Attacking my valves, and have noticed a 1 cm tear in one boot. Its throwing grease. Has anyone ever had any luck trying to put a temp. patch on the rubber?

I doubt you'd ever get the material clean enough to get anything to stick to it. That's assuming you can find something flexible that is compatible with the composition of the rubber.

The Cap'n

Just bite the bullet and replace the boot. Replacement boots can be had for about $10; for $20, you can get a kit with new CV bolts, grease and other hardware. If you are inclined to do the repair yourself, you "just" need to remove the axle (6 inner and 6 outer CV bolts); remove the CV (there is a REALLY handy pliers at Sears that very easily removes the "C" clip holding the CV on the axle); remove old boot and install new boot and reinstall the CV on the axle and "C" clip. Other work like re-packing the CV while-you're-in-there ... A trick I was told was to swap the axle end-for-end (outer CV becomes inner CV), now the axle rotates in the opposite direction ...

If you must rig it, find some self vulcanizing rubber tape and wrap around the boot. It may cost you more than a boot but you will not have to take the axle off. it will last only temporary. An Electrical wholesale house should have the tape. It's also called cold fusion tape.

One more question....can I flip the center part of the CV (the part with splines) to allow the ball bearings to wear on virgin metal, or is this part not symetrical?

Just flip the entire CV so it's rotating in the other direction if, after a thorough inspection there is no metal gallling happening anywhere and the grooving isn't bad. There are lots of CV threads in this forum to refer to. Remember that the chamfered edge on the inner piece goes in toward the axle, not outward toward the transaxle or the wheel.

Good luck

I am not pulling the whole axle. Just the inboard CVs. So i am not flipping the whole thing. So sounds like i need to stick with the OE orientation and not flip the inner pc. Right?