2009 Mazda B2300 steering shaft grease boot

[mark2009B2300]

This part has been discontinued by Ford and Mazda. I think I can repair the by sewing where it split with nylon thread.
What do you think?

 

[franklin2]

What size is the boot roughly on both ends? Will a universal shock boot work? About 1/2" diameter on one end, and about 2 inches on the other? They make steering rack boots, the one on my Honda is smaller and is about 3/4-1 inch on both ends.

 

[Colin]

Grab it from the junkyard, while you're there find a newer vehicle that has a similar boot and order one of them if you want.

 

[James Morse]

Hey, is this boot important? I'm thinking it probably is, to keep grit out of u-joint. Mine's starting to go south, just noticed that the other day.
But U-joint not prone to same kind of failure as when cv boot fails (diff vehicle) and salt/sand get in it then it is not long for this world.
To replace is it simply take u-joint apart? Or harder to do?

 

[crazypj]

I was hoping for a better reply than snag one from a junk year

 

[Colin]

Tough.