Technical Replacement drive shaft boot failure

[sprie]

My MOT reported degraded drive shaft boots.

I went through the painful process of removing the drive shafts, replacing all four boots and reinstalling the drive shafts.

I used universal boots with one of the pneumatic stretchers to get the boots over the cv joints.

I took the van for a short spin and I have at least one boot with multiple holes.

Whilst I know the universal boots are not as strong as the manufacturer boots, I am very surprised and disappointed. I don’t understand what causes boot failure so quickly. There is no point me replacing the boot until I know the reason for the failure.

Any guidance appreciated.

 

[bugsymike]

My MOT reported degraded drive shaft boots.

I went through the painful process of removing the drive shafts, replacing all four boots and reinstalling the drive shafts.

I used universal boots with one of the pneumatic stretchers to get the boots over the cv joints.

I took the van for a short spin and I have at least one boot with multiple holes.

Whilst I know the universal boots are not as strong as the manufacturer boots, I am very surprised and disappointed. I don’t understand what causes boot failure so quickly. There is no point me replacing the boot until I know the reason for the failure.

Any guidance appreciated.

I have fitted many CV boots over the years, first by stripping CV joint from shafts as that was considered the best way, then as quality of rubber boots improved there was a Dealer tool that was like a trumpet made of rods and by carefully going back wards and forwards over the joint using lots of good lubrication the boot would then slide over the joint. More recently I bought kits and a plastic trumpet like a traffic cone which did the same.
I thought about buying an air tool, but retired now so left it. Air tool may stretch boot too much, but also the quality of boots make a major difference. Some you can feel are really pliable, but others are not the stretchy type.
Just a small point some Ducatos use a plastic boot with hard steel bands to secure which can only be fitted by removing the CV joint as they are not meant to stretch. Another point, although kit may be a "universal boot kit" some may be universal for cars and a different set of universal for commercials such as the Ducato as the CV joint is much larger often.
There is a tool for pulling CV joints from drive shafts and I do use them sometimes.
Re your boots failing, I would say either rubbish boots or to keen when stretching using the air tool.