Another bad Cardone driveshaft

[NormanBuntz]

I had my indie mechanic install a new Napa Maxdrive (Cardone) drive shaft nearly two years ago. After less than 8K miles I grew tired of the driveline vibration I felt when accelerating briskly and cruising between 50 and 60 mph. The repair was covered under a 24 month Technet warranty, and my mechanic allowed me to buy a Honda OEM driveshaft ($232 delivered) online, he installed it at no charge and is refunding me $97 for the bad Cardone axle. He was generous, and the new driveshaft is like butter.

It reminds me to never buy a Cardone part again! Another example of you get what you pay for.

 

[HangFire]

Sad the Cardone infection has spread to GM and NAPA supply lines. It's getting harder to identify and avoid.

 

[Rand]

What vehicle has a driveshaft?
does your ridgeline have awd?
or did you mean cv axle?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Raxles is also a good company to get the CV axes from, and they rebuild axles for all Hondas. They probably cost less than OEM new, and they are much better than Cardone.

The new Cardone axles are also called Cardone Select.

Just be glad you can actually get an OEM new axle! They are usually impossible to get for most Japanese cars

 

[928]

Cardone anything is suspect quality. For em,emergency use only until you can get a better part.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Originally Posted by Rand
What vehicle has a driveshaft?
does your ridgeline have awd?
or did you mean cv axle?


It's AWD. Honda lists it as a "driveshaft."

 

[NormanBuntz]

Originally Posted by HangFire
Sad the Cardone infection has spread to GM and NAPA supply lines. It's getting harder to identify and avoid.


Right. I new upfront it was a Cardone part, but only because of the warranty wording.

 

[Trav]

No surprise, things have been going down hill with them since they did rebuildable iron mufflers for the Model T in the 70's.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted by NormanBuntz
Originally Posted by Rand
What vehicle has a driveshaft?
does your ridgeline have awd?
or did you mean cv axle?


It's AWD. Honda lists it as a "driveshaft."


Thanks for the clarification.

 

[andyd]

Can the original shaft be re-built with a new cv joint?

 

[NormanBuntz]

Originally Posted by andyd
Can the original shaft be re-built with a new cv joint?


Apparently yes. But I didn't know that when it went bad two years ago. If you can afford to have the vehicle laid up for a week or two, I guess raxles would be a good source.

 

[Driz]

There was a utube a while back about CV axles. The overall opinion of the poster, a pro mechanic was this. If you tear a boot and catch it before ots clicking FIX IT QUICK with a new good quality boot. If it's clicking he finds that
Roughly 30% of the rebuilt aftermarket axles are defective. They'll either wear out fast or vibrate enough to be a PITA.
Those are pretty lousy odds in my opinion. Considering the hassle of changing them I'd not go with any of the cheapos..........that and check those boots regularly. I give mine a shot of Armor All at every oil change and only changed 2 since they invented the things.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Most "rebuilt" axles just get a new boot slapped on, and it's almost always neoprene, which is inferior to the thermoplastic boots the original axles came with from the factory

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted by Driz
There was a utube a while back about CV axles. The overall opinion of the poster, a pro mechanic was this. If you tear a boot and catch it before ots clicking FIX IT QUICK with a new good quality boot. If it's clicking he finds that
Roughly 30% of the rebuilt aftermarket axles are defective. They'll either wear out fast or vibrate enough to be a PITA.
.

Only 30%???

How about new aftermarket axles?

 

[CBR.worm]

Is there anything that should be done to CV axles/joints before they start to make noise and/or tear? Should they be repacked every 100K or 200K? Are they all destined to wear out at some point?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Originally Posted by CBR.worm
Is there anything that should be done to CV axles/joints before they start to make noise and/or tear? Should they be repacked every 100K or 200K? Are they all destined to wear out at some point?


Almost all CV failures are due to torn boots. The outer joint flexes more than than the inner joint, so the outer boot fails taking out the outer joint. Inner joints essentially never fail.

The only thing you can do is get under the car periodically and look at the boots

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted by zzyzzx


How about new aftermarket axles?

Very hit or miss - but the parts stores are going with new Chinese, not having to send cores back to Cardon't and charging customers for cores is a big plus.

A parts store specializing in VW Vanagons says that even cheap Chinese CV joints on OEM axles will be a better deal than aftermarket axles and even they say the Chinese joints themselves aren't terrible: https://www.gowesty.com/product/bundles-and-kits/24596/axle-rebuild-kit-?v=

I've seen The Critic install a Cardon't on a newer Nissan Rogue and out of the box there was a vibration. He opted for a CVJ reman after that.