CV boot clamps...what's the trick?

[leftovers]

Ok, so I put a new boot on the front of my 2001 A4 Quattro 1.8T manual. I squeezed the clamp together and I thought everything was good. Well, a couple of weeks ago some of you may remember that I had a problem with that shaft separating...and the boot came off at the same time. So, I figured it was just because of the shaft issue that the boot fell off. Well, then I figured out where I went wrong with the shaft and I put the boot/clamp back together. I thought I was all set until I switched over to winter mode today and noticed more grease on the inside of my wheel. Damn...the clamp fell off again. What's the trick with these things?



When I first put it together, I thought the raised section needed to be squeezed by a special tool after it was clasped together. So, I bought a tool from Auto Zone called an "earless clamp tool". I tried to use it to do what I was thinking it should do, but it just bent the tool. Do these things need to be squeezed beyond the initial clasping or no? If yes, what kind of tool to you use? If not, why didn't mine stay on?

[FNK]

Yes there is a special type of plier to use. It need a great deal of deformation to seal correctly, yours doesn't look like it got clamped at all.

[leftovers]

It didn't get clamped at all, hence all the problems I had. Is that ^ tool beefy enough to do the job? If so, I'll buy one.

[Corrado_Guy]

You have to crimp the clamps, if you don't have that tool you can use side-cutters as well as long as you are careful. If you are really desperate and need to drive the car you can also clean the grease off of the clamp/boot where they join and use a big zap-strap short term.

[SS92]

The clamp tools are 7 dollars at O'Reileys or 11 at Autozone.

[leftovers]

Both of the Auto Zone stores I went to didn't have a clue what I was talking about. They ended up ordering these for me...and I bent them in less than 30 seconds. They come to a thin point....they don't have any depth to them like the tool posted above.

[FNK]

Ask your mechanic if you can borrow theses pliers for 15 minutes. I did just that (small independent garages are friendlier).

[Mad Cow]

I went through 3 cheap sets of pliers (all bent in the same spot the first time I used them) because there was nothing local, they're absolutely useless. Just looking at them you can see it's a horribly flawed design and bends before you can even put any pressure on them. I went out and got these: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/24...uto_tools.html (not that site, just what came up when i searched) Not only did they cost the same but there's no way in hell these are breaking. Even with these I had to use 2 ratchets for more leverage and it still wasn't easy, anything less isn't gonna get the job done.

[Lazer Viking]

[walky_talky20]

What you need are some "end nippers". We call them "bull nose side cutters" at the shop. Anyway, they are just like a set of "side cutters" (aka: diagonal cutters, "dikes", diagonal pliers, side cutting pliers, etc), except they cut at the end, perpendicular to the handles instead of parallel. Don't waste your money on special "CV clamp pliers". These will do a beautiful job on the clamps and are much more useful for other things as well. Here you go:

http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-to...per-38496.html