I discovered that my passenger side rubber CV boot is torn apart. When I got on Google I saw an Italian manufacturer called RedHippo who sells a boot with a split seam that you glue together around the drive shaft. Has anyone gone this route successfully? Any input would be appreciated. 2000 s40, 109k miles. Thanks.

 

I have not tried Red Hippos, but have tried 2 different split boots. I've used one that had little bolts that held the boot together and a glued one. They both fell apart after less than a year. I would consider these split boots to be a temporary fix until you can pull the CV and put a proper boot on it.

The glued split boots are especialy tricky to install too. On Red Hippos site they even warn that you only have 30 seconds to coplete the essembly before the glue sets. Also I'm sure that you cannot get and grease on the glue surfaces, and if you have never worked with CV joints, moly grease gets everywhere.

 

there are two kinds of split boot kits - the ones that glue and the ones that bolt together. You should be able to find a bolted kit that fits the s40 (bolted are more "old school"). I never tried the glued ones but did use the bolted kind in the past with reasonable success.

The other options are to remove the half shaft and either replace the boot or replace the shaft with a rebuilt part (FCP sells the rebuilds for $82 each but you return yours as a core).

Considering there's an inner and outer boot and your car is 15 years old, I'd say you should expect the others to go soon enough and would recommend doing both on that side (ie remove the axle approach )

Assuming your not running dry and you've still got grease on the parts you should be good with a boot replacement. The kits will come with a pouch of grease that you need to squeeze onto the parts before sealing up so you'll want some room to work and prep.

 

Thank you both for the input. Couldn't find Hippo Red in local stores so I went with a Dorman two piece. Modern adhesives are amazing. I used a product called Freesole to repair some hiking and work boots...so I trust the welds.


The axle had no play and the bearings looked pristine so I watched some YouTube videos. Used carb cleaner to clean everything and several disposable gloves/ rags. The metal clamps were crap....I used a radiator hose clamp on the small side. Plus the two piece cone and end piece were indeed tricky to say the least. The supplied Moly grease was top quality. While the car is jacked up and the wheel is removed, the axle bends down so I used the scissor jack to get the axle level.


The results were good....for now...but I realize that the s40 doesn't age well so this misadventure merely buys time to research refurbished axle R/R procedures. Was appreciative to hear from the both of you.

 

I've used the bolt type with success on another vehicle.

For end clamps I found that zip ties work surprisingly well. Small enough to clear adjacent parts when rotating and strong enough to hold the boot in place. That area doesn't see much (if any) heat and no UV rays to damage the plastic.

 

I'm late to this party but nevertheless....despite some misgivings I bought one of these: . And whaddya know it actually works. So far I've replaced one outer boot on a friend's car.

 

Super late to this party, but looking at Dorman's site and their fitment guide, and supposedly neither of their split boot product fits my 2006 V70. The 614-700 kit has a 4" joint end diameter with a shaft ID of 0.85", and their 614-701 has a 3.5" bigger end and 0.85" smaller. Not sure if one of those sizes will fit. I've not looked at my split boot more than to just see that it's, uh, well, split, and leaking grease. I didn't take the time to measure the two ends.

OP, which Dorman part number did you use?

 

OP here....Wish I remembered. I discarded my receipts/service records when my S40 croaked. I do remember that the CV boot repair lasted over 30K sans issues. Try the UK Volvo Forums....those dudes go deep into
fixing their autos for some reason. Best of luck to you.