HAVE YOUR MECHANIC EVER HAD YOU WONDERING WHAT A CV JOINT IS? WELL NOW YOU KNOW!

A CV joint is a constant velocity flexible joint on the drive shaft between the transmission and individual wheels.

The boot is a flexible weather seal that keeps out water, dust, dirt, sand, and gravel, to name a few. If the boot is torn, the CV joint will fail due to abrasion and rust in the bearings of the joint.

Here is a typical torn boot.

Inside it looks like this.

The CV joint will not immediately go bad. How quickly the joint becomes damaged depends on what gets into the joint. If you live on a dirt road, then it will only take a few weeks before the joint is ruined. You might get a month or two out of the joint after this, depending on how much you drive.

You can get a replacement boot, but unless you get a split boot, you have to take the entire driveshaft out. The cost of a new axil is often very reasonable, less than $200. The labor is less to replace the entire axil than it is to replace a boot, so most people opt to not replace the boot.