease,the gray stuff.

[tahiti450]

that daddy said:

£50 to do all four he must of been mad....................far as diy is concerned make sure you have the right tools for the job,those bolts that secure the cv joints can be very tight,but as long as your keen i cant see why not,circlip pliers as well for this one and a tub of cv grease,the gray stuff.

Absolutely right, and a decent 2 or 3 legged puller makes light work of separating the CV joints from the shafts with no risk of damage to the joints. I got my boots from Julian / Trackcar solutions, and they come with a sachet of grease in the pack. As Simon says the allen headed bolts on the flanges can be very stubborn so a good 1/2 inch drive long wrench / breaker bar and male allen sockets are a must. Oh at the risk of stating the obvious, make sure you have a very securely positioned set of axle stands chocked wheels and preferably some back up (as for all under-car jobs) since when using quite a bit of force on the fittings there is a risk of the car moving!

[JonRB]

I just had mine done and it cost a couple of hundred quid (+ VAT) in labour. £50 seems hard to believe.

[M@H]

JonRB said:

I just had mine done and it cost a couple of hundred quid (+ VAT) in labour. £50 seems hard to believe.

I had mine done along with my 48k service & MOT and that was £589 all in. reckon it was an hour and a halfs labour at most. £50 seems ok to me

Edited by M@H on Wednesday 1st November 12:04

[JonRB]

I had to use a local main dealer this year as I'm working in London and needed the facility to drop off on a Saturday and collect the following Saturday. I thought it was about time the gaitors were done (it had been on my TODO list for ages) so just got them to do it.

My 6k service and the gaitors cost significantly more than your 48k service and gaitors, Matt, but my options were somewhat limited.

Edited by JonRB on Wednesday 1st November 12:11

[bigdods]

Just had all 4 done - went with my favourite indie cost around £200 plus the parts - I did check around and was quoted £300 to £400 plus parts elsewhere.

So well done perry @ the V8 Centre once again !

[Chauch]

I just had Offords do all four of mine - £200+vat inc all parts...

[That Daddy]

bidods & chaunch thats more like i would expect this job to cost,but also one of those once its done its done kind of jobs.