napa for cv axles and wheel bearings/hubs?

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Sep 23, 2017
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how do u guys feel for using cv axles and wheel bearings? i always heard from people that napa always carries good parts but its usually always no name brands that ive never heard. would you trust getting axles and wheel hubs/bearings from napa?

i guess the reasoning is that napa has been in the business for decades and they must obviously stock good parts. i dont see why they would stock stuff that is known to be problematic or literal china garbage but sometimes you can find bad brands or you end up getting ripped off at auto part stores whether they are franchices or just normal
 
The best way is to use OE get some from a specialty rebuilder or alternately rebuild your own. I am in the middle of some right now I will post pics tonight or tomorrow.
Sometimes I use a couple of rust free used ones I get for cheap from down south to make one good CV axle. Some rare one like the ones I am doing now you take what you can get, blast the parts and get the shaft powder coated.

New ones regardless of which store you buy them from are cheap Chinese junk unless they are OE or from an OE manufacturer.
Rebuilt ones generally suck unless they use new joints or good used ones that have not been ground, once they have been ground the hardness is gone and the joint will wear much faster.
 
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Rock Auto beats all on price. You go to NAPA FOR ADVICE. NAPA has SKF bearings, which is good. Sadly the Stealer has the best parts these days, and when NAPA looks for a part, often it's the companies the other auto stores are using.

I'm finding less, and less auto parts being offered at autoparts stores in general. It's like most of the stuff is "unavailable" for example I needed to replace a cracking special fuel line assembly, with complex bends and padding, no way Hosea! water pump options? (just one).

If electric takes off, oh boy! there will be even MORE consolidation of the auto parts industry

NAPA still has the bar stools. If you don't understand why you need a bar stool at an auto parts store, then go to AutoZone and stand in line.
 
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Whatever NAPA carries is likely what Oreilly and AZ carry, but with a NAPA logo and a higher price tag. I’d pass personally.

I second a complete OE assembly or a OE boot kit if possible.
 
Rock Auto beats all on price. You go to NAPA FOR ADVICE. NAPA has SKF bearings, which is good. Sadly the Stealer has the best parts these days, and when NAPA looks for a part, often it's the companies the other auto stores are using.

I'm finding less, and less auto parts being offered at autoparts stores in general. It's like most of the stuff is "unavailable" for example I needed to replace a cracking special fuel line assembly, with complex bends and padding, no way Hosea! water pump options? (just one).

If electric takes off, oh boy! there will be even MORE consolidation of the auto parts industry

NAPA still has the bar stools. If you don't understand why you need a bar stool at an auto parts store, then go to AutoZone and stand in line.
Maybe at you're Napa! No stools or skf bearings at ours. Only Chinese bearings in stock.
 
CVJ Axles in CO is good. They dont grind into the case hardening, so the right parts are replaced, the right ones are left alone.
 
The best way is to use OE get some from a specialty rebuilder or alternately rebuild your own. I am in the middle of some right now I will post pics tonight or tomorrow.
Sometimes I use a couple of rust free used ones I get for cheap from down south to make one good CV axle. Some rare one like the ones I am doing now you take what you can get, blast the parts and get the shaft powder coated.

New ones regardless of which store you buy them from are cheap Chinese junk unless they are OE or from an OE manufacturer.
Rebuilt ones generally suck unless they use new joints or good used ones that have not been ground, once they have been ground the hardness is gone and the joint will wear much faster.

This is how I redo them. Start with a used axle(s), disassemble it, clean it and check all the parts. On this particular one it is rare and expensive, new is over $500 and remans are horrible, Chinese new is junk, the axle shaft is too thin, the boots neoprene and cheap bearings in the tripod.
The original has a very thick and fully hardened axle shaft, it is heavy duty, the OE powder coat was flaking so I bead blasted it and had it powder coated it was only $10 local. I already started putting it back together with the tripod and retaining clip and inner boot.

IMG_0557.webp


These are all the parts ready to reassemble.

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The joints were all disassembled cleaned, bearing clearance and raceway channel size checked then bead blasted and coated with zinc chromate primer and epoxy paint.

