Reading this thread took me back to the 80s, when it seemed like my hands were always stained with grease from working on CV joints. The availability of inexpensive axle assemblies has been a great thing, and I don't think I've had a CV joint apart in maybe 20 years although I have changed a lot of axles in that time. I agree with all the comments that replacing the axle makes more sense with regard to time and money. But with a freshly torn outer boot on a 10.3 axle, I thought I would look into aftermarket boots a bit in the interest of expanding the knowledge base...
Most of the discussion in the various CV boot threads has been about the 7700 lb axles, which are about 1" diameter. The 10.3 axle is more like 1.125", a 1-1/8" open end wrench barely fits on it. I measured the inner and outer cups and they are slightly different diameter where the boot fits on. The outer joint measured about 11.75" circumference, so about 3.75" diameter. The inner measured about 11.5" circumference, so about 3.66" diameter. The AMG parts are 2880015 outer, and 2880016 inner. The 2880015 boot is slightly larger at the big end than the 2880016 boot. I have a couple of the 2880016 inner boots, but they are pretty stiff plastic, and I did not want to try to stretch it to make it work on the outer joint.
I took the parts to the car parts store and tried the Dorman boots (614-001,-002,-003,-004) for fit. I did not really like the way that any of them looked or fit. So looking at NAPA, they carry EMPI boots (
www.empius.com) and have a lot of boots for specific applications. You can pull up the catalog on the EMPI website; look under CV Boots for "Illustrations" and the "download" button. I am attaching the catalog here also. To convert the EMPI part numbers to NAPA numbers, add a 6 at the beginning and remove the dash.
I used the EMPI 86-2338 - NAPA 6862338 - on the outer joint. It was just a little loose on the big end and had to be held in place while tightening the band, but it tightened up nicely. If I had it to do again, I think I would try the slightly smaller diameter 86-2337 (6862337). On the inner joint, I used the 86-2319 (6862319) and it fit well. Both boots seem to be nice high quality parts and look a lot like the AMG parts, but are very flexible neoprene.
I've read in some of the CV Boot threads about hammering the joints apart. I don't like to do that on parts that I plan to reuse. The inner joint comes apart really easily if you remove the lock ring and slide the inner "star" part on the shaft, which exposes the retaining ring. It is good to have a pair of real lock-ring pliers rather than light-duty "snap-ring" pliers. Also, it is good to get the crimping tool for the bands on the boots - $10 at O'Reillys.
I hope this info is helpful. One thing to watch out for if you pick out boots from the EMPI catalog: some of them are trilobe joints and have inward protrusions at the big end - those will not fit the round cups of a HMMWV.
Here are some pictures. Pic 1: Parts 6862338, 2880015, 2880016 Pic 2: Parts 6862319 and 2880016. Pic 3 shows how removing the lock ring allows you to expose the retaining ring. Pic 4 shows the inner joint going together - make sure to slide everything on the shaft that goes on it, otherwise you'll take the thing back apart! Pic 5 completed shaft.
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