Aftermarket CV Axle vs. OEM
 

When I had to replace my cv axles, I decided to save the bucks and go aftermarket. I chose AutoZone's Duralast due to convenience of location. I chose new, not remans. I installed them, and then monitored and noted that I suddenly had a slow, weepy leak coming from where they insert into the trans. This really bugged me, and I re-seated the passenger side a few times thinking maybe I just did not seat them properly (driver side was too hard to release). I could never fix the weep.

When my trans went out I had to pull them. It took me forever to get that driver side out. I had kept my old ones as I plan to get some metal salvage out of them. Good thing too, as I can compare them. Check this out.

Note how much deeper the OEM seats into the trans past the snap ring. Not sure if this has anything to do with the leakage, but there is a difference.
Attachment 3858

Also note the design difference in the area where you would use a tool to extract it. The OEM one has notches to allow the Toyo tool to grab on to evenly apply pressure to remove. The Duralast is a smooth round cylinder, providing nothing to grab onto. I had to damage the dust shield and mar up the trans housing to try to get it to remove.
Attachment 3859

Note the deformation of the snap ring after pulling the axles. That snap ring was really hung up in the trans I think, further complicating removal (along with the smooth body) and possibly damaging the inners of the union in the trans.
Attachment 3860

This is a close up of that deformation on the Duralast. No way to know if that happened as I was trying to pull it, but no matter when it happened, it did complicate removal and again possibly caused some damage to the old trans when removing.
Attachment 3861


As these have a limited life time warranty I plan to have a discussion with AutZone, with these pics, and go for my money back. Now, I still did not buy OEM to replace it as I just don't have the $300 for OEM, but I will compare the new one I am buying from O'Reilly's with the OEM before installing and see if it is worth the effort.

Thanks to another user I checked out NAPA, and it looks much better. I got my bucks back on the O'Reilly and bought the NAPA.

The housing has notches to allow you to get a hold of it to unseat it, instead of the smooth cylinder. This is critical.

Attachment 3856

The spline past the ring is also just a tad longer, as opposed to be shorter. The OEM measured up to about 5.69mm, the NAPA at 6.11mm.

Attachment 3857

They offer a more rugged boot, but they had none in the entire state, so I would have had to order on-line. Instead I purchased just the normal neoprene boot. It is less substantial than the OEM one, but for $79 versus $300+, well, there you go.

good to know...I replaced both of mine last year with NAPA ones...no particular reason other than because they had them in stock. I'm glad I went with them.

Suggest staying away from rebuilds as a warranty means nothing if it takes 3 parts to get one that works. Axles, starters motors and alternators.

For future reference the outer CV joint typically fails and these can be replaced.

If replacing an axle the diff seal can be damaged if not careful.

Great pics and experiences! Thanks for sharing and I will keep this info in mind if needed.

Right, I went new as opposed to remans, as I prefer to avoid someone else's rebuilt troubles :)

The issue with the oil seals is exactly why brands like Duralast are problematic. The only way to gain purchase on them is to jam a pry bar up between the housing and the trans body, which puts the tip right on the outer lip of the oil seal. Bad bad bad. Then you have to replace that seal as well. It's not a lot of money, but what a PITA.

Different issue with seating it; the OEM and NAPA ones have that ridge you can place the flat tip of a BASD (Big A$$ Screw Driver) and tap it home to seat it. The smooth body ones have no such way to do this, so you wind up flipping the axle nut over and tapping the rod with a hammer, which is not a good idea either. Or try to tap home that smooth body, which causes the tool to slip and you jam it up into the body of the trans.

I did not want to wade into rebuilding the boots and all that at the time (about a year ago), so I went with replacement. Now that I still have my OEM driver side (I had to cut out the passenger side when I did it) I think I will rebuild it myself for some future use. One day.

The one oddity is the neoprene boots stink to high hell. Smells like a bad skunk encounter. At least mine is like that. I don't recall the Duralast smelled like that, and I never smelled my OEM boots when the car was new. The parts guy was like "Whew, smells like someone is smoking something bad", as in bad skunky weed. lol

The pics are huge here! Over at TN they size down, so I should have reduced them for here, but that would mean another pic on my photobucket, so ahhh well.

No worries about the size, again thanks for sharing.
I tend to buy NAPA parts so it is nice to see that they are in spec.

That's a hug difference, thank you for sharing!