I have a similar problem as Banshee365 - The inner clamp on my left steering knuckle boot keeps coming off. When I brought the truck home from the DRMO, I noticed grease coming out from around the inner boot seal. I assumed the boot had a tear, and ordered a new boot and set of clamps from Saturn Surplus.
Only after cutting off the old boot did I realize the boot was not torn, but the inner clamp was off (I don't recall if the inner clamp was broken or the bolt had broken or just become undone). In any event, I cleaned everything up real good, wiped out all the old grease and then cleaned the knuckle first with mineral spirits and then with acetone to make sure the knuckle was clean as a whistle. I put it back together, feeling completely around the inner clamp as I tightened it to make sure the boot was fully in the knuckle groove. Once I had the inner clamp good and tight I installed the outer clamp, pulled out both grease vent plugs, and pumped a tube of grease into the fittings, reinstalled the vent plugs and congradulated myself on a job well done.
About two weeks later I was crawling around under the truck and found the inner clamp was off again and grease was oozing out. I called up Saturn, bitched them out for sending me a bad clamp, and had them send me another inner clamp free of charge.
With new inner clamp in hand, I set about to reinstall the boot again. Much to my surprise, the inner clamp was fine, apparently the nut on the clamp bolt had loosened up enough to allow the inner seal to slip off again!
OK, I cleaned everything up again, made sure I had the inner boot seal and clamp securely in the groove, tightened the inner clamp well, and this time ran a lock washer and jam nut up tight against the first nut to make sure it would not loosen again.
Today, I was under the truck again, and guess what? The inner clamp was off again and grease was oozing out of the inner seal again!
What am I doing wrong? Both times I carefully felt around the perimeter on the inner boot and clamp and was certain it was properly seated in the groove. Both times I pulled the grease vent plugs before greasing the joint. What is going wrong here? I only used one tube of grease each time, grease was NOT coming out of the vents, so I don't think I had too much grease forcing the boot off its seat.
Has anyone else encountered this problem? Does anyone have a suggestion on how to get the inner boot seal and clamp to stay in place? I did reuse my outer boot clamp, it appered to be a better design and had a self locking nut, while the inner clamps from Saturn are a two piece design and do not look as durable. (you can see the difference betwwen the clamps in the pictures).. My only thought is to JB weld the crimped on part on the inner clamp to the wire ring, just in case that part is sliding on the wire, causing the clamp to loosen.
BTW, I did call Saturn and apologize about stating their inner clamp was defective, and I did pay them for the second inner clamp they sent me!
Only after cutting off the old boot did I realize the boot was not torn, but the inner clamp was off (I don't recall if the inner clamp was broken or the bolt had broken or just become undone). In any event, I cleaned everything up real good, wiped out all the old grease and then cleaned the knuckle first with mineral spirits and then with acetone to make sure the knuckle was clean as a whistle. I put it back together, feeling completely around the inner clamp as I tightened it to make sure the boot was fully in the knuckle groove. Once I had the inner clamp good and tight I installed the outer clamp, pulled out both grease vent plugs, and pumped a tube of grease into the fittings, reinstalled the vent plugs and congradulated myself on a job well done.
About two weeks later I was crawling around under the truck and found the inner clamp was off again and grease was oozing out. I called up Saturn, bitched them out for sending me a bad clamp, and had them send me another inner clamp free of charge.
With new inner clamp in hand, I set about to reinstall the boot again. Much to my surprise, the inner clamp was fine, apparently the nut on the clamp bolt had loosened up enough to allow the inner seal to slip off again!
OK, I cleaned everything up again, made sure I had the inner boot seal and clamp securely in the groove, tightened the inner clamp well, and this time ran a lock washer and jam nut up tight against the first nut to make sure it would not loosen again.
Today, I was under the truck again, and guess what? The inner clamp was off again and grease was oozing out of the inner seal again!
What am I doing wrong? Both times I carefully felt around the perimeter on the inner boot and clamp and was certain it was properly seated in the groove. Both times I pulled the grease vent plugs before greasing the joint. What is going wrong here? I only used one tube of grease each time, grease was NOT coming out of the vents, so I don't think I had too much grease forcing the boot off its seat.
Has anyone else encountered this problem? Does anyone have a suggestion on how to get the inner boot seal and clamp to stay in place? I did reuse my outer boot clamp, it appered to be a better design and had a self locking nut, while the inner clamps from Saturn are a two piece design and do not look as durable. (you can see the difference betwwen the clamps in the pictures).. My only thought is to JB weld the crimped on part on the inner clamp to the wire ring, just in case that part is sliding on the wire, causing the clamp to loosen.
BTW, I did call Saturn and apologize about stating their inner clamp was defective, and I did pay them for the second inner clamp they sent me!
