Any other good options besides Mecatech?

[nfpgasmask]

Well, they are bought and paid for, so I will give them a try. A lot of you guys are lifted way higher than me, so I wonder if that contributes to some of the failures also.

Its crazy, my factory boots lasted over 100k.

Bart

[Marlin]

I replaced my OEM boots, I have to assume the originals at 120k miles, no tears. I did it while I had it all apart for the locker install in Jan10.

The mecatechs are that weird sticky rubber, where as the OEMs are a stiffer smooth rubber. Hard to explain, but for those that have handled them, you know what I mean.

I am back at factory height now, it handles offroad far better, and I fit 34s at that height with some pounding and cutting.

Good luck Bart, if you aren't lifted that high, you probably will have no problems!

[nfpgasmask]

Thanks, I hope they last a few years at least. I don't do that much hard wheeling in the VX anymore, so hopefully that will help as well. Moab 2012 will be the "last hurrah" for my VX hopefully, and then its garage living from there on out!!!

Bart

[tom4bren]

Still waiting to hear from any who have installed their Super Flexy IFS components as to whether it causes premature boot failure as well.

[SilverBullet75]

I used Autozone Dorman boots.... broke after 3 wks.

[Ldub]

I'm gonna weigh in with a few "experience generated insights"

From what I've seen...

It's easy to install mec-a-techs, & other "universal CV boots", improperly...I've done it...

First off, they're longer (from big end-little end),than OEM, & probably aftermarket boots designed to fit our application, that means you should ignore the factory indent on the 1/2 shaft, & go past it, fastening the band closer to the center of the 1/2 shaft.(I'm not sure the ones I bought on ebay would even need a band on the small end, they're TIGHT)

Second, don't "burp" too much air out of them, they will deform & suck into themselves, causing a lot of rubbing on the pleats.
After my latest install, I looked at them a few days later & noticed they were all wonky lookin'...no bueno...
I carefully removed the bands from the small end, then moved the small end in from the indent just a bit. They STILL looked all sucked in & stuff, so I stuck a 1/16" pin punch between the shaft & the small end of the boot, & watched as the pleats "re-inflated"...SWEET!

While operating in a vacuum might be a great thing for CV joints in theory, it's not too good for "da boots".

That's my story, & you know how to finish the sentence...