Cardone CV Driveshafts - anygood?

[homesale]

http://www.raxles.com/Fundamentals.aspx

Are raxles axles more expensive than Honda remanufactured axles?
How much is the shipping cost for a raxles axle?

I ordered a Honda remanufactured axle and it came with a little tear in the outer boot then became a larger tear later.

 

[srmofo]

http://www.raxles.com/Fundamentals.aspx

Are raxles axles more expensive than Honda remanufactured axles?
How much is the shipping cost for a raxles axle?

I ordered a Honda remanufactured axle and it came with a little tear in the outer boot then became a larger tear later.

No , raxles are cheaper. Iirc shipping was around 35. You Shouldhave returned that torn boot before installing.

 

[mrpowderkeg]

My k1500 had a drivers side boot that was tore, I caught it in time and changed the boot. Then the passenger side developed a bad cv shaft, I bought a new one. The new shaft is shot in about two years time because the boot tore and I didn't catch it in time. The old one that I changed the boot in is still going strong after about 4 years. I think I will buy an gm reman shaft instead of a parts store special. Seems like dealer parts last longer.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I change CV boots all the time, not that many CV joints or complete driveshafts though. Fords seem to be the most common for needing complete shafts. The bearings on the inner joint's "spider" goes or the carrier bearing on engine-side does.

 

[blarf]

Would you please recommend me a parts store then?

Out here we got AutoZone, Carquest, Kragen's, NAPA, PepBoys, and some independents.

The dealer. I'm lucky with BMW that there are 3-4 dealers who do discounted mail order stuff (generally 20-25% off of list), which puts them in the same price range as the indie guys (the dealers being cheaper for BMW branded stuff, and sometimes a tiny bit more expensive for the aftermarket stuff).

There's a Ford/Volvo dealer out there that offers very competitive mail order prices for Ford and Volvo parts.

Beyond that, I'd say it's worth making friends with an independent mail order parts shop that specializes in what you want. I've yet to be impressed with AutoZone, Carquest, CSK, or NAPA. Don't think we've got many Pep Boys around here. If you need something in a hurry, that's where your friendly indie shop with a WorldPac account comes in handy.

 

[kornjulio]

I just put in a reman axle from USA Industries into the wife's minivan. We'll see how it goes. But I did bookmark the site for raxles for future considerations....

 

[homesale]

I got an email price quote from raxles for a 1992 Acura Integra. Price is $164.80 ($129.95 + $34.85 shipping to CA.) for one axle.

Raxles email this info also:

- Raxles uses NEW outer joints on all axles. Raxles Do Not Regrind.
- Raxles built out of HD NEW components using Amsoil synthetic grease, new nuts, Harmonic Dampeners!, and the BEST CV boots.
- Charge no core charge "up front" and include a UPS ARS pre-paid return label with order.

 

[pipsters]

Buy Raxles if you want to install once and call it a decade. Buy anything else and you'll be spending a lot more time under your car.

 

[browntown]

I bought the new chinese axles for my old bmw from Napa a couple years ago. I was bummed out when I found out they were chinese, but so far so good. I kept my old oem ones just in case though.

 

[Tatersalad]

Am I the only one here who has had bad experiences with Cardone reman parts (not just cv axles). I'm not all that impressed with what they call reman, many parts I've gotten from them have not worked correctly right out of the box (wiper moters, window regulators, power steering pumps ect...) I would wager that you would be better off rebooting your old axles if the joints are still ok, or getting new axles considering the price. For crying out loud I think most of us on here have spent more on one ratchet than what two new axles cost, just my point of view....

 

[rsa]

Back from the dead thread

raxles no joy. They don't rebuild half shafts for a 300C (RWD). I tried cvjreman too, also no joy. Well some joy, but not a happy ending . . . they offered to rebuild my core, which under other circumstances would work. I was almost ready to buy OEM, but there's a core charge there. Why a core charge for what I would expect to be a virgin half shaft? And my reliable mechanics aren't worried about Cardone remans...

Arrrrrrg

 

[wild cowboy]

Would you please recommend me a parts store then?

Out here we got AutoZone, Carquest, Kragen's, NAPA, PepBoys, and some independents.

Rock Auto and Amazon - no one even remotely close to those two in price.

 

[MattPersman]

Back from the dead thread

raxles no joy. They don't rebuild half shafts for a 300C (RWD). I tried cvjreman too, also no joy. Well some joy, but not a happy ending . . . they offered to rebuild my core, which under other circumstances would work. I was almost ready to buy OEM, but there's a core charge there. Why a core charge for what I would expect to be a virgin half shaft? And my reliable mechanics aren't worried about Cardone remans...

Arrrrrrg

The idea behind Chrysler having a core is that eventually if they get enough (who knows how many and how that is determined) there could be a reman available, my guess is they are selling to a cardone and they are reman them. You can always pay the core charge and keep your shaft for what I don't know. The reman cardone is like $90 on rock auto. Or you can get random ones on rock auto for even less money and see what happens.

 

[rsa]

You can always pay the core charge and keep your shaft...

Doh.

That's my answer! Buy the Cardone reman outright. That gives me a known core to have rebuilt by someone like raxles and returned in the event of a Cardone failure.

Thanks, Matt
_____
Stewart

 

[justme-]

I will never buy another Cardone reman again. seen several remans fail quickly, heard of many more issues with them from pro mechanics I trust... and I've heard from industry how Cardone operates the reman process...never again.

The proper way to reman is to re manufacture - which is what it's short for, the way Cardone does it is simply replacing failed parts.

