Les Schwab CV axels damaged after 5 months of install!

Hi! New here…also ready to get roasted for this lol.

I purchased a 98 Taco back in April, and immediately had the CV axels replaced through Les Schwab (roast away) because one of them had a torn boot that was leaking everywhere. I went with Schwab solely because of their “warranty”. I myself am not to mechanically inclined, and am working on it slowly, but replacing those is too big a task for me right now. The truck has a 3” suspension lift (old man EMU) and the tires are 31”‘s.

Fast forward to this weekend— out cruising some questionable roads in my state and hit a couple surprisely large pot holes while going down a hill at around 30mph. Slowed down after that, but noticed no issues. Woke up this morning to some squeaking noises very noticeable coming from the front axel’s, specifically when I turn the wheels. Peaked at the IFC components and noticed the passenger side CV axel boot was torn to hell, but no other visual damages. My question is how much damage could I realistically be looking at and do you think Les Schwab will hold to their warranty considering the circumstances ?? Any help and advice is appreciated! I know this isn’t the most info but I’m just curious if anyone has any experience like this or have ever dealt with Schwab and their suspension warranties? Thanks in advance.

Love this site, and have learned a lot through it thus far. Please take it easy on me!

 

I would at least talk to them about it. I've only used les schwab for tires and alignments, but my local one has been outstanding. The only thing I've had to bring in for warranty is their tpms and a leaking valve. They replaced them for free no questions asked. They could have easily blamed it on offroad use judging by the rash on my wheels, but I was in and out with new valves and tpms all around for free. If there's one shop I can actually depend on, it's les schwab.
Edit: I forgot, I have also had a U-joint replaced by them but I haven't had any issues with it.

 

Thanks for the response! I’ve got an apt setup for Wednesday, but just lookin for outside opinions since as you can imagine, my brain is imagining the worst!! thanks again!

 

3" lift, you're going to tear cv axle boots no matter what cv's you use.

You have too much lift.

 

Also, depending on your style of driving, if you're going to do any real off roading you'll find that cheap cv axles will actually limit your travel.

You'll run into binding before you reach max travel when using quality suspension components.

 

Appreciate all your information! As mentioned, I’m merely learning all of this.. this is my first 4WD vehicle. By no means am I a “rock crawler”. Just trying to take my rig rad places to camp is all! I understand what you mean about cheap CV’s however. Makes sense. I’m just shocked they’re potentially this damaged after 5 months of use? Aside the torn boot, something else is clearly wrong. Shouldn’t be making these type of noises…

 

Well it goes with what I mentioned; cheap cv axles will have much more limited travel than say, OEM.

With your 3" lift, you're most likely at the limit for those cv axles, not just for the boots on them.

 

It is quite possible The OP has no idea what your talking about.

New to a 4x4 and turning wrenches .