The shaft should have a clip on it and you just have to give it a quick yank to pull it out of the CV joint then you can slip the boot on.
This rubber jacket you speak of is actually covering the CV joint. If the rubber is torn or cracked, then you more than likely need to have the CV joint replaced, as it will fail due to exposure to water and road debris. The rubber boot is what protects the joint.
The CV joint is the part inside the boot.
It COULD be a constant velocity joint (CV joint) going bad.
worn cv joint =[
A rubber expansion joint is designed to absorb movements in piping systems due to thermal expansion or vibration, while a dismantling joint is used to provide the ability to dismantle a pipeline into separate parts for maintenance or repair purposes. The rubber expansion joint helps to prevent damage to the piping system, while the dismantling joint helps to facilitate easy access to the pipeline components.
They are called Constant Velocity (CV) joints and there is one on each front wheel. It is not a U-joint in the usual sense of the word (i.e.- like they are on driveshaft propelled vehicles).
if it is when you turn a corner, it is probably your outer cv joint, if it is when you are driving in a straight line it is probably your inner cv joint. axels
The boot is the rubber cover The boot is the accorion-folded rubber shroud that fits over the ball joint,
From the description it sounds like you may have a bad CV (constant velocity) joint.
Might be a bad cv joint
If you are speaking of the inner c.v. joint for one of the front axles there is an internal snap ring that has to bee removed to get this joint out,just slide the c.v. boot back and look at the inner edge of what the joint slides in to and you can see it.
The bellows on a CV joint is the rubber boot that covers the joint keeping dirt and water out, grease in.