Rant- CV axels (2 Viewers)

[DoughNut]

Aftermarket CV axels suck. Read the threads. 98% of them say to only use OEM. I read them, and thought I could be the “lucky” guy that got away with using non-OEM CV’s. Lesson learned, I’m not ‘that guy’.

I successfully wasted 3 days of my life trying to make non-OEM axels work. Good news is that I now have new u-joints, a balanced drive line, adjustable upper control arms and all my drive line angles are correct.

Long story short. Buy OEM. I did..... after I bought 2 CVJ axels and spent 72 hours trying to make them work.

Any one need 2 CVJ axels??? Free, guaranteed to vibrate and make your life miserable.

 

[ramangain]

How much lift do you have?

I think it is safe to say non-OEM axles are a much larger risk on lifted rigs than non-lifted rigs. In fact, there are a couple of local folks running around on non-OEM axles on Hundys (one with an AHC lift) and they have been working flawlessly.

 

[DoughNut]

I did the 2” foam cell lift with diff drop from Iron Man.

Maybe it me. I installed the lift and did the CV’s at the same time. No matter what I did or tried made any noticeable improvement until I gave up and ordered 2 OEM axels. Literally after installing the OEM axels the vibration was gone.

 

[100d ua]

Aftermarket CV axels suck. Read the threads. 98% of them say to only use OEM. I read them, and thought I could be the “lucky” guy that got away with using non-OEM CV’s. Lesson learned, I’m not ‘that guy’.

I successfully wasted 3 days of my life trying to make non-OEM axels work. Good news is that I now have new u-joints, a balanced drive line, adjustable upper control arms and all my drive line angles are correct.

Long story short. Buy OEM. I did..... after I bought 2 CVJ axels and spent 72 hours trying to make them work.

Any one need 2 CVJ axels??? Free, guaranteed to vibrate and make your life miserable.

SO glad I didn't go the CVJ route and rebooted my OE axles instead.

 

[lehiguy]

Part time conversion was the silver bullet. All the weird steering sensations and vibrations went away.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

after I bought 2 CVJ axels

Well duh. CVJ doesn’t even rebuild the axles that come to them - they just slap a $55 boot kit on and make $200 per axle off of you. They’re $hit.

 

[thebeedeegee]

Any one need 2 CVJ axels??? Free, guaranteed to vibrate and make your life miserable.

Don't tempt me with free cuz ill ****ing take em

 

[flintknapper]

Don't tempt me with free cuz ill f***ing take em

Hah.....sounds like my Father-in-Law. I swear the man would take syphilis as long as it was free.

 

[suprarx7nut]

And herein lies the nuanced value of quality control. Something Toyota has mastered perhaps as well as any other entity on Earth.

Sorry you had to go through that mess. That's not a fun job to have to do multiple times. Hopefully your ball joints don't meet an untimely end from the repetitive R&R.

 

[AlpineAccess]

You installed axels instead of axles it's no wonder you had issues.

 

[BullElk]

I guess I am the "lucky" guy. I have used a CV axle from Oreillys on at least two of my hundys and no issues yet. No real lift either.

 

[ramangain]

I guess I am the "lucky" guy. I have used at a CV axle from Oreillys on at least two of my hundys and no issues yet. No real lift either.

I suspect the "no real lift" parameter may help

 

[BullElk]

I suspect the "no real lift" parameter may help

Just 33’s and torsion bars maxed up on LC and just 33s on a LX

 

[ramangain]

Just 33’s and torsion bars maxed up on LC and just 33s on a LX

What is the "at rest" angle for each end of the axle at the CV joint? My guess is that there is some magic angle that the OEM axles are OK to exceed, but many aftermarket axles cannot support for long before failure.

Hence the popularity of diff drops for raised rigs.

I'm also curious if all of this has been discussed ad nauseum in the archives. (Search Robert, search!)

 

[AlpineAccess]

I didn't see shaft angles when I was searching and trying to sort out a driveline vibe. I think it's mostly the reduction from 6 lobe on OEM to 3 lobe (splines?) for most aftermarket axles. Even without the diff drop, just getting the OEM axles in while lifted corrected the vibe. I put a diff drop in a few weeks later to make sure I wasn't increasing wear, but no change in vibrations.

My neighbor has a stock 03. I can see if he's cool with me measuring those CV angles.

 

[ramangain]

^ as you wish. It's just a hunch for me

 

[thebeedeegee]

Hah.....sounds like my Father-in-Law. I swear the man would take syphilis as long as it was free.

Hey who knows, maybe I'm the lucky guy that they will work for!

I didn't see shaft angles when I was searching and trying to sort out a driveline vibe. I think it's mostly the reduction from 6 lobe on OEM to 3 lobe (splines?) for most aftermarket axles. Even without the diff drop, just getting the OEM axles in while lifted corrected the vibe. I put a diff drop in a few weeks later to make sure I wasn't increasing wear, but no change in vibrations.

My neighbor has a stock 03. I can see if he's cool with me measuring those CV angles.

I thought I read somewhere on here a dude took apart cardone HDs and confirmed they had 6 bearings in there?

 

[DoughNut]

Hey who knows, maybe I'm the lucky guy that they will work for!

I thought I read somewhere on here a dude took apart cardone HDs and confirmed they had 6 bearings in there?

I’ll take these apart this weekend and post photos. I was willing to accept a shorter life span/having to reboot in 30-40k miles since they were a 1/3rd of cost.

In my case it was more than 1 bad CV. After I ordered the OEM axles I did the driver side first and went for a test drive. The vibration was reduced but still present. So I went home and did the passenger side. Vibration gone.

I read every archived forum that was even closely related to vibration. Nothing I did other than going back to factory OEM axles did the trick.

Maybe I just got a bad batch

 

[JunkCrzr89]

I thought I read somewhere on here a dude took apart cardone HDs and confirmed they had 6 bearings in there?

The HDs are 6-ball rzeppa joints just like OEM Toyota.

 

[medtro]

Aftermarket CV axels suck. Read the threads. 98% of them say to only use OEM. I read them, and thought I could be the “lucky” guy that got away with using non-OEM CV’s. Lesson learned, I’m not ‘that guy’.

I successfully wasted 3 days of my life trying to make non-OEM axels work. Good news is that I now have new u-joints, a balanced drive line, adjustable upper control arms and all my drive line angles are correct.

Long story short. Buy OEM. I did..... after I bought 2 CVJ axels and spent 72 hours trying to make them work.

Any one need 2 CVJ axels??? Free, guaranteed to vibrate and make your life miserable.

Based on what I read on this forum and CVJ web site, their CV axles are reman OEM, not aftermarket. Are you saying you got aftermarket CV axles from them? Pictures?

CVJ Axles - CV Axles & Steering Racks for all your needs

CVJ Axles remanufactured OEM cv axles, steering racks, MB air injection smog pumps, as well as racing and off-road parts.

www.cvjreman.com