BEST AFTERMARKET REPLACEMENT CV AXLE SHAFTS?

I was wondering what brand replacement CV front axle shafts are most recommended for my 2002 tacoma? OEM axles cost too much for my budget and there are so many aftermarket brands to choose from? Thanks for any input

 

I hear NAPAs are pretty good. But really, most of the autoparts store brands are "good enough" for most purposes.

Are you stock height or lifted?

But generally speaking the OEMs are going to be the best. There are some brands out there that are super hardcore strong, however I'm of the mindset that a CV is way easier and cheaper to replace than a diff. You kinda want the CV to be the weak point.

Also, depending on what's wrong with them, you can rebuild them for a faction of the cost of a whole new one.

 

I have Bilsteins front and rear. The front are set at one down from the highest position.

 

So what is the problem you're encountering? Are your boots cracking and leaking?

If that's the case, rebuild them with high angle boots. There are some high angle CVs out there, too, but the jury is still out on their durability (at least the boot's durability), as one member who recently installed them had one of the boots leak soon after.

You can also try a diff drop, which doesn't entirely return the CV angles to stock, but it helps some.

 

If you have OEM CVs, it is well worth it to rebuild them. If not NAPA still offers a lifetime warranty on their CV axles, as does o'reillys I believe

 

I'm pretty sure most aftermarket remans come from the same warehouse/assembly line just in different box, lol. So it wouldn't matter what brand you prefer, most carry a lifetime warranty.

 

Yes I have OEM CVs and my 02 tacoma only has 102k on it. I'm leaning toward getting the the Toyota rebuilding kit instead of replacing them. Thanks for info.

 

Look up some remanufacturing companies and see if they’ll sell direct to you. I know one of our local places sells OEM remanufactures already done and ready to install if you’re short on time.

I went this route recently with a steering rack and got OEM for a song.

 

Is the Toyota rebuild kit just a boot kit? Or is there more to it?

 

I was able to find OEM reman CVs at my local dealership, though I've heard they stopped making them so you might be out of luck there unless they have them in stock still.

CVJ sells reman OEM cv axles for about the same price.

I've used Napa, O'reilleys and Autozone store cvs and they all come with unlimited warranties which is nice, but they axles themselves are sub par compared to OEM. They won't articulate as much before binding up and the boot material is cheaper and tears more easily than OEM.

 

Go OEM.

If you have OEM, rebuild them.

If you don't have OEM, could just try out some 'premium' ext travel axles from O'Reilly; it's what I run on both sides plus lifetime warranty.

I think Napa carries them as well.

 

Just buy spare boots...

 

It's so much easier to just change an axle though... for an OEM one I'd do it but anything else esp with the unlimited warranty, just replace

 

Why reboot a non-OEM though?

I did say if you have OEM, rebuild it though versus replace the boot.

You may have contamination + loss of grease so might as well take it apart, clean, grease up, and assemble with new boot and clamps.

 

I'm just throwing shade at Nelson because he was saying the boots on his high angle CVs still leaked.

But seriously, yeah, I'd agree, if you have the CVs with a warranty, definitely just replace them.

Keep the OEMs (and reboot them) as trail spares.

 

I’m currently running the NAPA front cv axles. I still have my OEM axles that I can rebuild and put back. Not sure how much stronger the OEM axles are compared to the NAPA axles. Honestly I’m tired of busting axles. Nearly every time I use my front locker, this happens. Doesn’t cost me any money because they are lifetime warranty, but it’s still aggravating to replace. I’m not even doing any type of rock crawling or anything like that. I’m always in soft mud or at least on dirt when they snap, not in a heavy bind. I was planning a trip to uwharrie, but I’m not confident at all with these axles. Looking for a set of cv axles that I can trust. This is the 6th axle that I’ve replaced. 3 lefts, this is the 3rd right. Any suggestions? I’ve googled some axles that claim to be as strong as a solid axle swap, but they are very expensive. They would probably just show me where the next weakest link is. This is basically the reason I consider my front locker to be the biggest waist of money I’ve spent on my truck. If I never lock the front differential, there’s no problem, other than winching.

 

Go OEM.

Otherwise, go RCV.

Gotta pay to play.

I will say there are a ton of people that are locked up front and rock crawl, and not breaking cv axles as often. Maybe it's your approach to an obstacle?

Got videos?

 

Something's not right if the axles are breaking every time you use the locker. Unless you're putting the go pedal to floor or something every time you lock the front end lol.

I don't think Napa axles have the same reputation they used to have. OEM will be much better. Or reman OEM/CVJ axles. Or drop $4k for chromoly ones

 

No video’s sorry.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong, they don’t break every time I turn the locker on. The first one, I was on hard packed clay, and I had just installed the lockers. I had the steering wheel turned to the left just a small amount (maybe 180-360 degrees from steering wheel center) I was approaching a fairly steep drop off when my left shaft snapped. I was barely moving with my foot on the brake pedal. All of the failures have been in the same place as in the photo (the wheel end bell of the joint will break) I also miscounted the axles. I’ve broken 4 axles exactly like the one in the photo. 2 per side, I included the OEM axles in that figure, but they didn’t break, just busted boots. I’ve actually never ran the OEM axles with the lockers. I went with the Napa axles during the installation of the front locker.

 

The cheap cv axles could be part of your issue.

They don't all have the same amount of travel as many have experienced, which leads me to believe yours started to bind before an OEM cv axle would've.