Remanufactured cv axles or not

[Orson jacobo]

My cv axles boots are dry rotted and with a mileage of 109875 iam thinking of replacing both front left and right. So i went to oreillys to check some axles out and the reman were cheaper which is in my budget unfortunately. But are they good enough to last a couple 100,000 miles or not. The other question is that i notice on the reman axles there is no counter weight in the middle of the axle like the stock one that i have on the car. So is there a performance issue without having those things on there? Do i have to take them off the exiting and reinstall them to the new or reman part? Or the reman axles are designed not to have them. Any help would be appreciated on this topic before i go to buy them.

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If those boots are actually torn open to the degree that dirt/water/pick your contaminant is getting into the joint, replacing the shafts is a good idea. In my experience, a remanufactured half shaft will do just fine. I can’t recall ever replacing one on a warranty basis. I have sent a few back because I got the wrong shaft. If your budget is really tight, you can easily do one at a time and let the other ride for a while. CV joints are pretty strong parts. Half shafts would probably get replaced much less frequently if they could build a better boot for the CV joints. If you’re not hearing any clicking on turns, the joints themselves probably aren’t in too bad of a shape yet. Dampener or no dampener on the shaft, it’s something that gets pressed onto the shaft during manufacturing. You won’t be swapping it off any shaft onto the next. I would double check and make sure you’re getting the right half shaft. They might have shown you a shaft for a manual transmission when you’ve got an automatic transmission or vice versa. I’d also be leery of some funky mid-year change. What’s your year, make, and model?

[Orson jacobo]

So when i did check the cv axles at oreillys the only weird thing about the axles was the dampner not being on there. But if i dont need it i wont worry about them. As far as the condition of the axles thats on my car the only problem with it is the boots are dry cracked so should i just replace the boot or replacing the axles would be better since mileage is fairly up there. By the way its a 2003 hyundai elantra gls manual 5 speed and the reason i was thinking on replacing them was i am going to do a road trip to see my daughter in tampa from las vegas. Quick question when should i worry about front bearings on my vehicle i dont hear any noise seems like there fine but being i have about 109875 on them should i change them or do they last the life of the car so i hear. Since i will be driving about 2500 miles one way.

[Lorrin Barth]

I like OEM axles. Take care of them and they last a long time. I’ve never had to replace one on a car I owned. I do boots.

Most people don’t like doing boots. It is a greasy mess.

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[quote=”Kokiboy” post=109712]As far as the condition of the axles thats on my car the only problem with it is the boots are dry cracked so should i just replace the boot or replacing the axles would be better since mileage is fairly up there. By the way its a 2003 hyundai elantra gls manual 5 speed

Quick question when should i worry about front bearings on my vehicle i dont hear any noise seems like there fine but being i have about 109875 on them should i change them or do they last the life of the car so i hear.[/quote]

Like I said, if the boots are torn open far enough to allow dirt and road debris into the joints, replacement is the best option. If the boots are still sealed despite any surface cracks, then it’s your crap shoot whether you want to replace or repair. It’s entirely viable you can get more long life out of the OE shafts if you want to do the work. Barneyb raises a good point about greasy messes though.

I won’t give you an entire repair how to, but keep these things in mind. If you do decide to repair, you will need a band clamping tool to seal the ends of the boots. There’s a good chance you can rent or buy the tool from a local parts store. Clean out all the old grease thoroughly. Then clean out all the old grease thoroughly. (not a misprint…promise!) Look for damage like chunking or galling of the balls, the races, and the cage. Any damage there would pretty much force you to replace them anyway. When installing the new boot, wedge a screw driver between the boot and the joint to keep the boot from holding too much air.

As far as wheel bearings go, their typical life expectancy is 130,000 miles. You don’t ever really need to change them before they’ve actually worn out. If you’re not hearing noises on turns or finding any play in the bearings, leave them be. You’d need to replace the hub and the bearing. Buying both parts combined, are pretty expensive to replace as a maintenance item. You’d also need a press device to press the parts out of the knuckle. There are tool kits available now that let you do this job on the car. Given the effort and the cost to replace the hubs & bearings, I’d let them fail first. When they do fail, you’ll usually hear it on the turn first.

[Glenn]

If you think about it, bearings and boots are exactly two of the primary components replaced on a reman axle. It’s much less aggravation to replace the whole axle as opposed to simply replacing the boots. While conventional wisdom says to always replace something with OEM parts, you have to consider the age and mileage of your vehicle in addition to your budget. A friend of mind who worked as a manager at Oreilly’s said he’s never seen a reman axle come back to the store. I say save yourself some money and go with a reputable reman axle. Of course there’s is no shortage of opinions on this forum 🙂

[Orson jacobo]

Thanks for all the replys and i decided to go with reman axles for the fix and again thank u everyone

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