In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 4 Jun 2021 05:41:40 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:
On Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 11:29:41 AM UTC-4, John Robertson wrote:
Have you ever replaced the steering arm boot on a FWD vehicle?
I'm going to replace a Toyota steering arm boot for a friend (yes, I'm aware
a mechanic would replace the entire arm - let's not go there please) and I
have a question about the inside large steel clamp & tools.
https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/...080-46293.html
https://parts.toyota.com/p/Toyota_20...008046293.html
It's a Toyota (I'm not sure the make but maybe a Camry of the early 2000s).
Miss A, skip this part about repairing the car and go to the part on
marketing****.
I wish I knew exactly what car it was.
I had a 2000 Solara, which is different from a Camry inside, but I think
it's the same everywhere else. (Some places even call it a Camry Solara)
That's the one I did the half-axle on. Cetainly the outside end on the
passenger side was not crowded. And the inside end barely moves.
Now I have a 2005 Solara. I actually have to get under the car today or
within the next month, just to replace the splash shield clips. I can
do that from the front, but I'll crawl around and try to see how much
space there is for the clamps. Of course, by then you'll probably have
seen the car you're supposed to fix.
What do you all supposed happened to the clips that were there??? Do
they just break and fall out? At least 3 are missing. Several months
ago I noticed that it was rubbing on the ground for 1 or 2 seconds when
I backed down a hill. But it was cold out so I waited and when I
checked in the spring, both left and right splash shields were hanging
down (Neither had appreciable wear, since 2 seconds times 100 times is
less than 4 minutes) and both were firmly attached in front.)
Here's a video for you. I wouldn't bother you with more videos except
this one says NEVER Replace Steering Rack Boots Until Watching This! So
that means it must be important.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fZld-Vz-Rs
By golly he counts the number of turns too.
And he uses a plastic zip tie!! When you said you didn't trust them, I
thought you were using the term zip tie for the metal clamps, but now I
think you were referring to plastic after all, even though your urls
showed metal. I'll admit I don't think I've ever seen a plastic zip tie
come lose on anything, but who can rely on plastic for gosh sakes.
I"m not at all saying this is for your car,
https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyot...df_B00FYIK23S/
but it the first review relates to your early comment: "I have two
Toyota Sienna's, and both of them the steering tie rod boot on the
passenger side (and only passenger side) seems to biologically rotted
away. I heard this is a common problem. " So I guess it doesn't have to
rub.
The friend is buying the parts at the dealer so they'll all be OEM.
45535-06030 steering boot
90080-46293 big clamp
90467-19021 small clamp
My question is about the large clamp. I don't have specialized clamp tools
and like most people, I'm leery of zip ties as are others as shown here.
https://youtu.be/m_iIkZEl6qY?t=293
I can find all sorts of specialized clamps on Amazon but I don't know
_which_ is the specialized clamp I'd need for a Toyota clamp.
https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-30600-O.../dp/B0080J1200
https://www.amazon.com/Supercrazy-Cl...dp/B01GM9PLZQ/
Maybe I can make do with pliers but maybe not.
Maybe I can make do with a typical worm gear hose clamp but maybe not.
Everything (as you know) depends on the amount of room and what it may touch
as the boot itself tore for a reason (probably from bouncing against metal).
(Why these boots tear is beyond me as you'd think they'd be designed to not
touch anything while driving.)
Anyway, do you have advice as to what kind of clamp tools are needed?
--
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
If you want the right pliers, they are available, it's called an Oetiker clamp.
How about that!
https://www.kegoutlet.com/cp302-oeti...amp-sizes.html
including 30 clamps in 3 sizes.
****
And only $20, but for me that brings up another topic. A lot of things
on the web seem low-priced or at least affordable until you look at the
shipping cost. It's probably $10 on a 20 dollar tool which, unless you
*must* have it, is a big increase. And that was the genius of Amazon,
to include shipping, for the most part.
But of course you only got free shipping if you spent over a certain
amount. Now it's $25, but it was 35 for quite some time and maybe other
amounts. So you have to find more things to buy! What an incentive.
Early on I tried to find out what the shipping cost was if I was under
the minimum, and I couldn't find it. They pretty much insisted they only
sold to people who spent $35 or more.
I wonder who came up with these two ideas. Bezos?
I think they were
One more thing** that might have contributed to Amazon's success is that
when they were only selling books, they had afaict an enormous array of
books. I say that based on a couple sorts of specialty books I would
normally have found only at specialty book stores. Books I'm sure
Barnes and Noble and that other big chain whose name I forget, that
Amazon drove out of business, wouldn't have. 10 years later though, I
looked for a book like that and Amazon didn't have it either. (Maybe it
was out of print, but I thought there would still be a page for it.)
**I'm not including working their employees like dogs. I've not been
there and I've not seen any videos or even read any narratives and I
don't know how to evaluate the statements on that. AFAICT, they don't
treat their delivery drivers badly. The ones I see here go at a
reasonable pace. I havent' seen them goofing off but they don't run to
the doors either. They walk at the pace a healthy man walks.
But you can use other pliers too. I used pliers made for similar clamps that
are used for lawn sprinkler clamps, I already had those. The only problem would
be as you already noted, ie if you don't have clearance to get the pliers on straight.
In which case the official pliers won't be of any help anyway, you'll have to find
pliers with a shape that will get to it. And if you haven't done one before, they take
a lot of force, bigger ones take more force. A worm gear hose clamp is an option
as long as there is clearance for the screw part, which there probably would be for
that application. When it's a CV joint that turns, there may not be.