Lotus Heavy Duty CV Axles

Hmmm whats wrong with the LCAs? Ive never heard of anything but would love to learn. I know no mods snaps tie rods, but he's running LT and its an easy cheap fix. The LCAs wouldn't be that big of a deal because you can always upgrade. IMO the stronger front diff and CVs of the 2nd gen would be a significant difference.

 

something about how they mount. You can rip them right off or even bend them..granted thats mostly just for guys doing mid travel stuff..not really crawling..

the front diffs are stronger. But i don't really think the CVs are much stronger..

 

He speaks the truth.

2nd gens dont seem like they break near as many CVs as 1st gens.

 

The newer tacomas are bigger, stronger, and more powerful, but that isn't worth shit when they can't fit through obstacles on a narrow trail. Narrow gets to places that wide can't go. Not that I wouldn't love a brand new taco for my dd, but I'm not in that tax bracket. As many have said, putting expensive parts at risk to save cheaper parts makes no sense. I've taken my truck through every trail in the northern sierras (other than rubicon and fordyce) without breaking a cv. A functional dd with ifs isn't going to tackle trails like that no matter what you do. Yes, we've all heard stories of stock trucks and even a Subaru making it to loon lake from the west shore of tahoe, but that is a sacrificial lamb. SAS for strictly trail rigs, upgraded ifs for a dd that can get as deep into heavy terrain as you would want to get with a vehicle that gets you to work every day. Sliders and a skilled choice of lines on 31's works fine for me. 33's or bigger without re-gearing and upgrading your drivelines makes a gutless slow pig gas hog that wants to break your cv's . Armor it, grind over shit, pick your lines carefully, and still have some juice for ripping around in the power band...IMHO

 

I've never understood how a pair of CV's with a chromoly inner race and cage costs $1000 and only comes with a 1 year warranty but I can buy a set of 30 spline Longfields that includes chromoly hub gears and drive flanges for under $650 and has a no questions asked lifetime warranty

 

They are up to $600 a shot now. Some idiots must be buying them. If they couldn't sell them you'd think the price would be going down.

Interesting story. I'm running 33x13.50 Super Swamper LTBs with what's effectively a spool (welded up carrier/spiders) with manual hubs. My factory CVs lasted a decent amount of time, although when the first one went, it broke the stub axle and took out the hub with it, which pissed me off to no end. When I first did the suspension on the truck, I was kind of ignorant of a lot of issues these trucks have and because the boots on the factory CVs looked a little dry rotted, I ran Autozone Duralast Gold CVs with lifetime warranties for a while...until I got tires of snapping them if I looked at them wrong. Then I put the factory CVs back in. After the one broke the stub axle, I decided I wanted to try something different than the free replacement Autobone CV. Someone suggested they had good luck with NAPA, so I got a NAPA Max Drive CV with a lifetime warranty (made by Cardone). Well, I went out last weekend and put it to the test, and even though it was probably the biggest fluke in the world, and the result of 20 years of wear and tear, the other factory CV blew the birf while the NAPA CV stayed intact all day. So I'll be replacing my last factory CV with another NAPA CV. Then I'll see if it was just a fluke or if the NAPA CVs really do hold up that much better than the Autobone ones.

 

How’s the Napa CVs holding up after almost a year?

 

My father bent the drive side LCA on his 2008 PreRunner after hitting a rough patch of highway at 75mph. I took it at 55ish and was fine so who knows what would've been the result if I took it at 75.

 

I haven't broke one yet. In fairness though, I haven't taken the truck to any of the more extreme places to really torture test them and now I've taken the Lincoln spool out of the front end. Right now I'm running an open front diff and pretty soon I'm going to pull the rear Third and send the whole lot to EGCS to regear to 4.88s and put a True Trac LSD unit in the front diff. Then I'm going to 35x13.50 TSL SXIIs (when they come out). Hopefully they'll take then extra stress of the 35s better with an LSD instead of a spool and I'm hoping whatever capability I lost removing it spool, I'll mostly get back with the 35s.

There was this though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZARkpc51G_4

 

x2 for NAPA axles, I have abused the one that I have on there and it's yet to break. I still need to put a crawl box in my truck, it'll make wheeling with the 5 speed much easier. I was driving a little faster on rough stuff than I cared to on the last trip. Quite a bit of clutch slippage to keep it controlled but still bouncing around a lot. Some have said a crawl box is a better mod than SAS.

 

I'm kinda hoping to put an auto trans in mine at some point. It's easier to be gentle on the drivetrain with an auto (plus with an auto, I'll have a free foot to step on the brake pedal to properly use the LSD in the front...I have small feet and suck at heel-toeing the throttle and brake). But, yeah, I want to do a crawl box too. I don't see myself ever having the cash for an SAS, so that's mostly a pipe dream.

 

That's funny, I think my feet are too BIG to heel/toe. But heel/toeing with boots is probably impossible lol

 

I know this is an old thread, but I just came across this and it piqued my curiosity. I’d always heard the 2nd gen CVs were about the same strength as the 1st gens (especially when accounting for the extra weight and power of the 2nd gen). If you compare them, they’re essentially the same size (maybe they beefed up the joints a bit)?

Also, if they did use stronger alloys or change the design somehow, wouldn’t they have applied those improvements to the OEM 1st gen CVs as well? IME the 1st gen CVs are pretty strong if you don’t go crazy with lifts and tires: to me 32/33 skinnies and 1.5-2” of lift is the sweet spot.

 

I'm not sure if there's a question in here or not.

Anecdotally, I can say this: Look around the forums at the number of threads about rear R+P failures vs CV axle failures. The former outnumber the latter to the degree that the 2gen (possibly 3gen as well? Not sure if it's the same rear end) Ring/Pinion is a known weak spot on these trucks in the 2nd gen.