Well, I can tell you that the original grease boots have a wire retainer on the wide end of the boot that holds it in place. There is a groove around the tie rod end, that the wide end of the boot and the wire fits into.
The new rubber boot does not come with this wire but has a ridge of rubber on the inside of the boot that keeps it in place in that groove a long with the pressure when the boot is compressed by the knuckle and castle nut.
It appears that the silicone boot comes with that wire to hold it in place.
I removed the complete rod off the truck because it was easier to clean and work on. Watch out because the Cotter pins were rust in place on my truck. I had to drill the one out.
After removing the old boots from my truck there was some harden grease deposits in and around the ball joint. I cleaned the ball joints up with brake clean as I rotated the ball around. I then injected grease thought the grease zerk into the ball joint and it pushed out the remaining old grease and brake clean. I cleaned them again with brake clean again and filled it up with grease.
TIP: Don’t fill it up the ball joint with grease again until you put it back on because with the new grease in, the ball wants to rotate around when the castle nut was being installed and tighten. It was a PITA to get the castle nut back on that way.
Other than that it was easy peezy for me considering the other things I had to fix and repair on the truck.
Good luck.
Tom.
