Does anyone have a temporary repair suggestion for a torn rubber boot for the steering rack?

It's snowy and rainy as all heck here in Seattle and I noticed a big gash in one of the boots. I won't be able to put a fresh one on until...spring?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions. It's been a while since I've been on the board!

Jason

go to the grocery store and buy your self a regular size package of saran wrap or whatever they called it these days. the store brand is fine. clean the boot and the area on either side, take out the roll from the box and start wrapping.

you'll know when enough is enough.

They make repair boots but an eBay replacement one slit across and ziptied will work well

Jason
It may sound crude, but if I was you,I'd probably spray it inside the boot with some WD-40,then,I might wrap it in a plastic bag secured with duct tape or cable ties.
Best wishes.....................d

Probably not a bad idea at all to just wrap up with a few bags and duct tape. I would imagine it would hold up for a while.

Only thing I would change is that WD40 is a solvent (as well as rust inhibitor), and blasting the joint with it would dissolve the grease within the joint.

Perhaps I'll just scoop a bunch of bearing grease onto the joint then wrap it up like you suggest. Hmm?

thanks!

Yup..the WD-40 would just serve as temporary rust inhibition..after all, this is just a temporary measure until the weather clears.(?).
I replaced the boots and tie rod ends on my 85 240 last year.When you do the boots, it's a good time to consider doing the tie rod ends.

The tie rods and tie rod ends and the boots are only two years old. What I'm saying is that I don't want to use solvent (WD40) on the joints because I don't want to dissolve the grease. Therefore, I believe that packing grease in there - because once you use solvent on the joint and dissolve grease, you can't get grease back in the joint later (there is no zerk or anything to inject it back in).

In sum, I think I'm just going to use your bag and tape idea until I can disassemble the tie and rod and put a new rubber boot on. In the meantime, I'm going to choose a grease pack over WD40.

Jason

"The tie rods and tie rod ends and the boots are only two years old. What I'm saying is that I don't want to use solvent (WD40) on the joints because I don't want to dissolve the grease."

Indeed, the WD40 was not a good suggestion.A grease pack is better.(you can get spray cans of lithium grease at auto parts stores.)

If your boots are only 2 years old,and they are already cracking,,,you might want to get a different brand.?
I bought mine from IPD, and if I remember correctly, they were not cheap.

....d

If the boots are cracking and the inner and outer tie rod ends were replaced two years ago I would be that the boots were reused.

That's what I've done: lots of grease - no solvent - and then a taped-on plastic bag. I think my farm truck's had that fix on for a few years.
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240s: 2 drivers & parts cars