My experience with CVJ Replacement axles for 96 Tacoma

Well, figured it was time to replace the old worn and torn OE axles with the remanufactured units from CVJ in Colorado and I have to tell you they are exceptional looking axles. The part number I ordered were the 9802R.

This is the packaging from CVJ, weight on the shipping was around 44 Lbs. They came very well bundled and wrapped tight so no movement would damage the axles during shipping. Included with the axels were 2 more clamps incase the boots rubbed in any way.






This is the old axle removed, note the inner axle boot is really tore up but the outer is just fine. The same goes for the drivers side as well. I do have an OME set up that raised the front end about 2.5 inches which probably contributed to the original inside boots demise.



Side by side comparison of the old and new, note the boot size difference in the two.



Shot of the new axle installed.



You can kind of see the clearance on the inner and outer boots as they are well away from the nasties thats could rip them open, very pleased that they did not need any adjustments what-so-ever.




Just a couple of extra shots for posterity.




Job took me about 3 hours which included a lunch break and chasing a loose chicken in my yard...Re-assembly was a snap and did not lose too much gear oil out of the front diff, did replace what I lost tho. Disassembled, cleaned and slicked up the front hubs when I was in there too.

Overall the folks at CVJ Axles were great and answered my questions promptly via phone and email in regards to my particular request. The axles took about a week and half to arrive at my home and the box's showed up in great shape. I have 60 days to return the cores back to them so at least it is not a time sensitive item.

 

New axles look great. I’ve been reading CVJ website and it said CVJ only accepts “OEM” axles for cores. My question is how did you know the old axles were OEM axles? I recently bought my 96 Tacoma and need to replace my cv axles but not sure if they’re OEM or not.
thanks

 

This is only from memory but on 1st gens the OEM CV axles have green shafts for ADD, blue shafts for manual hubs. When I took everything apart I honestly did not know if the axles were OEM or not. Just ordered the rebuilds and went from the there.

 

Ok thanks

 

You can't always go by the color of the shafts. In the case of the ADD axles, the green is actually a sticker and that sticker can come of and in many case does. If you look closely at the OP's pics you can see that the axle from CVJ has actually been spray painted green, probably because the original green sticker came off in the rebuild process.

Besides, CVJ will not use the color of the shafts to determine whether the core axle you send them is OEM or not. They will look at how it is built. Aftermarket axles look different from OEM. Somewhere on CVJs website is a specific description of what makes an acceptable core axle and how they will determine acceptability.