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CV Axles OEM or aftermarket


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I know this has been covered before but I have not seen any recent postings on the quality of aftermarket CV axles. I know it's a good idea to replace both sides.

 

I am currently having clicking and popping at low speeds while making a sharp turn. It's coming from the driver side which sucks because I just rebooted and regreased the passenger side. My question is, are duralast CV axles from autozone trash? Or worth the buy? 170$ish for both. Or should I just spend 400+ on reman CV axles?

 

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My 07 gt had an autozone cv axle on the driver side front when I first got the car. The steering wheel would vibrate like crazy while i was stopped with the car in drive. Replaced it with a Subaru axle after looking up what would of been the problem and sure enough the vibration stopped. So using a part store cv axle is really hit or miss I would say.
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Subscribed.....I am also slowly looking into getting new axles, what are the stocks rated to handle? Thinking might go OEM, but want to make sure whatever I get wont have to be replaced if I start thinking of screwing around with my car
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OEM is always the safest bet. I've used aftermarket (A1 Cardone remanufactured) and the vehicle vibrated badly enough at a stop in Drive that change would rattle in the cup holders.

 

Raxles seems to get good reviews, same as TEQ. I'd be cautious of Autozone/Advance/etc unless you live in a low rust area and don't mind taking one back whenever it needs under their warranty.

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OEM is my recommendation, seems OEM are better quality.

 

There's a company that sells rebuilt OEM axles, and only takes OEM as core returns. They are a quality replacement and not expensive ($90?). Lemme see if I can find them.

 

_____________

 

CVJ Axles -https://www.cvjreman.com/ - Part number 8101

 

Cost is $94 plus core charge of $35 each (OEM only), plus freight of about $20. You might have to contact them directly through email or by phone, there's nothing listed on their website for us, but I got an axle from them late 2017.

Edited by BoozeRS05
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I've got Auto Zone remans on both sides up front. Passenger side was replaced first of course, but by now they both have at least a couple years and 50K+ miles and they're still fine. I could not swear that they were rebuilt OEM axles though.
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I'm really struggling to understand how a cv axle could cause vibration when the car is stopped with the engine running. I had to read that about 10 times just to be sure I was reading what it appeared I was reading.

 

This only happens with automatic transmissions because the transmission is constantly sending a force to the axles and it is stopped by your foot on the brake. I believe this small force is what causes vibration in cheaper CV axles because they allow for just a little bit of rotational play in comparison with others which don’t have this.

 

Manual transmissions only send force when in gear so it would not have this issue. It confused me as well until I thought about it.

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  • 2 months later...

After trying every parts store in the bay area. Here is my conclusion. This may vary depending on your location, transmission type. Keep in mind I brought my cv axle with me to compare. They failed around 125k miles.

 

All CV axles were too short for a 6MT. Stores visited: autozone, napa auto parts, oreilly auto parts.

 

Local stealership wanted 400$

I ended up ordering from heuberger, as their OEM parts and prices are unbeatable, and I would definitely buy from them again, as I have in the past.

 

 

If I didn't go this route, I would have had my axles rebuilt at raxles in Florida.

 

Part number

 

28321ag01b

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Edited by Darth SpecB
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I have at least one aftermarket axle in my vehicle. I know because the cups are different side to side. It is very possible if not likely that they are both aftermarket.

 

I do not have any issues with my axles except that my RF boot is cracking so it flings a little bit of grease. Would definitely be interested to see if anyone else has luck with aftermarket axles as I would like to replace both of my fronts at some point.

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  • 11 months later...
OEM is my recommendation, seems OEM are better quality.

 

There's a company that sells rebuilt OEM axles, and only takes OEM as core returns. They are a quality replacement and not expensive ($90?). Lemme see if I can find them.

 

_____________

 

CVJ Axles -https://www.cvjreman.com/ - Part number 8101

 

Cost is $94 plus core charge of $35 each (OEM only), plus freight of about $20. You might have to contact them directly through email or by phone, there's nothing listed on their website for us, but I got an axle from them late 2017.

 

Thanks dude, I am totally checking them out, I was stoked to see I they are in Denver so I won't even have to ship them. Also going to look into if they are cheaper than the drive shaft shop for high performance axles. I was not impressed with DSS customer service last time I tried to contact them regarding their spec b axles.

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Funny you mentioned this, I was going to contact them about my newer Forester axles and getting one rebuilt.

 

And I emailed them in Feb about specB axles too, but I sold my specB recently:

"For your SpecB, with it being such a rare application we should have something for you, but would prefer to either match them to your axles or we can rebuild yours for $119 each."

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I've always just put used ones from the local salvage yard in and they fit and work just fine. None of them had the OEM green paint on the ends. No vibration issues. They are ~$30 each when needed. I think I've replaced at least four of the axle shafts on all of our Legacy/Outback rigs.
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Funny you mentioned this, I was going to contact them about my newer Forester axles and getting one rebuilt.

 

And I emailed them in Feb about specB axles too, but I sold my specB recently:

"For your SpecB, with it being such a rare application we should have something for you, but would prefer to either match them to your axles or we can rebuild yours for $119 each."

Do they need some spec b axles to reference? I'm looking into getting some hybrid wheel hubs made by one of the big aftermarket OE manufacturers; if that's possible I may get rid of mine after getting something custom/hybrid from CVJ to match (without the drive shaft shop pricetag).

 

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Can anyone confirm if the spec b front axle is the same as the legacy GT? I was looking online and it was something about the clips being different but I can't tell. Both '08 years for reference, about to drop a core off at a rebuilder today and I don't want to be mistaken and pick up a rebuilt OEM which is not the same.

 

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  • 2 years later...


Waking up this thread from the dead..

I hate buying Chinese parts that don’t last. OEM has always been the best R&D.

So to give some updated info on the remaned Raxles for our cars, as I am searching a couple of front ones too..

I spoke to Marty from Raxles, and the updated charge as of now is $279 plus your core, if you don’t turn in your cores, it’s another $80. In that case, you might as well pay the $389 from Subaru OEM ones.

Or better yet, search for a cheaper, low mileage OEM on eBay, pray they’re good and overhaul them yourself with a good aftermarket boot & grease like Moog or Beck & Arnley kit. 

Edited by RumblyXT
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