Let's talk non OEM cv shafts

Obviously OEM is the best but that's not an option for me. Car Quest has USA remanufactured brand, Napa has A1 Cardone, O'Reillys has imports direct brand. I've had awesome luck with napa shafts. 50k + miles on 2-3" lift. Finally tore an outer boot. But 115 for a new one. OReilly and car quest is $70. I know the boots on advance shafts suck. Need to call them and get a manufacturer.

So what is everyone's luck with non OEM cv shafts?

 

have you looked at rockauto.com?

 

no looking now.

Rockauto is $46 plus core for a A1 cardone reman. napa is $57 for the reman...

 

autopartsexpress seems very cheap for new... almost to good to be true at $39 for a new one...

http://www.autopartsexpress.com/a1-cardone-66-5134-new-cardone-select-constant-velocity-drive-axle

Edit: ****************.com is $43 each, maybe that's not out of line?

http://www.****************.com/Search/Default.aspx?Search=Keywords&SearchText=66-5134

 

I get mine at O'Reilly, MasterPro CVs with limited lifetime warranty for $70 each.

I've been able to exchange several trail-broken CVs, no questions asked.

 

The guy I talked with on the phone at O'reillys did say there was a limited lifetime warranty which is tempting. I asked him if broken was covered and about boots wore out. He couldn't answer for sure. I haven't broken a shaft yet. :knocksonwood: how's their boot life?

 

I tried to show you some links I found too but this website blocks links for some websites if they aren't to be trusted for some reason so if you want to buy from them just find out why this site blocks them, maybe they aren't a trusted website for bad practices or something but there must be a reason and worth checking into before committing money.

 

my opinion is its worth paying a little more for something you can return and exchange locally. shipping things back costs you money and too much time if something isn't right so if its a critical part I try to source it local.

 

The ones I have sold at my shop are all by Advance. Never had any with boot issues. And theirs have a lifetime warranty. Most shafts are about $79 each.

 

The first 2 shafts I had to replace I let firestone do it. Both lasted like 3k ish miles or just outside of whatever their warranty was. Pissed me off to say the least and I figured I could do the job myself. I never expected these napa/a1 cardones to last this long.

Yea, nearest napa is 20ish miles away. There is an oreillies in town. I like doing business with the car quest as it's locally owned but sometimes you just gotta go with the lifetime warranty...

I found those web sites directly off of a1 cardone's web site. But one thing I am sure of about the blocking...
edit: 2 minutes 1 second for the applicable quote
http://youtu.be/Ga4AGttiQSw?t=2m1s

 

Just out of curiosity how much more do OEM cost & do they tend to last longer??

 

Taken from their web site:

O’Reilly Auto Parts Limited Lifetime Warranty

What Does This Warranty Cover?

Customer satisfaction is our top priority. This warranty covers any product that is purchased from us (“Product”) which fails due to a defect in materials or workmanship as long as the product is used normally and serviced and installed properly on your vehicle.

Like a lot of us, mine is normally used off-road

Boots are made of neoprene, I've never had an issue with them. They may be covered under warranty, as well.

Luckily, I have an Oreilly in town, so it just made financial sense for me. Little did I know, I'd get three (and counting) new CVs off of only a $70 initial investment

 

Toyotapartsdirect beat all dealers when I was shopping lower ball joints. If this is a "cheap" OEM CV shaft then it's self explanatory.
http://www.toyotapartsdirect.com/parts.html

I've been through one set of their wagner brake pads so far and can't complain. I think I'll give them a shot and obviously fix this one boot for another spare trail shaft.

 

Welp that didn't last long. Just a little tear. Not sure if this is really a manufacturer defect or anything but just bad luck.

 

CVJ Axles are very helpful and will do the bootslide mod for you if you mention it. TT Chris? I believe is his name. Very fast shipping and good prices for OEM remans.

 

#2 has bit the dust. Outer boot this time. I'm going to try one more and if it fails I'm going back to napa.

 

I have 1 Orielly axle , boot tore surprisingly fast (IIRC, i hadn't even wheeled it, just street driven on my setup.) Pretty sure it was under 5k miles. But. That said, i've been to lazy to fix it and have put about 9 months of miles on it with no noise, little play, and it hasn't broken. Honestly, the initial quality and measurements all seemed quite close to OEM. The boots must be of a cheaper material and the shafts aren't smooth finished like OEM, but overall, i'm quite happy with the cost and know that when it finally does go, i'll get a NIB replacement for free.

One of these days i'll get around to rebuilding my OEM that's on the bench...

 

Pic for reference.

 

If the CV joint isn't bad, just the boot is torn, then you could replace the boot and keep the original drive shaft. It's a little messy dealing with the grease, but you don't have to roll the dice with a rebuild.

 

O’Reilly is suppose to be new shafts. I've got one I replaced the boot on as my trail spare and have another that needs rebuilding.