What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

What's the consensus on CJV axle strength vs OEM? I know OEM will always be best, but OEM manual hub CVs are reman anyways from Toyota.
I've never ran them, but maybe someone can chime in with their experience or if anyone has had bad luck with them?

 

Aren't CVJ axles just rebuilt OEM ones? With the option of getting silicone boots

Up until recently you could order rebuilt OEM CVs from Toyota but they are apparently discontinued, though I was able to get one locally as recently as about 6 months ago. Was probably just old stock at the local dealership. I think the price is/was the same as the basic option from CVJs website from what I recall seeing.

Anyway I don't know if calling them stronger is better, assuming they are just rebuilt OEM. But definitely better than any parts store axle

As for the silicone boots, I've never run them but I know I've seen some good/bad reviews on here from people who have.

 

This is the assumption I always had.
OEM axles, but can opt for better boots, boot slide mod, etc.

 

Yeah from what I'm reading online it seems that is what they are.

RCV makes stronger CV axles for Tacomas...but then comes the argument that you're more likely to break something more expensive if the CV axles are no longer the weakest link. Not saying I would know one way or the other as I've never run them, and probably never will at $2,000 per set

https://www.rcvperformance.com/axlesets/toyota/toyota-ifs-rcv-axle-set.html

 

Yeah... nope. I’m not paying that kinda money to possibly grenade my diff instead of a CV.

 

I kind of look at the CV as the fuse.

Putting a 30 amp fuse on a 15 amp circuit doesn't normally turn out well.

RCV is a 30 amp fuse.

 

There's also Lotus Development. They build their axles with a beefier outer cage and race. Still looking at roughly $1200 for the pair. If I'm spending that kind of money, I'm going RCV.

http://lotusdevelopmentllc.mybigcom...er-1st-gen-tacoma-single-chromoly-caged-axle/

@theesotericone is running RCVs with no problems that I know of. And he wheels.

 

Yeah I was just about to tag him as well, I remember him saying recently he hasn't broken one yet and he's definitely hard on his rig

 

Removed the e locker motor and slid the fork over to unlock the diff

 

Oh I didn't know that. Should have researched them a bit more. I'd just always head about people running them and was curious.

There's also these I found. https://lotusdevelopmentllc.mybigco...er-1st-gen-tacoma-single-chromoly-caged-axle/

EDIT: @MattJakobs beat me to it with those axles

 

assuming you can't get a rebuilt OEM one from a local Toyota dealer then I would personally go the CVJ route since the price is the same. Just have to ship them your old core if you want the core charge back

 

If you going to go with stronger CV's RCV is the only way to go. Lotus left the inner joint stock. I've personally broken 4 at the inner joint. RCV lifetime warranty. Lotus 1 year warranty. I wonder why?

I'm not getting into the "fuse" debate. If you change to a stronger CV the diff is not the weak point. The ADD tube and stub shaft are. Again, I've seen the damage from real world use when a buddy grenaded his ADD tube. There's not enough data because no gear company has ever tested their gears until failure. Once you go ARB the spider gears and carrier are strong enough to break chromoly shafts. ARB has tested that.

In 3 years of being dual cased I've had the following happen.

On stock and auto parts CV's I had 11 failures in 1 1/2 years. 5 of those where OEM axles. 4 broke at the inner. 7 broke at the outer. All of those where on 295/70/17(33.5")

In 1 1/2 years of running RCV's I've had no breaks. I have no issues with the front diff or ADD tube. 1 year of that was on Pitbull Rocker radial 35's. They are a true 35 at 35.25" at 32 PSI with the weight of the rig on them.

I am very glad I got rid of that stupid fucking fuse. lol

 

I actually was able to find some. Was hoping to find one new, but seems like you cant with the manual hub CVs.
Not too bad of a price. CJV wants way more.
https://parts.conicellitoyotaofconshohocken.com/oem-parts/toyota-axle-assembly-434300401084

 

I think that price is after you return the core though, you have to cough up the $75 core charge up front so it's actually closer to $200 until you bring the core in or ship it.

But still way cheaper than a brand new OEM axle.

First time I ordered a reman OEM from the dealer they sent me a manual hub reman by mistake, I didn't check it closely enough and didn't realize it until I got it installed and tried putting the axle nut on. That sucked, lol.

 

yea I know, still best price i've been able to find on an OEM.

If I start breaking a bunch of manual CVs i'm just gonna swap to ADD spindles & OEM ADD axles and leave my manual hub diff tube in so I don't have to worry about the ADD stub shaft. Would hate to blow that up on a trail lol. My front DS will be spinning all the time, but it's not my daily anymore so I figure that's an OK trade off to make.

I know of one other guy that runs his front like that and he's on 37's with a SC and dual cases and he smashes a lot of rev limiter lol

 

We’re those breaks when you were when you had your locker engaged?

 

Only 4 of those happened with the locker on. Maybe 5. It's hard to remember when you break that many. lol

 

I was going to say that’s a lot of breaks. Figuring most people will go wheeling once a month for say 10 months out of the year, your almost at a broken cv a trip. Almost doesn’t sound fun. Now you probably wheeled way more than that but just throwing out a general number.

 

Go to a junkyard and get an oem cv for $50. No sense in buying brand new if there's a good chance of breaking one again.