Hey guys, I just came back from a camping trip and while climbing a steep hill in low gear I got an 4x4 Error message asking me to get the car serviced. This error went away when I switched to 4H. After a quick inspection on the trail I've noticed that the left Cv Axle rubber is all twisted/melted. The passenger side is looking in good shape.

Im running 17in BF Ko2s (285/70/17) with a 1.75 in leveling kit from SuperLifts. I haven't done any serious off-road since I've done the mods (about 10000 km) mainly just going on camping trips. Any idea to what would have damaged it in that way? could the leveling kit have affected it to that extent?

Apparently our dealer here is quick to void warranties with any modification done to the car, so trying to figure out how best to approach this.
thank you.
G.

 

just an observation form the pic, maybe something tore the boot somewhere , but i cant see from pic if grease is flung everywhere to indicate it was torn for awhile

i doubt 1.7 lift would bind the joints if everything was put back in alignment.
my guess is something got caught and tore open the boot., OR could have been the cv joint bearings that came out then melted it or the boot was bound and melted
how many miles since the lift was put on.
it really looks twisted then fail. which also bears to ask if the wheel got caught and the tq found the weaklink?

 

Contact Superlift.

see also the thread on another lifted f150 that blew its front diff.

 

about 10000 km since the lift
I took one hair pin turn where im assuming the wheel spinned a bit faster at full articulation, could've damaged the boot then. I haven't noticed any issue or leaks before that trip so im assuming it happened there and then.
Hopefully the dealer won't give me a headache with the lift and change of tire/rims

 

Thank you, will check that thread!

 

The dealer that installed the lift might not have used a vacuum pump to disengage the axle from the hub. And might have not have done the same when installing the axle back into the hub when reassembling things. It’s an important step that has a warning when you read the directions on our trucks. Something along the lines of warning damage will occur if you don’t do this step and ensure the axle is locked into the hub. Basically if the axle isn’t all the way in it’ll spin independent of the hub.

 

Interesting thank you.
I was just checking another thread that mentions just that, and there's a very informative video here:

 

Another very informative article I came across now:
https://www.autoblog.com/2021/01/28/...ion-deep-dive/

 

I thought it wasn't vacuum on these trucks?

 

My questions are...who did the lift install?
How long ago was the lift done?
Is this the first time you used 4x4 with the lift?

What I suspect "may" have occurred is whoever did the lift, pulled the half shaft out and when doing so pulled the inner race inside the cv boot out of the cage where the ***** are.
Then did not properly reinstall it onto the truck...just a possibility.

Good news is that a new half shaft isn't all that expensive...if you can get one.