How to Replace Passenger CV Axle Inner Boot 2007-13 Nissan Rogue

Hi. I'm Mike from 1AAuto.com. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years.

Okay, so we noticed grease on the ground when we were checking our parking spot. Obviously there's a ton of grease in this area. The grease is coming from this CV boot which has ripped open, so it's all flinging out. So this need to be repaired. At this point you can either replace the boot, or you can replace the whole axle.

Okay. We're going to pull this hub cap off. Just grab onto here and pull. You can also use a little pry bar and get in between and pry it out now we're gonna use a 21mm socket and a breaker bar to loosen up the lug nuts before we lift the vehicle.

Raise and support the vehicle. We did it on a lift. You can do this on a jack and jack stands. Take the lug nuts off. Now take the tire off. Just give it a little hit. We're gonna take this cotter pin out. We're gonna use some side cutters. Just grab that right here. Bend this back like that and try to pull this out this way. You can throw that away, you don't want to reuse that.

Now, I can pull this cage off. It will just hold the nut from loosening up. I'm gonna use a screwdriver to help pry it out a little bit. Looks like it's stuck in there right there. If I can pry up on that. Pull it up.

Now, we have to take this nut off. To get this nut off, I'm gonna put the tire back on. We're gonna drop it down so we can break the nut free. Throw the tire up. Now, I'm only gonna put two lug nuts on, because we're not driving this down the road like this, but we just want the tire to be stable. So this is pretty rusty, so I am gonna spray some rust penetrant on here so it's easier to take the nut off and it doesn't doesn't anything.

I'm just lowering it down a little bit just so the tire doesn't move. I don't have to lower the vehicle all the way down to the ground. Now I'm gonna take a 32mm socket and a breaker bar and I'm gonna loosen up this axle nut. And once it's loose, I can go back up in the air. I'll take my tire off. I'll just use a ratchet to help me get this nut off. Once I get the nut flush with the axle, I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna hit it with a hammer to break the axle free from the hub bearing. This will prevent ant damage I do to the threads of the axle. So that's broken free, so that's good. So now, I can take that nut off.

All right. We're gonna take this shield off. I'm gonna take these little push clips off. Just use a straight screwdriver. This come out, and then this can come off. I'm gonna disconnect this wheel speed sensor wire just because it's gonna give me a little more slack when I move the front suspension out of the way. Just sue a straight screwdriver. You can use your finger too, but this one's a little tricky. So just pull that out and just set that aside. We're gonna have to take this ball joint pinch bolt out. So, there's a good amount of rust right here, so I'm gonna use some rust penetrant on this. Just like that. I'm gonna use an 18mm wrench on this side, on the bolt side, and I'm gonna use an 18mm socket and a ratchet on the nut side. And I'm gonna break this free.

All right. We're gonna spray some rust penetrant on this bolt and all in this area. I'm trying to loosen up this bolt. I put the nut back on. What I'm gonna do is use an air hammer to try to push it through. While I'm doing that, I'm using an 18mm socket on a breaker bar. Then I'm gonna keep pressure on it and hopefully get it to turn a little bit as I push it through this way.

So we got this to break free, we're just working it back and forth, back and forth, and spraying it with some rust penetrant. And just having patience, going back and forth, and able to break it free. So, I'm just gonna tap this side with the hammer. We still have the nut on so we don't damage the threads.

At this point, I can pull that nut back off. I'm gonna use a punch so that I don't mess up the threads of the bolt, and a hammer. I'll just tap it through the rest of the way. As you can see, this bolt is all corroded and rusted. That was preventing us from taking it out. We'll clean it up and put some anti-seize on it before we put it back in.

All right. Now, we need to get this ball joint out of here. So to make it easier, we're gonna turn the wheel to the right like that. And then, I'm gonna use a chisel punch to spread the ears. That's what's holding the ball joint in. There's the ball. This will make the ball joint come out easier.

We tried putting a pry bar in here and prying down on the ball joint to break it free from the knuckle. And it doesn't want to come off. So we have this ball joint tool that's going to separate the ball joint from the knuckle. What it does is, it pushes on the top part of the ball joint, the stud part, and it will push it right out. All right, so I'll tighten this bolt up, and this is gonna push the ball joint out. I'm going to try to hammer on the lower control arm. As you can see, the ball joint is coming out. And there we go.

So, we're gonna pop this axle out on this side. I'm just going to tap it like this with a punch. All right. Now, we're gonna pull it out. We're gonna push on this knuckle assembly and pull the axle out and pull it to the side. Now I can drop the vehicle down a little bit.

So, there's a little retainer that holds the bearing in right here. There's two 13mm bolts, so I'm gonna take those out with a long extension and a ratchet. We're gonna pull this bolt out. Pull that bolt out, and then I can slide this retainer off.

