Yeah thats right, was showing a buddy of mine the intake and he said "is that busted". I got around where I could see and sure enough a fairly large rip in the side of the boot . Looks like it ripped right beside the clamp. I got the boot off and checked it out and sure enough it will rip from that spot with very little effort. I'm gonna call the guys at DPP monday and see if they can do something without having to send it back to AFE, in the meantime I'll have to put my stock intake back on so I can get my truck going. For the last few days I noticed an odd noise comming from my exhaust, maybe thats it, I just hope it didn't suck something in that boot LCH

 

Funny that you mention that. I noticed yesterday that the rubber piece on my AFE that connects the top of the torque tube to the airbox is torn -- same exact thing, at the end by the clamp. I just e-mailed AFE requesting an advance exchange. We'll see how it goes.....

 

now if worst comes to worst and they wont help you out, i dunno if this site will help you out any, i havent used them personally, www.hightempsilicone.com maybe thatll work for ya?

 

Thats incouraging, I hope I don't already have the better one. If you compare their boot to the factory boot looks like theirs is about half the thickness. It also seem brittle now, if I pull on it at all where the tear is it tears very easy like the heat has gotten to it maybe. I don't pull the truck very hard either, I pull a 5000 lb trailer almost weekly but for these trucks thats nothing. Looks like the tear might have resulted from the shake when the engine shuts down.
When I got the intake, the nuts that were supposed to be pressed onto the box to hold the lid on weren't there so I had to use some nuts I had around here, the only problem is you have to hold them in place to tighten them which is alittle aggravating. I wasn't going to complain because I understand that kind of thing happens sometimes but since I have to call them about this and I'll have to go back to the stocker untill I get the boot fixed I may mention that to them too. These intakes aren't cheap and there really shouldn't be anything wrong with them.
I like the intake other than those two things. We have two of these trucks and the other intake so far has no problems unless it's ripped and we haven't seen it so we'll check it today.
Anyone else had problems similar to these? LCH

 

HEY! Looks like those might do the trick. I'll see what AFE says and if a new boot fixes it but if it doesn't I'll bookmark that site just incase. Thanks...LCH

 

I was able to turn the boot around and put the busted side toward the intake and clamp it with more of it off the turbo to make it work until I can get a new one. This raises a question for me, how much pressure is on the intake with the turbo pulling air thru so fast? LCH

 

Well, one business day so far has gone by. Nobody at AFE has respond to my e-mail regarding my broken boot. I remember once when I e-mailed Banks Power -- they returned my e-mail in the form of a phone call THIRTEEN MONTHS LATER!! And that was a sales call....

I hope I don't have to go through that again.

 

Hey guy's I just got my stage II today. I'm a little discouraged to hear about the boot. Hey Pull U 2,,,can you tell me how thick the old one is compared to the new one you got. Mine is roughly 3/16". I sure hope I got a good one. Thank's.

 

At first I thought you said thirteen minutes later, and then I read again and realized that it was 13 months!! YIKESSSSS!!!!!!!!

 

cheaper on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-3-P...8863QQtcZphoto

 

I called this morning and a nice gentelman listened to my discription of what I had found and said sorry for your problem, whats you address and we will get you a new one out right away. So I would call and not wait on the Email, Tel: 951-493-7100. You'll have to listen to a menue of course and I think it was customer service I selected... LCH

 

I wouldn't be discouraged just yet, After I got my boot off and looked alittle closer I think I might have contributed to my boot busting. When I put my intake on I didn't see the clamps that AFE sent in the bottom of the box and I used the OEM clamps on the lower boot. When I realizd I'd over looked them I already had the intake on, I thought it didn't matter because the OEM ones are heavy made but they have the holes in them that fit over notches on the factory boot and at those holes are where the boot busted. The boot does seem too brittle now and tears easier than I think it should like I said before so when I get the replacement I'll use the right clamps and we'll see what happens. I didn't think it fair to AFE for me to not tell you guy's about my mistake with the clamps
I'll let you guys know if the one they send me is better made than the first one. does look like the one on the turbo should be heavier made though....LCH

 

This boot thing had me concerned too. I have an AFE stage 2 sitting in a box waiting on me to find time to install it. I am glad I waited. I called AFE and they are sending me the new heavier boot, no charge.

The tech guy said that the standard boot is fine for a stock truck but for those that turn up the power it may have a problem. I told him my truck is stock for now, but I plan to turn up the power and don't want to have an issue with it down the road. He said no problem and offered to send me the new boot right away. Real nice people, but I guess like any company if they can save a dollar but providing a cheaper, but adequate, product....they will.

I will also keep in mind about using the PROVIDED clamps, and not the stock clamps......to further help avoid any issues.

This is type of information is the very thing that makes DTR so great! I appreciate the info and I hope I have helped a couple along the way.