Aftermarket CV Axle Shafts
- Thread starter CA-RJ
- Start date
spressomon
Expedition Leader
The NAPA units are junk. They are not based on the OEM style Toyota CV joint...mine blew up in less than a month on my 100. Save yourself the agony and go with Toyota OEM IMO.
CA-RJ
Expo Approved™
Curious, what were the circumstances behind your failure? I am very easy on my stuff out in the dirt. Most of my off highway adventures are easy fire roads or stuff out in Death Valley.
spressomon
Expedition Leader
Nothing unusual as far as off-road challenges. The units I tried were new (2-years ago) NAPA units not reman. Maybe they utilize different mfgs for their CVs...in fact that is highly likely. The ones I have don't have the OEM tulip and ball type joints but three large flat 'bearings' and they just didn't survive and the boots seemed much lower grade material... They did come with a lifetime warranty...I need to get them out of my garage and back there for refund/replacement. Secondarily the fit to the diff side was what I would call a Class B fit; it was not the easy slip in and out of the OEM mating spline surfaces...took considerably more force to insert and remove; a PITA really...
XPEDITIONREADY
Observer
hold on to your old CV shaft even if it is clicking. Take it with you on the trails in case you break one you will have a spare to get you home if need be. Especially if your lesser quality one is "guarenteed for life" it will get you home and on the road until you can swap out and warranty it.
Ruined Adventures
Brenton Cooper
Best advice.
I'd heard good and bad about the Autozone & Napa cv axles on Yotatech. OEM is not cheap, but weigh your options carefully. If you have to use the "lifetime warranty" with an aftermarket axle, it will be a major pain swapping axles but you won't have to spend another cent. I did mine in August (Autozone) and they seem to be holding up great. I suppose it just depends if you're willing to invest blood, sweat, and tears or rather spend the extra coin for peace of mind.
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
X2
I'd use OEM, with so much work to replace one I'd do it once and do it right
:xxrotflma
X4 on OEM, junkyards should have good ones for $40 a piece.
:xxrotflma I'm super slow at changing them and it takes me less than 45 minutes. I've got friends that can do it on the trail in less than 25 minutes. :ylsmoke:
laxtoy
Adventurer
there are different grades of cv's sold at napa. the remanufactured can be either grade as i have found, but most often are an oem unit that has been refurbished, i don't see how they differ from stock, except often you have to reuse your dust seals by tapping them off the ends of the unit you pull off, or reorder from toyota. the new napa manufactured cv's are where i hear a lot of issues. i have two of them on my tacoma, and use my oem's as trail spares as was suggested. they are not bad from my experiences, but others have said they have less range of movement. the most recognizable difference from oem is the tulip joint (the side of the cv closest to the differential) is smooth all the way around on napa's brand, and the toyota originals are flat in three equidistant spaces, look kinda triangular.
the other difference is cost- a remanufactured cv is far less expensive at around $60 after the core refund - before the core, it's around $210. the brand new napa brand is around $150ish, and you keep the one on the truck. the third option i wish i would have gone for originally is to go to toyotapartsales.com and order a factory refurbished oem cv for around $150 before shipping, thus keeping the others as trail spares as was suggested by other members.
the only thing that is nice about going to napa or autozone*, is you get a warranty for a replacement which a lot of guys take advantage of. napa's warranty on remanufactured cv's is a 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty, and for a brand new is limited lifetime. autozone's policy is limited lifetime on remanufactured.
*napa and autozone get their remanufactured units from the same distributor, at least down here. i just found this out by trying to find one with dust seals on the ends, and they came in the exact same box at both stores.
the other difference is cost- a remanufactured cv is far less expensive at around $60 after the core refund - before the core, it's around $210. the brand new napa brand is around $150ish, and you keep the one on the truck. the third option i wish i would have gone for originally is to go to toyotapartsales.com and order a factory refurbished oem cv for around $150 before shipping, thus keeping the others as trail spares as was suggested by other members.
the only thing that is nice about going to napa or autozone*, is you get a warranty for a replacement which a lot of guys take advantage of. napa's warranty on remanufactured cv's is a 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty, and for a brand new is limited lifetime. autozone's policy is limited lifetime on remanufactured.
*napa and autozone get their remanufactured units from the same distributor, at least down here. i just found this out by trying to find one with dust seals on the ends, and they came in the exact same box at both stores.
CYi5
Explorer
I've been running my Kragen life-time axles for many years, no issues. I see a little bit of rubber fatigue in the boots, but nothing other than that. I've changed out CV boots in the past and it's just a pain. If I split a boot on these I just return it for a new axle, simple as that.