All right, so before we pull this axle out, we want to make sure we have a drain bucket. I'm gonna stick it right here so if any of the fluid comes out of the transmission we can catch it. At this point, the axle should just pull right out. And because of New England rust, it is stuck in there.

So, I'm gonna use a big pry bar, get under here. I'm gonna try to pry the axle out. And it's not coming out because it's rusty. So I'm gonna spray some rust penetrant on this bearing, hope to free it up a little bit. I'm gonna take another pry bar, a little bit shorter, and I'm gonna use a hammer on the back side. I'm going to tap, try to tap the axle out.

We're gonna use this puller on a slide hammer. We have this attachment here. And slide this in behind the axle here, and then we're try to slide it up. All right. I'm gonna spray some more rust penetrant on the inside here, and we'll keep pulling. The axle is coming out. As you can see, our transmission fluid is dripping. So make sure you put that pan under to catch the fluid. And I'm gonna keep on pulling. And there's the axle. As you can see, this bearing was seized in that bracket. This is a steel bearing, which is the bracket was aluminum, so the two metals combines with rust. It seized in there pretty good. We tried many ways to get this out. We use pry bars in between here and the bracket, a hammer and a punch. We used some rust penetrant on this and soaked it. That seemed to help a little bit, but still struggled. What we ended up using was this C clamp type tool with this long extension on a slide hammer. And this, and going right here was able to get a good grasp on it and it pulled it right out. You can buy one of these tools or rent one. This is what worked for us. There may be other ways to get this out, but this is how we did it.

Okay, we're gonna change the CV boot on the inboard side of this axle. This is the tripod side. You'll see when we take it apart why it's called a tripod. The first thing I want to do is I want to remove this band off the joint. I'm gonna use a chisel. There's a release right there. I'm gonna try to release it with a chisel and a hammer. Just go like that and then get under here. This will release the tension.

We should be able to slide the boot right off just like that. Because this boot is broken, I'm just going to slide the boot further down so I have more room to work. Just wipe some of this off. This is a very dirty job.

In here there's a retaining ring, we're gonna take a screwdriver, a straight blade screwdriver to try to get it out. Just like that. You're gonna find the end of it. It'll pop off just like that. Then we're able to pull the joint out. Just like that.

All right. I'm gonna flip this around here. On the end of here there is a snap ring. We'll just clean this up. You're gonna wanna try to keep these bearings all on the same joint. And there's the snap ring down here. All right, so we're gonna use some snap ring pliers. There's two little holes right here. Get it in the holes, and then squeeze.

I'm gonna take a right angle hook and try to get in behind here while I'm using the snap ring pliers. Nope, almost. Sometimes a little screwdriver would help, too. There we go. And we'll just work it off, get that out. And this tripod unit will slide right off. Put the bearings back on the way they were. And we'll just set that aside. You can pull this retainer off. Pull this boot off and throw that away.

We need to get this piece off right here. Just wipe this away so you can see what I'm doing. This is the same retainer that held on the boot on the outside, so I will just use a chisel and release this lock. You could also cut this off. Once that's released, I can pry this up. Get underneath here with a screwdriver. Once it's loose, I can slide it right off. And I can throw that away. I'm gonna clean up my axle, just wipe it all down.

Now, we're gonna install the boot. Before we install the boot, you want to remember to put the inboard clip on. So, we'll put that in and slide the boot down. Get it over that lip right there. Now once it's in the appropriate spot, we're gonna tighten this clamp down. You're gonna need special pliers to crimp this. This is a ratchet style clamp, so you need to ratchet it down to make sure it's tighter on there before you cinch it down with this tool. Grab it with the tool and it's gonna squish it and push it at the same time, and that's gonna tighten the clamp down. Just like that.

Just so we don't forget the outer one, we're gonna put that on now. And we'll just ratchet it down there. Just leave that like that. Now, we can take our joint, and I'll just clean these bearings off. We'll just use a towel to clean these off. We don't wanna use brake parts cleaner, because it can get into the rollers and cause premature wear. So just wiping it off would be fine. And same with this. Now we can slide this on the end here.

You wanna make sure you line it up with the boot. These little ears go on the sides. We're gonna use our new snap ring. Just slide it on the end. Just make sure it locks in place, and that's good. Reinstall the bearings. This retainer, we're gonna wanna keep on the inside of here so that we can lock it in once we install it.

All right. So now, we're gonna clean this out just with a rag. Just wipe out as much of the old grease as possible. Wanna make sure you wipe around the outside here, because when you tighten down the boot, you don't want it to slip off. So make sure we get most of the grease off of the outside. The boot generally comes with a packet of grease. What we're gonna do is just cut the corner off. And we can pack some of the grease in here, just like that. We can pack some in the boot. Just push it all around. Can take a little bit and put it on the bearings. A little bit of the grease would hold the bearings on a little bit better. You can put it in your hand first and then get it in the bearings.

We'll take the joint and slide it in. Gonna reinstall this retainer. Just push it into the groove. This will help keep the joint together so it doesn't fall apart. Take a little screwdriver, get it in there. And then that's all in, all the way around.