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I will finish putting it together tonight, just repack the needle bearings and fill the joints before clamping it up.

This is well withing the abilities of the average DIY, it just takes a little patience. You also learn a lot and meet some cool people like the guy that does the powder coating, I will be taking a lot more to him. You end up with a nice part that will last as long as the original.
The inner joint on this one was shot so I got one from a another axle that was perfect but had a bad outer joint. The shafts for this one are scarce so recoating them and keeping them in service is always a good thing.

The boots are a bit on the pricey side for this particular one but are composite and OE manufacturer. The inner one take a metal insert also.
The nice thing about DIY is you can take your time to make it any quality level you want from something like this for a daily drive to much nicer for a show car or full restoration.
In that case I would turn the shaft and outer joint in a lathe to remove any slight pitting before coating and smooth out the rear joint housing.

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how do u guys feel for using cv axles and wheel bearings? i always heard from people that napa always carries good parts but its usually always no name brands that ive never heard. would you trust getting axles and wheel hubs/bearings from napa?

Not really. It's just going to be a reboxed brand that you can buy someplace else. Only buy it at NAPA if the price is comparable to what you would pay for elsewhere or they have it in stock or a better warranty, etc. If there is a plus to having a NAPA around it's that thye tend to stock stuff that other places don't as much.

Having written that, I've had goof luck with the cheap new ones sold at Advance Auto/Autozone made by GMB..
 
Since the OP’s axle is clunking in tight turns, a DIY rebuild is going to have to include a new outer joint, in addition to the reboot.

GKN makes very good axles. After several complete junk rebuilds in my wife’s XC Volvo, all exchanged under warranty from a good Volvo parts supplier, I bought a new GKN. Brand new part. Made in Europe. Fits perfect, nice and smooth, holding up well.

None of the “rebuilds” lasted more than a year, and one vibrated so badly from day one that I didn’t even let her drive the car until the exchange piece of junk showed up. And it didn’t last long either.
 
Yes it will need a new outer joint, there are new high quality ones available from GKN, SKF, FAG, Lobro, Spidan, etc. I buy used OE shafts and strip them down for parts.
On the car I am doing the axle for the inners fail on the r/side (jack shaft side) fail quite often so the inner from a l/side is usually okay, it is easy to tell which side they came from as the r/side will not have any seal marks on the inner joint as it goes into a jack shaft and not the transaxle.

IIRC Volvo is very similar in construction to these. The vibration problem with rebuilds on this type of CV comes from loose bearings in the tripod.
They and the raceway must be checked and any excess clearance addressed if it is in the bearing, if its in the tripod housing it must be replaced or rehardened if ground (not happening). These rebuilders grind the raceway to fit oversize bearings or they don't even bother and just throw it together loose.

I got 2 used shafts in the main yesterday, $25ea one of the inners is no good but the rest are fine.
 
NAPA axles are now called Premium axles. The counter guy said that it just says NAPA on the box and they can come from several different manufacturers depending on availability. Their marketing webpage makes it sound like they all come from a specific facility and sounds a lot like the Cardone marketing.
You can buy a remanufactured oem Toyota axle for about the same price but it does not have a lifetime warranty.
It seems that the preferred boot is thermo plastic but it looks like all after market axles use neoprene. (except a few Cardone Hd)
Comments?
Thanks
 
NAPA axles are now called Premium axles. The counter guy said that it just says NAPA on the box and they can come from several different manufacturers depending on availability. Their marketing webpage makes it sound like they all come from a specific facility and sounds a lot like the Cardone marketing.
You can buy a remanufactured oem Toyota axle for about the same price but it does not have a lifetime warranty.
It seems that the preferred boot is thermo plastic but it looks like all after market axles use neoprene. (except a few Cardone Hd)
Comments?
Thanks

What kind of car do you have? Sometimes, there are aftermarket CV axles with thermoplastic boots available
 
I see and hear that there are no good axles from the aftermarket anymore. Rebuilt from the dealer or if you have time/tools/experience, do what Trav highlighted.
 
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