My aftermarket CV experience (1 Viewer)

[Mauser]

Please excuse my writing style, I type it as I think of it.

A little over 10,000 miles ago I had an upper ball joint let loose and take my cv axle with it. It had a crappy aftermarket tri-lobe cv.

I am not one to "drink the Kool Aid" and just do like everyone else and go with the $500 OEM cvs just because the internet says so. I looked around and found a cv axle on Amazon for around 80 bucks so I figured I would give it a try.

My truck is a 1998 LX 470 with AHC, Japan 4x4 spacers, 80 series rear springs, and a sensor lift. Needless to say I don't sit at stock height and have no diff drop so my axle angles are way off of where they should be.

The axles I found are made by GSP in China. They are the Rzeppa type. I have had zero issues with these axles, no vibration, or anything.

The first axle I paid full price for. I went back to Amazon about a month later to buy a spare and found a "Warehouse Deal" for $28 so I picked it up. Ended up putting that axle in another LX for someone else so I looked again and found another deal for $12. A couple of weeks ago I decided to cut the clamp off of the boot to have a look at the inside. I found a lot of grease and a Rzeppa joint. I checked Amazon again and they had 2 deals listed, one for $12 and the other for $8. I bought both. The $8 axle was delivered and had 2 in the box. So now I have 4 spares. There has been nothing wrong with the axles I have bought other than the boxes being trashed.

This is just my experience, others may be different. I have had great luck and have not heard of any problems from the other one I helped install.

Here is a picture of the Rzeppa joint:

Here is a screenshot of the listing on Amazon:

 

[Trunk Monkey]

$8 and $12 for any kind of CV is nuts. I think the Kool-Aid part of everyone saying go OEM isn't the cost piece, it's the longevity. Many posts here about aftermarket CV's failing, clicking, tearing with very few miles on them after install. Still, $8 spare is hard to pass up.

 

[DTCsk8er]

I've been daily driving the CARDONE SELECT 665185HD CVs from rockauto ($62/CV at the time) since 2018. Not a single hiccup, other than being slightly tight to install the hub gears. Looking at my gas logs, I've put about 38k miles on these so far.

Also, I'm lifted, w/o a diff drop, and occasionally hit trails. Based on all the people ragging on aftermarket CVs, I thought I would have been in trouble by now.

 

[Travis Bickle]

These are the only non Toyota units I trust. We installed a lot of these while I worked at a Toyota dealer as an alternative to new OE.

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

 

[ramangain]

Still going strong on "that other one" !

PM or text me if you still want the LEDs and the ECU. I found them (finally) while unpacking after my final move a few weeks ago. Happy to finally send them your way as mentioned months ago.

 

[guardcompany]

Isn't Toyota selling remans now?

 

[suprarx7nut]

Isn't Toyota selling remans now?

Yeah. Value Line or something like that.

This topic is all about the value of your time, IMO.

Don't mind R&R on a component that should be a "once every two decades" part? Don't mind a possible failure on the road or a trail? Go cheap and roll the dice.

Don't want to touch it again while you own it? Drink that Kool Aid.

For me, I'll take the Kool Aid, even if it lightens my wallet.

 

[ramangain]

I'd give some serious weight to @Mauser and his feedback. He traverses at least 1/4 mile of "trail" to just get to a dirt road for his commute. We're talking mini rock-crawling terrain. His rig gets a solid workout every time it gets driven. He also has larger tires and an AHC lift. Weak axles would die in a hurry on his rig.

Mine has been fine performing light duty aside from a 2k mile trip towing a 6-7k lb. enclosed trailer. In fact, when he helped me replace the spindle/axle/hub failure after my towing mishap, I had a brand new OEM axle with me to install. We installed his original spare instead. No noises or issues since.

I'm not promoting the product. I am saying Maueer's rig and driving situation is a great durability test, and the product seems to hold up well thusfar.

 

[hickuptruck]

Got 2 Cardones in a row that vibrated and wouldn't fit in new hub splines so I had to use the old ones. Gave me also the classic clunk.

Finally settled on OEM ones that fit perfectly, didn't vibrate, and no R-D clunk on the new hub splines.

That's my experience and it wasn't like I didn't try the cheapo ones first.

 

[Mauser]

I'd give some serious weight to @Mauser and his feedback. He traverses at least 1/4 mile of "trail" to just get to a dirt road for his commute. We're talking mini rock-crawling terrain. His rig gets a solid workout every time it gets driven. He also has larger tires and an AHC lift. Weak axles would die in a hurry on his rig.

Mine has been fine performing light duty aside from a 2k mile trip towing a 6-7k lb. enclosed trailer. In fact, when he helped me replace the spindle/axle/hub failure after my towing mishap, I had a brand new OEM axle with me to install. We installed his original spare instead. No noises or issues since.