Check your local area for a driveline shop - if you have any trucking industry within 50 miles you'll have a spring rebuilder shop and a driveline rebuilder shop - much better options. I don't even replace u-joints in my drive shafts anymore - the driveline shop I go to will use US made joints and balance the shaft for reasonable... much more reasonable than I can justify doing it myself for.

 

[mtnwkr]

If they aren't rattling going around corners all you need are a good cleanout and new grease and boots.

What do you do if it's the inner joint that's worn and not making any noise but vibrating terribly under acceleration? The inner joint often gets ignored during a rebuild.
FWIW, I went with the new Cardoan's from rock auto and they were $50 shipped each. Pretty cheap and fit just fine.

 

[DJCUMMINS69]

As far as napa remand front driveshaft goes stay away from them. In fact run away they will cause you nothing but problems. I bought one. The CV took a crapper after 2500 miles pulled it out took back they warranted it out. Put the second one in and 2000 miles on it the cv came apart and shelled the case broke fuel lines brake line and clutch hydraulics.

 

[impactsocket]

I would pay the extra money to buy a new cv half shaft from the dealer. Don't waste your time with cheap remanufactured axles you will waste time constantly changing them out over and over again.

Raxles is good but you have to call Raxles and speak with Marty to order the axle. Many times he does not have what you need in stock. There is no order form on the Raxles website. Phone orders only.

Honda Elements have a problem with front half shafts going bad. I changed them out with new Honda half shafts.

 

[Super Mech]

I use only new import axles when I can get them. I’ve rarely encountered a problem. Maybe a couple of boxed wrong ones in last few years. We do a least a few axles a month in my shop. The Cardones aren’t bad I just prefer new as I find the rebuilts always have nicked/damaged splines and threads where as the new stuff is clean and unmolested.
I purchased a rebuilt axle for a fiat 500 from the my Chrysler dealer close to a year ago, it was the worst looking spray can rebuild I ever saw. I couldn’t get it to fit right in the hub as the splines were all messed up. Really poor quality. They sent me another one and while it fit and worked it still was visually subpar.

 

[Mr_B]

I keep to original oem cv shafts as much as possible.
When can reboot an oem shaft for 20 to 30 bucks parts it silly fit low quality new that likely have issues in fitting sealing vibration etc etc .
We went through 3 shafts for a subaru from local parts stores in a bid get customer on road same day, 2 vibrated with one crunching on tight turns and other fitted trans side poorly. In end went pull a part and rebooted a best pick of oem joints onto a shaft and all good .
Wasted 1/4 of day dealing with parts stores swaps/deliveries and working late to resolve issues with used original parts .
We only use part store ones when time demands dictate it or customer supplies it .
One of those areas that effort sourcing better cv shafts pays you back doing job once and customer gets decent service life .
your current part stores average axle and suspension parts can be that poor quality & QC the parts you consider non serviceable and ready be binned are likely still better lol
Alternators and starters another best avoided and use a good local source .
We actually started doing more regulator and diode pack replacements and stock a few good used original alternators and starters to avoid out the box issues and come backs .

 

[bwringer]

I've not had good luck with remans. I think they have to regrind them much of the time, so they grind through the hardening and the innards get sloppy fast. In short order, you've got a nasty vibration when you accelerate.

A good overview of this issue:
https://www.raxles.com/noregrind.aspx


Also, back in the '80s when front wheel drive was still considered a weird new alien concept, the boots were stupidly fragile. I remember replacing the boots many times because they always ripped open long before the joints were worn out. So a "rebuild" consisted of doing your best to clean out the old grease, squirting in new grease, and installing a boot. Or, of course, installing a reman if you had a few more bucks...

Nowadays, by the time the boot fails the joint is also completely worn out. So the remans all started with worn out joints and are no good.

 

[dusterdude]

I sold cardone products for years and never had a major problem with any of them.of course,occasionally you get a defect but no more than expected.

Sent from my LM-X420 using Tapatalk

 

[HenryAZ]

When I rebuilt my '74 FJ-40, I had to have custom driveshafts made because of adding a longer transmission and a later model transfer case. I needed a longer front and a shorter rear. I used Tom Woods custom drive shafts and was very pleased with their product. The rear driveshaft, (Toyota calls them propeller shafts), was short and at a high angle, so we used a double cardan joint at the top. IIRC, the total cost for both was in the $600-$700 range, but this was about 8-9 years ago.

 

[Mr_B]

I've not had good luck with remans. I think they have to regrind them much of the time, so they grind through the hardening and the innards get sloppy fast. In short order, you've got a nasty vibration when you accelerate.

A good overview of this issue:
https://www.raxles.com/noregrind.aspx


Also, back in the '80s when front wheel drive was still considered a weird new alien concept, the boots were stupidly fragile. I remember replacing the boots many times because they always ripped open long before the joints were worn out. So a "rebuild" consisted of doing your best to clean out the old grease, squirting in new grease, and installing a boot. Or, of course, installing a reman if you had a few more bucks...

Nowadays, by the time the boot fails the joint is also completely worn out. So the remans all started with worn out joints and are no good.

Yeh we don't use remans unless only viable cost option for the job, too many issues in few thousand miles or right at test drive .
We still reboot and regrease original cv axles when condition serviceable .

 

[Ton ton]

My cv joint is screaming @ me.

 

[wafrederick]

I sold cardone products for years and never had a major problem with any of them.of course,occasionally you get a defect but no more than expected.

Sent from my LM-X420 using Tapatalk

Their rack and pinions and electrical parts are garbage