I am hoping for some advice about my cv axles. The boot on the driver's side outer cv joint just tore and the passenger side boots are about to go, obviously dry and cracked. My truck has 167K miles and I believe the axles are original equipment.

My decision is whether to reboot the old cv joints/axles or to replace them with remanufactured axles. I have no obvious problems currently, i.e. no clicking or popping in turns. The truck is my DD, and the need for 4wd is mostly seasonal with the occasional winter snow. Yet 167K on the current axles is getting on up there.

If I go reman, I know I should avoid the cheapo chinese joints. I have had good experiences with remaned axles from Raxles in Florida as well as Axles Unlimited in Charlotte, NC on my Civic and my Volvo wagon.

Reboot or reman... what should I do?

Thanks,

WJ

 

well maybe on your driver side boot there are thing in the joint that are about to it up but it hasnt yet.. if you dont think so i would just get new boots. and wait until you need new joints for sure..

 

i replaced my joints with ones from autozone. they have a lifetime warranty. cost was like 65 or 75 each but when you bring the old one back, you get 20 bucks back for the core. bringing them down to like 45-55 per side i have 183k on my pick up. does your truck have manual or a.d.d. front hubs? if its a.d.d.i would replace them now rather than later. mine had add hubs and my driver side was making lots of noise when engaged in 4wd. just my opinion. if your gonna go through the hassle to change the boots, just replace the cv's

 

yeah I just went with hole replacement axels, since the entire thing has to come out anyhow to replace just the boots...

I got mine from Advance Auto Parts. I think $69 a side, and that's WITH the core turned in, and a life-time warantee as well










by the way, your CV's aren't fully worn out untill they look like this






that's right, IN PEICES!

 

those CV's are cherry, bleeder.

 

yeah after seeing superbleeders i want some new ones that look like that.. but mine are still perfect..

 

Nice pics bleeder... the new ones look sharp and I'd say you got your money's worth out of the old ones. Question though, will all that unpainted steel turn rusty or is it coated with something?

I am leaning towards replacement. Remans seem to run $50-70, while new boots are about $20. The job is faster with remaned axles (the additional labor dismantling the old joint has to be worth something for my time). Even if I reboot, I would still be putting an axle with 167K back on the truck for all my time and effort.

Cardone makes the remans for several stores (Autozone, O'Reiley's, & NAPA). It is my understanding that their reman uses Totota axle shafts but are the cv joints new or reground? Cardone also makes a "Select" or new axle for $10 more, but I have read that these are Chinese made and not the same quality as the remans which reuse Toyota shafts.

Axles Unlimited remans using Toyota axles with new cv joints for $50. You have to ship your cores back which is a slight PIA, but they are good folks to work with.

Thanks for the feedback.

WJ

 

torn boots coupled with the miles on em, the damage is likely already done. rebooting is only a littler cheaper. its worth the extra time and money to just replace the whole shaft.

 

The boots on my original axles have been torn for a long time, but I have locking hubs and have only wheeled on them a few miles since the boots came apart. I'll probably buy new axles but save and reboot one of my old ones to keep for a spare.

I'll also remove a couple of the studs and either file down the splines or replace with new bolts to make replacement easier.

 

lol, yeah they surface rusted pretty quick actually I noticed it during my engine rebuild...


that's those NEW axles in there...

 

off topic but what front shocks did you use with your BJ spacers? and what brand are the spacers?

 

Used SDORI BJ spacers with Rancho RS5000 shocks off an old samurai.

 

Just curious if you installed new dust seals at the circled part as autozones do not come with them.