i went with a slee front shaft after considering several options. the only complaint i have with the toyota cv shaft is that it is impossible to find a real NEW toyota cv to build a shaft from-all the "new" shafts made with toyota cv's are built from used toyota cv's. please show me any exception in any shop.
True, to my knowledge the only ways to get a Toyota cv assembly is to buy a whole new shaft or refurbish a used one. This isn’t cost feasible for someone who makes and sells them, so they are stuck making aftermarket parts work.
... tom said the 1310 is probably stronger than these fakes.
True and possibly stronger than the stock joints, but for most that’s not an issue. I have seen Toyota joints take one hell of a beating, square shafts walking the whole rig sideways on rock, yokes rock worn down so the caps are protruding, etc, most original ~20yr old joints. If your breaking stockers there are bigger/stronger available, but for most uses stockers are plenty strong.
... tom told me the yota joint hype is just that-hype. ...
Tom knows more about shafts than I do, so if he says Toyota joints are hype then so be it. I equip my junk more from experience, so here is some of my experiences with Toyota “hype” and other joints:
Toyota joints have triple lip seals pressed inside of the caps, these are very good at rejecting moisture, debris, hard to damage, etc, greatly extending life. Most others have band boots/”seals” that slip over the outside, much less effective at rejecting moisture, debris, easier to damage. Have seen them cut, knocked off by sticks, etc, killing the joint in short order.
A lot of other setups have the retaining clips on the outside, these are very susceptible to damage. When they rub on rock the clip land rings are known to break or clip(s) snagged out, then the cup(s) walk out, often destroying the yoke and joint. Most Toyota caps are retained inside, making for a stronger setup that can slide over rock with most times only cosmetic damage.
Toyota joints are well proven for long life, IMHO if properly maintained most times are lifetime parts. A buddy has a Taco with close to 300,000 mi, most of that time "maintained" by quick lube places, from what I can tell the shaft has never been out and runs as smooth as new. Not that one example means much, but it has been my experience that Toyota cv shafts go the distance and others have much higher failure rates. There have been several failures of “others” locally, most on rigs that are very well maintained and paid dearly for the shafts when new, from top name companies.
Toyota shafts fit. The others that I have experience with had bolt patterns that were close, then machined (egg shaped holes) to “fit”, this makes them even a bigger pain than most cv’s to mount. Getting them off in the case of a trail failure is a huge pain, been there,,, passed on the t-shirt.
The local driveline places that I use (both do a ton of rock crawler work) agree that Toyota joints are some of the best available and recommend running them. IMHO it’s worth the pain to find a good used shaft and have it shortened, but I value long term reliability over brute strength, for my uses the stock shafts have proven to be plenty strong and have the resources available locally to get it done.
