Silicone Knuckle Boots?

[FMJ]

A while back there was some discussion about trying to get the manufacturer to do a run of boots in Black, has anyone heard anymore on this, I really want to use the silicone boots, but not in the rainbow of colors currently available. . .


Nevermind, just found them at Boyce. . .

 

[FMJ]

Who (company name) makes the silicone boots?

 

[NMC_EXP]

A while back there was some discussion about trying to get the manufacturer to do a run of boots in Black, has anyone heard anymore on this, I really want to use the silicone boots, but not in the rainbow of colors currently available. . .


Nevermind, just found them at Boyce. . .

Silicone rubber has three redeeming qualities:
-- It stays flexible at temperatures much lower than other types of rubber.
-- It can handle up to +400 deg F.
-- Sunlight (UV), oxygen and ozone do not degrade it.


The downsides to silicone rubber are:
-- Low strength - it cuts, abrades and tears easily. It is kinda gutless and fragile.
-- When exposed to oil or fuel it will swell. Not sure how it would react to grease.
-- Relatively high cost

At Caterpillar, the only place we used silicone rubber seals, boots & etc was in vehicles set up to operate in the arctic.

Regards

Jim

 

[FMJ]

Problems with the one piece rubber replacements (Newstar) is they are made in China and don't last worth a crap, or so I've read.

 

[stumps]

Silicone rubber takes on all sorts of things pretty easily. I would think it would slurp the oil out of grease and swell up badly... What I am not certain of is if it would matter.

Silicone rubber is real bad news around diesel, gasoline, varsol.... It seems to have an insatiable appetite for those sorts of solvents, and swells until it bursts.... which is coincidentally how I remove silicone rubber from things.

-Chuck

 

[Bill W]

Theres are different formulas of silicone rubber including formulas that are oil resistent
Standard Rubber swells in a heartbeat when exposed to petroleum products then you have Neophreme rubber which is more oil resistent and the my old favorite which is Nitrile ( Buna-N). Heck most of your hoses/o-rings on todays vehicles are siliconized rubber. I've had yellow silicone boots on my deuce for only 2 months but theres all kinds of (slung) grease on the inside them from me over greasing the knuckles joints and I've yet to see any kind of discoloration or swelling???

 

[FMJ]

Theres are different formulas of silicone rubber including formulas that are oil resistent
Standard Rubber swells in a heartbeat when exposed to petroleum products then you have Neophreme rubber which is more oil resistent and the my old favorite which is Nitrile ( Buna-N). Heck most of your hoses/o-rings on todays vehicles are siliconized rubber. I've had yellow silicone boots on my deuce for only 2 months but theres all kinds of (slung) grease on the inside them from me over greasing the knuckles joints and I've yet to see any kind of discoloration or swelling???

Who makes the silicone boots?????

 

[NMC_EXP]

Theres are different formulas of silicone rubber including formulas that are oil resistent
Standard Rubber swells in a heartbeat when exposed to petroleum products then you have Neophreme rubber which is more oil resistent and the my old favorite which is Nitrile ( Buna-N). Heck most of your hoses/o-rings on todays vehicles are siliconized rubber. I've had yellow silicone boots on my deuce for only 2 months but theres all kinds of (slung) grease on the inside them from me over greasing the knuckles joints and I've yet to see any kind of discoloration or swelling???

The best oil resistant silicone rubber is still inferior to materials designed to resist petroleum based fluids & lubes. The common fuel & oil resistant materials are:
1. Viton
2. Nitrile (aka Buna-N)
3. Neoprene is pretty good with low temp oil but at 200 deg F it will not live very long.

In general grease will affect rubber less than oil. Oil affects rubber less than diesel fuel. Diesel affects rubber less than gasoline.

If a silicone part is only getting splash grease it may last a long time.

If you want to run a test put a silicone o-ring and a nitrile or Viton o-ring in a jar of engine oil, or fuel or gasoline, put on the lid and let it sit for a few months. Then pull out the o-rings and compare their sizes to new ones.

Regards

Jim

 

[Keith_J]

Silicone and one-piece boots may sound great but there really isn't anything wrong with zipper boots. With cleaning, they can be replaced in under an hour. But solid boots? More like 6 hours, unless you have an impact wrench.

Your choice. If the idea of a leaking boot zipper bothers you, just smear it heavily with silicone.

 

[Recovry4x4]

All these other formulas sound great but you only have 2 choices. Conventional rubber and the silicone based ones. While I agree with you Keith, I use one piece ones so it forces me to tear the front end down from time to time.

 

[IMA944T]

ATV's have used siilcon boots forever and they last great. They have grease all over inside of them. They can be torn but like everything else if they are taken care of, no barb wire or hay bale string they last great. I have seen lots of ATV's come through shop with over 20000 miles on them with OEM boots. And I've seen them come though torn in 100 by sticks, string, and wire.
Who makes the boots? I would buy some in black or normal green or brown

 

[Bill W]

When I put zippered NOS boots on my first deuce I sealed the zippers with "3M 5200" adhesive sealent, that made them one piece being that stuff never comes off


I gave up on using neophreme gaskets on diesel tanks back inthe 90's when the oil companies started dying off road fuel red, something ( I assume) in the dye attacked the neophreme and I had to start using Nitrile. Some swelling is quite common when the gasket or o-rings are not being compressed.

 

[frodobaggins]

Yes they make them in black now. Can't recall where I seen them.

 

[catbol]

Boyce Equipment has them in black , or at least show them on their web site.

 

[hndrsonj]

Yes, it is Boyce. I think they were around 30 dollars each.

 

[cbvet]

IMA944T - ATV's with TWENTY THOUSAND miles on them!?!?!?

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

IMA944T - ATV's with TWENTY THOUSAND miles on them!?!?!?

SURE! Haven't you ever heard of the "Daily Driver" ATVs? They're the latest redneck craze!

 

[JasonS]

I have been using silicone sheet drops purchased from ebay to make DIY valve cover gaskets. While the material compatibility guides recommend against silicone, they have held up fine so far after three years use. Fluorosilicone would be better but is lots more money. Hard to believe that the suppliers can't come up with something that works. My experience with the new manufacture boots is not very encouraging, either.