Broken cv axles. Rcv axles worth the price.

So what was the consensus on these Rcv axles. I have nitro 4.88 with arb lockers. If you’re not gunning an open diff are you still risking breaking the differential?

 

I'd love to see a "broken CV story" thread where everyone shared a bit of detail of what happened with the break. I'm locked F&R with an OEM on one side and I still have a NAPA reman on the other. I have the OEM as a spare but haven't broken the NAPA yet so no reason to swap.

My guess is most breaks happen while the front is locked. A wheel is spinning at a decent clip and it catches traction. This sounds similar to the OPs experience. I also thing the sharper you're turned or the more you try to turn under pressure is a driving factor. I'm sure my wheeling is on the lighter side. I've only had the lockers a few months and I only engage the front after a few attempts with the rear and keep it as slow and controlled as possible. No issues yet. I almost want to break it to find that threshold.

But as stated earlier, I'd love to hear break stories ...

 

I am also curios about any experiences with the RCV Ultimates. I am looking at the Camburg trail series LT for my 3rd gen. You can get the Camburg 2" extended shafts for $700, but it is additional messy hours to rebuild the OEM CV's before install. It is a lot of cheddar for the RCV's, but with them, it's a done in a day install more or less.
On my 2nd gen, I never broke an axle, but popped quite a few boots. All the Nappa/O'reilly CV's are fine, but the boots do not last nearly as long as the OG's.
https://camburg.com/shop/suspension...oyota-tacoma-16-trail-series-long-travel-kit/

 

Well as luck has it, I broke the original driver cv (60k kms) sliding down a muddy hill while locked and slamming the wheels against rocks and the shoulder of the ruts. Fun times. Inner boot was ripped so I’m sure that didn’t help either. OEM held up great with the amount of abuse I put on them. Most of my kms are hard wheeling. So on order are the RCV ultimate axles….
Will report back when I have experience with them.

 

Brutal! Props for hard charging!! Did you order direct from RCV? I dropped a pair in the RCV cart, but want to talk to them about lead times before ordering.

 

Yep, that's Nate from Dirt Lifestyle and he was with Big Mike of Marlin Crawler installing the RCLT HD on Nate's Tacoma. Mike is actually running 40's on his 3rd gen and has driven to and from trails all over the western U.S. and never broken a front diff or RCV axle shaft in something like 40k miles which includes dozens of tough trails. The front diff is amazingly strong, I only wish the rest of the IFS was just as tough but at least the RCV's will eliminate one major weakness. I only wish the price on the RCLT HD would come down a bit. I'm torn between that and a SAS simply because with the steering rack, shocks and axles the RCLT HD will come to over 12k and I can set up a nice Dana 60 for a bit less than that, and it's a simpler bullet proof solution, just with a lot less ground clearance.

 

does anyone know what exactly RCV is, if it's performance or not
how it's made, why it's better

is it simply better because it's Rzeppa
which, it is. It has been well known for a long time that Rzeppa is better than Tripod, and that tripod is garbage. I don't even know why it came on a Toyota

or is there more to it. Is it is some sort of magical material.
I am wondering if the difference simply boils down to a different design.
If it's a Porsche, even certain sandrails. It's Rzeppa.

say you have the exact same Audi but one was ordered as an automatic with tripod, and manual variant with rzeppa.
The former quickly goes bad, and rzeppa is better with angles. It's 6 points of load distribution with more metal, not a flimsy thin cup and 3.
Or, say you've got a supercharged S4 with like 500hp or more, AWD, grippy tires, launching
they do fine with the right shafts.

and, is there a DIY option
find a part, mix and match, build it
because some of these vehicles with Rzeppa axles inside and outside, you can easily find used intact for $50.