Aftermarket CV Axle Recommendation
- Thread starter Stumpy
- Start date
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- Jun 28, 2024
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- 13
I have used Indianapolis rack and axle for years on rebuilt axles. They only use oem cores. They are cost effective and provide a return label for the core. I have never had a complaint....now i have used a handful of their rebuilt racks and had a inner tie rod fall off a customers car just recently. I was not to happy with the lack a concern. Everyone makes a mistake...its just how we handle the mistake and they flat out said they dont make mistakes. So im on the fence now, but the axles have always been okay
I contacted Raxles and he responded over the weekend. Boy, at that cost, I'd rather buy OEM for $550! I'm gonna call the shop in Bham that is the premier independant Honda shop in the state and see what they say and see what they say. Looks like I might just have to bite the bullet and buy OEM. From what the previous owner told me the shafts on the car right now are the ones it left the factory with in 2005. Piece of mind might well be worth the costs!
How does Cardone New axles hold up? I know that most aftermarket axles fail due to lower quality boots (typically neoprene) outside of vibration issues..
My '04 Corolla needs new front axles. The originals lasted over 400K. Problem is, Toyota doesn't make the OEM axles anymore. My mechanic replaced the original ones with remans and they vibrate bad at highway speeds. If i had known ahead of time how bad these were before my mechanic replaced them, I would've done things differently. I'm waiting to hear back from Raxels on their cost, but I'm leery about what they're going to say. It's probably going to be more than I'm willing to pay. I'm worried that I may be stuck with these stinkin' vibrators...I already heard back from Raxles and they said they don't do axles for Toyotas, so I'm screwed. I didn't think the death of this car would come to the unavailability of front axles, but that looks like it's going to be the case...this SUX!
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You absolutely should not be. Your mechanic should warranty.
At the very least, the parts should be warrantied. If he purchased through a commercial account, they should pay labor.
Finally, if your indy is reputable, he should work with you on some solution. If he does not, he's not the type of wrench you want to continue using.
I would sit up and take notice if a customer had complaints like this. I wouldn't expect them to pay anything to try another set of axles. Worst case at the third try I'd refund their money 100%, but I'd try to find another re/manufacturer and obtain a suitable product.
I might ask the customer to pay the parts cost difference between the faulty parts and the better parts. If they balked, I'd likely eat it. Depending on their attitude about the parts cost difference ONLY, I might fire that customer once the axle issue is resolved. This would depend on many factors.
I'm not concerned about my mechanic being fair. I know he will be. I've had him for over 10 years and he's always treated me right. My concern is finding good axles to replace these junk axles. Slacktide_bitog said the OEMs are still available (though I haven't been able to locate any new ones, only used), I'm not paying $1000 for a set. That's probably more than the car is worth. What other options do I have? It sounds like everything else is junk...
From my experiance- catch your oem ones before they get contaminated and use Rocford boots to redo. Unless the oe have inherent design defects- redo and go. I value my time, so lifetime parts warranty isn't attractive to me.
You can try different aftermarket brands. I've installed several Trakmotive with no vibes, although not in Toyotas. And I'm not recommending Trakmotive-- I believe it's literally luck of the draw.
Or, raxles
Or, find used OEM and re-boot.
I agree new OEM is practically out of the question due to cost.
I think those are your options. Talk with your indy. Is he willing to return the say, O'Reilly axles, and try AutoZone?
I found them on Toyota's site autoparts.toyota.com as well as ToyotaPartsGiant
If you don't want to pay the $1000, you just have roll the dice with the aftermarket axles
Your shop should have a warranty on parts and labor.
Most remans are poorly "rebuilt" by Cardone, usually just a new boot and some grease. You might actually have better luck with new aftermarket Chinese axles, though it's still a gamble.
You're on top of it! Good luck!!!!
- Quality
- Aftermarket
- Axles
You can only choose two of the above.
Unless my mechanic knows something I don't, it looks like I'm stuck with these vibrators...
I went through this with my wife’s Volvo. Replaced the right front axle with a “quality aftermarket“ part from a very good Volvo supplier.
First one vibrated under acceleration something fierce. The next two were not a whole lot better, and each time it cost me my labor to replace these things under warranty.
Finally, after three of these pieces of garbage, I brought a brand new GKN axle from Pelican parts, that’s been on the car for over 100,000 miles.
And it’s been perfect.
An OEM supplier. Brand new. Not cheap.
And totally worth it.
it's easier to get OE new axles from Ford, GM, and some of the Euros
But for most Japanese cars, it's almost impossible to get OE NEW axles, and when they are available, they cost way too much!
BITOG's @Trav warned me off rebuilt or cheap new, and stepped me through rebuilding one of mine a few years ago. This on our 2009 Mazda5. It took a while, but I learned a lot, and the rebuilt axle continues to work perfectly. (Trav had also recommended Raxles, but they don't provide rebuild axles for Mazdas.)
