To boot or not to boot?

[cattlerepairman]

Here is the scoop: I HAVE to do brakes and seals in the front. I inspected the steering knuckle boots and they look pristine. No cracks or tears.
I will be taking half of the stuff off to replace wheel cylinders and brake shoes, but the extra work of getting to and replacing the boots is something I can do without. I am pressed for time when I get started.

If a boot tears in spring I'll probably swear. OTOH, my zipper-less replacement boots are rubber from North Star or whatever Chinese star product this is and I do not trust them, just from their look and feel. If a boot breaks, I can just get a zippered one and put that on.

Can you straighten me out? What should I do? Do seals and brakes or go for the full Monty?

 

[emr]

It is usually bad advise not to do the whole thing,...but everything has its time, if they are that good they may have been replaced and be fine, I would rub em down with WD and if U feel they are good use em, Only time will tell if u made the right choice mhere, would stink if the ones u replaced em with were not as good as the ones u ha, oh well....good luck, if they looked that good i would use em unless i had new in bag on the shelf....

 

[Bill W]

I had to do frt brakes to but I had to do my inner seals also as they were leaking so even though my zipperd boots looked fine, I know my luck and how it runs so I went ahead and put one piece silicone boots on while I was down there so I now won't have to go there again....hopefully

 

[GoHot229]

Another guy on the forum was looking for boots, his question was where to find GOOD ones "that would last more than a year' or something of that nature. It leads me to believe the replacements ar'nt as good as OEM ....? I did one of my boots a couple months ago, a zipper job, and it was a P I T A . but as emr says......might be good advise if the aftermarket ones are worth-wile. 'cause you are down that far, and it is about a hour and a half per side .....if all goes right. And....I could be wrong, but I think you'll take it down pretty far just to get the zipper ones on, and yea Chinese rubber is ^*$*(%^$@$^*(&^...!!
>>>>>>>>"Who has/makes axle boots .....that are worth a darn" <<<<<<<< That was the thread where they discuss worth-wile boots of quallity. I sold Quads and dirt bikes from China and along with other things their Rubber parts were marginal. My guess is a bi-anually replacement with Chinese Boots.....trust me..