Sorry it took so long to provide an update but I was in Austin, TX all last week. OK, the Proton is back on the road with rebuilt CVs (still have to drop it off for an alignment this week though). Let's see if I can make this as short and sweet as possible.
My inner boots split in half earlier this year (as my luck would have it, I was 250 miles from home so the CVs were toast by the time I could do anything about it). I ordered Meca-Techs and installed them without rebuilding (& overpacked them with grease) to see if I could nurse them a little longer. The noise actually got worse - but I did get a nice coating of grease on everything for weatherproofing my undercarriage (that part's a joke).
After 2 failed attempts at purchasing rebuilts on line and a fruitless trip to AutoZone, I purchased a set from a junk yard in Oklahoma for $300.00
Now I just needed them installed. One place would do it but would charge me at LEAST $1600. The front end place that I was really counting on decided after some research that they wouldn't touch the job (I'll still take it to them for the alignment though). They directed me to an axle place in town. He didn't even want to attempt it either but finally took pity on me and would make the attempt as long as he didn't have to remove the housings (actually the outer race for the CVs) from the vehicle.
He ended up scavaging parts from the axles I provided, ground on the housings while still installed on the vehicle for 2+ hours then reassembled the whole thing with oversized balls.
No more CV joint noise. Runs great.
Total damage:
1 1/2 sets of mecatechs: $150
used axles : $300
garage bill : $670
Do the math - it's a Grand.
I still have to pay:
Alignment: $ 75
rebuild the used axles: $300
set of mechatechs: $100
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Originally Posted by tom4bren