Next, we can take and slide this on. It takes a little bit of work. Just push it in. Work the joint. Work the grease around a little bit. Just like that. And when everything's line up, then we can tighten the clamp down. Line that up and then squeeze. Just like that.

We're gonna clean inside this bracket right here. We're gonna use a wire brush and a drill. You can use emery cloths, sandpaper, or a hand wire brush. We just wanna clean it out, get some of the rust off of here so our axle will go in easier. You could use a file too and just file it a little bit. We'll take a rag and wipe this out.

Now that the axle is out, we can take some brake cleaner and some rags and we're gonna clean all this area up before we put the new axle in. I'm gonna put some of this copper anti-seize lubricant on here. You can use some kind of grease if you want. It's better to have a higher temperature to grease, because it gets really hot here. This anti-seize compound goes to about 1800 degrees, which is good. So we'll just put this around. This will help installing the axle, and should help if we ever have to remove it in the future. Make it come out a lot easier.

I'm gonna reinstall our CV axle. We're gonna line it up on this side with the transmission. We can push it in. You can use a little hammer to help you out. It's going in. So, you want to check this bearing right here, make sure that is flush with that bracket. And ours looks good, and we can reinstall the retainer that holds that down.

We'll reinstall this bracket right here, and these bolts. And that'll hold the bearing in and actually hold the axle in. Use a 13mm socket and a ratchet and extension. Snug these bolts down. Then we're gonna insert the axle back into the hub. Push this out of the way. Slide that in there. Pull the control arm down a little bit. Push this whole assemble closer to the axle. Might have to turn the hub a little bit, get the splines to line up. There we go. Just like that. And then we're gonna reinstall this ball joint. Be careful, watch your fingers. You don't wanna get caught in there. Take the dead blow hammer and just tap it up.

So we had a struggle getting this bolt out, but we cleaned it up with a wire brush. I'm gonna use a little bit of anti-seize on this, just in case we have to take it apart again. And it's good. And we'll install that. And then install the nut on the back side. And so, we'll snug this down. And then we'll torque it. We're gonna torque this nut to 21 foot pounds. We're using this torque wrench with an 18mm socket. You can get these torque wrenches at 1AAuto.com.

So, in this repair we removed the ball joint. It is is recommended that any time you do any kind of suspension work, even if you're not replacing parts, that you should have the alignment checked at a local garage.

We're gonna reconnect the front wheel speed sensor. Slide it into this bracket right here, and then we'll plug in the connector right there until it clicks. All right, we're gonna put this cover on right here. Slide that in. Take our push pins, push those in.

Before I put the axle nut on, I'm gonna throw the tire up. If you have a aluminum wheel, you're gonna need to take the center cap off. We have steel wheels, so we'll just leave the hub cap off. I'll put the axle nut on. Then we're gonna drop the vehicle down and torque the axle nut, and then torque the lug nuts.

All right, so I wanna torque this axle nut. I'm not gonna put the vehicle all the way to the ground, just enough so that with the wheel won't turn. I'm gonna torque this to 138 foot-pounds. That's good. I'm gonna put this little cage on, and line it up so that you can get the cotter pin in. You can move the cage if it's in the way so that you can line it up with the hole better. And that way seems like the best. And so, I'll use some side cutters to help me get it through. Just wiggle it back and forth a little bit. Once you get it down there, you can grab one side, twist it, and then grab this other one and twist it to the other side. And that's gonna prevent the axle nut from loosening up.

Now we're gonna torque these lug nuts to 80 foot-pounds. We're gonna do it in a start pattern, that will torque the wheel down evenly. Install the hub cap. Line the hub cap up to the valve stem, this little slot right there. Then we'll bang it on.

Okay, we're gonna wanna check the transmission fluid. To check it, the dipstick is right here. You're gonna need a little tool to just push on the lock, we're just using a little screwdriver. Push on the lock, that releases the dip stick. Then you can pull out the dip stick. You can wipe it off. Here's where the level indicators are on the dip stick. You're gonna want the dip stick fluid to be right about there. Now when you're checking this, you're gonna wanna check it with the engine running, and the transmission fluid has to be at about 160 degrees fahrenheit, so you're gonna have to warm up the car for a while and check it that way.

After you wipe the dip stick off, we'll put it in. Put the lock on the other side so you don't have to unlock it every time you check it, and you can pull it out like this. And you can check it again. And our fluid looks a little bit on the low side. If we warmed this up for about 10 or 15 minutes, we want it a little bit higher. So we will ad a little bit of fluid to our vehicle.

Make sure you're using the appropriate fluid. Check your owner's manual to see what kind of fluid, and just use a funnel. And you add the fluid right there. Take the funnel out. You can recheck it. And as you can see, our level is right here, so that's good. So then we can reinsert the dip stick and lock it in place.

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