Rebuild or Replace Front Axle

I need a little advice here. I just discovered that the inside boot is torn on my left front axle on a 2002 4wd Tacoma. It looks like it hasn't been gone for a long time, but it's pretty dirty in there.

I could try to save a little money by cleaning it up, relubing and rebooting. But I am guessing that it might be better to replace the whole axle. No problem on the CV end with the boot, no noise yet. truck has 90k on it.

So I'd like opinions on those options, but also, if I do decide to replace the axle, whats the best place to find one - dealership, Napa, anyone who rebuilds them? I know on my Subarus, the napa replacement cv axles were junk. There is a guy in Denver that does nothing but rebuild Subaru axles, and that's where we would get them. I just checking to see what you guys do in the Toyota world.

Thanks

 

I would just replace it, then re boot the old one and keep as a spare.
Autozone ones work ok if you don't offroad too hard, but OEM are by far the strongest.

 

x2

its not much more & well worth it

 

replace the entire thing,theyre not overly expensive.i just replaced both of mine they were 109$ each at canadian tire,other places i called were right around the same price.

 

Yep just replace it AutoZone there 60 bucks. I just ripped one of mine and I'm just getting the AutoZone ones unless I can find better ones for about the same price.

 

So are you saying that you are getting the whole assembly, axle, both CV's, and both boots, for $60 or $109? Those prices are interesting. I was quoted about $150 from Napa. Then I talked to Toyota, and they wanted around $350 for a new one, but had a remanufactured assembly for $173. I was going to go for the Toyota reman just because of the horrible reputation that NAPA has for axles for Subarus. I figured a factory reman would be about the best I could do.

Are the ones from Auto Zone holding up? The nearest Auto Zone is 1 1/2 hours away, but so is Toyota.

 

Mine was around $60 (complete unit for the passenger side) from Auto Zone AFTER I gave them my old CV. I've been running the CV from Auto Zone for about a year now without any problems.

 

Well NAPA is the first problem, unless its the only game in town I'd shop around, those NAPA stores have been around forever & have always been like the Sak's 5th avenue of parts stores with prices rivaling dealerships, & before anyone starts chiming in about how much better their products are than anyone else's I've got enough friends who either wrench for a living or own their shops & they'll tell you straight up that its bullshit & I agree..

 

Pretty much the only game in town here, Napa and Car Quest. Very small town. I usually order online, or travel for parts. I haven't had too much problem with Napa actually for many kinds of parts, but again, I, and many many other Subaru owners, know that their axles and CV's are truly junk for those cars. I will check into their pricing again, otherwise I'll trust the Toyota reman. Thanks to all.

 

My best friend was a manager at carquest and he told me the deal with napa and carquest and their prices. They are BIG time distributers to most of the dealerships and garages and really don't care about walk in customers so they jack their prices sky high so most walk in customers go elsewhere. He used to tell me the prices that they gave dealerships and garages (the more you buy from them the bigger the discount too) and it was amazing, most of the stuff was CHEAPER than autozones or advance auto! He used to get me stuff at his price which was almost cost which was sweet, but then he went to work for AT&T.

 

Just go with an axle from Advance Auto, Autozone, etc.

Should be about $60-70. Plus it has a liftime warranty so if it ever breaks you can take it back and get a free replacement.

 

X2 on a lifted truck your going to where out the boot before the CV anyway so just get the autozone CV it going to last just as long as the Toytota boot so you might as well save some money.

 

you may also want to look into doing the boot-slide mod before putting in the new one. it may prolong the life of the cv boot. i haven't done this on mine (the originals haven't torn... yet), but i'll definitely be giving it a shot if they do.

 

i would go for the whole assembly. the higher prices you got were probably before you turned in the core. i did anaxle assembly on my gmc 1500 and the core was $150. the axel ended up costing me $56.