I'm not promoting the product. I am saying Maueer's rig and driving situation is a great durability test, and the product seems to hold up well thusfar.

My poor truck does get "Rode hard and put up wet". From the county road to my house is 3/4 of a mile and a pretty good elevation change. I drive around 25 miles of hardpacked, washboard gravel road almost every day.

I know that there are a lot of aftermarket cvs that are garbage. I just found one that seems to hold up.

I look at my LX 470 as a hobby, just swapping out an axle really isn't too time consuming. I actually enjoy wrenching on it. If I were worried about time I would find something other than a 23 year old truck with 300,000+ miles on it.

 

[AlpineAccess]

Thanks for posting about these, its always good to have more (and tested) options. At $20 a piece for rzeppa joints its hard not to take a look at them.

 

[ramangain]

I look at my LX 470 as a hobby, just swapping out an axle really isn't too time consuming. I actually enjoy wrenching on it. If I were worried about time I would find something other than a 23 year old truck with 300,000+ miles on it.

You are damn good at wrenching too.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

This right there is why this forum is so useful - polite exchange with people sharing their actual experiences without resorting to name-calling and getting ugly, etc. This creates environment where every one can share their opinion without the fear of ridicule!
Ahem, after waxing all poetic - here is my experience.

I always buy aftermarket CVS (my usual BMW OEMs are too expensive ) - so when my 98 needed a new one, I bought the CARDONE pro or something and couldn't fit the new hub flanges over them so I returned them and bought new pair of Toyota ones for $1000 :gulp:. I have about 2.5" lift with a diff drop.
Well, almost exactly a year and 10k miles later the OEM boot split - I think if I need another CV, I will try an aftermarket again.

Yeah. Value Line or something like that.

This topic is all about the value of your time, IMO.

Don't mind R&R on a component that should be a "once every two decades" part? Don't mind a possible failure on the road or a trail? Go cheap and roll the dice.

Don't want to touch it again while you own it? Drink that Kool Aid.

For me, I'll take the Kool Aid, even if it lightens my wallet.

My poor truck does get "Rode hard and put up wet". From the county road to my house is 3/4 of a mile and a pretty good elevation change. I drive around 25 miles of hardpacked, washboard gravel road almost every day.

I know that there are a lot of aftermarket cvs that are garbage. I just found one that seems to hold up.

I look at my LX 470 as a hobby, just swapping out an axle really isn't too time consuming. I actually enjoy wrenching on it. If I were worried about time I would find something other than a 23 year old truck with 300,000+ miles on it.

 

[Beauski100]

I have installed an $80 CV on the passenger side. Most likely a user error on the install but I am hearing a little grinding when I take the right turns. Grinding stops once I straighten out. Scared my front diff is ruined.

 

[TheForger]

I have installed an $80 CV on the passenger side. Most likely a user error on the install but I am hearing a little grinding when I take the right turns. Grinding stops once I straighten out. Scared my front diff is ruined.

If it makes you feel any better mine was the exact same way - grinding in turns (especially when on the gas) and would noticeably lessen as I straightened out. Could also feel it beneath my feet. Drained the diff and the fluid looked great; axle was toast though and it became very apparent upon removal how much play there was in the joints

 

[Beauski100]

If it makes you feel any better mine was the exact same way - grinding in turns (especially when on the gas) and would noticeably lessen as I straightened out. Could also feel it beneath my feet. Drained the diff and the fluid looked great; axle was toast though and it became very apparent upon removal how much play there was in the joints

That is very encouraging and begs the question... what axle did you choose to replace the toasted one? PS I figure my grinding is a direct result of neglecting to use your tool

 

[yngmrostrvile]

This CV is still working well for me. Unknown mileage on hub. 3500mi on cv.

 

[TheForger]

That is very encouraging and begs the question... what axle did you choose to replace the toasted one? PS I figure my grinding is a direct result of neglecting to use your tool

Toyota OEM

 

[jLB]

I’ve been a firm believer in either rebuilding the OE CV axle, or buying new (OE). I didn’t see any of the $8 or $12 deals, but a < $90 (temporary?) spare, might be worth having on the shelf, with more than one 100 series in the driveway. I’ve ordered one to take a look at, and experiment with...

 

[awesomeissquid]

I’ve been a firm believer in either rebuilding the OE CV axle, or buying new (OE). I didn’t see any of the $8 or $12 deals, but a < $90 (temporary?) spare, might be worth having on the shelf, with more than one 100 series in the driveway. I’ve ordered one to take a look at, and experiment with...

I think we are all now going to be looking for those warehouse deal spares.