Official Tennessee Thread

Forgot to post this. Saw these guys at C&C last Saturday. Anyone on here?

 

Anybody missing a wheel center piece? I have an extra one I'll give to someone

 

Did you get your wheel/tire?

 

Yeah man! Thanks again. Allen's got a sweet place out there

 

Glad our "covert op" turned out.

 

TW express comes through again.

 

Opinions please...

I have a torn CV boot. Gathering info to fix it. Her s what I want in the end.

• A healthy and reliable axle on the truck
• An equally healthy and reliable axle for a spare. I know it's just a matter of time before the other one goes.

i think I should buy a new OE axle and put it in the truck. Then rebuild my current axle. Amiright?

If so, what all do I need to rebuild the old one? Do you recommend OE boots or the aftermarket "high angle" boots?

Anything I'm missing? Appreciate any insight.

 

I've been running Vatozone specials and they've worked great

Then whenever they brake, take em in and get free ones

 

I've heard people complaining about the cheap-o's wearing out quickly. I'd rather pay more and have longevity. I mean, the originals lasted 17 years.

How long have you had them in?

 

About since I've owned the truck so maybe 3-4 years

 

Well, you make a pretty good case.

 

Do not buy cheap axles. Oem is the only way to go. I would buy an oem from either camelback Toyota part site https://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/parts/?siteid=214329 or try to find one on the for sale threads.

To rebuild them I would order a oem boot kit from camelback and all you do is tear the cv axle down, clean off all parts of old grease, piece back together with new grease and new boots. Very easy rebuild just really messy haha.

 

That's what I was thinking. Wanted to hear it from someone who has destroyed and repaired a lot more shit than me. Think you qualify.

 

I have a NAPA gold whatever for a trail spare, but if I were to deliberately replace one off the trail, Id go oem

 

Thanks for the tag in the fs thread. Didn't want to shit on dudes thread. That kit is nice but in order to run shocks outboard the frame on a 1st gen you either have to use a wider axle or run huge wheel spacers to keep the tires off the shocks when you flex. I don't have any desire to be 4" wider in the rear. Ha ha.

 

Isn't there a guy coming to AOP who offered up cv axles for beer? Maybe I'm making that up.

Aftermarket axles are cheap because they can be. "Normal" people aren't snapping axles on Wal-Mart trips or interstate driving. Most people don't do what you do with your truck. OEM axles are unnecassarily strong for the everyday street driving so aftermarket company's can make a "reliable" axle that's cheaper and most will never know the difference. But you aren't most and you need an OEM.

As for axle boots ..... I was talking to Levi about this the other day. I've had OEM, All-pro, SDHQ and Napa boots on my truck. The OEM ones started leaking at like 105k and it was simply from them dry rotting and cracking. My truck currently has 116k and I've been through a pair of Allpro, SDHQ and Napa boots in that mile span. They are just cheaper boots.

I was complaining about this last year at AOP. I had finally replaced my OEM boots like 2 years ago with Allpro. They got holes in them not long after that and I was thinking "I should've just went with SDHQ boots because people seem to be happy with them." So right before that trip, I swap the Allpro for SDHQ. Go to AOP and on the first day at the park, I notice one of the boots leaking. Ok, maybe that one was weak. Later that day i notice the other one leaking. Nope, i was wrong, they both suck.

Fast forward to LBL 2017. Remember all that work I did with the front end completely torn apart? One of those things was replacing cv boots. Might as well while they're out for other reasons. So I buy Napa this time ... because ... why not. Put every thing back together and head to LBL. The next morning, before we go wheeling, I'm airing my tires down and I see that my axle boots are leaking grease. They both have pin holes in them. I HAVEN'T EVEN FUCKING WHEELED YET!!! ALL I DID WAS DRIVE THERE!!! FUCK!!!!

My OEM boots lasted 7 years of wheeling, 7 FUCKING YEARS, and I used to wheel 100 times more then I do now and these worthless fucking fucks can't even last me free spinning the tire in the air before taking the truck off the jackstands.

Summary: Allpro boots - shit
SDHQ boots - fucking shit
Napa boots - fucking shittiest shit
fucks created
OEM boots -

 

Those axles for AOP have already been dibbed.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll definitely use OE.

Next question... I have an OE cv that was given to me. Unknown condition. Unknown mileage. It looks like hell. Came from salt land so the shaft is rusty on the surface. Is there any way to tell if it is "good" and worth re-booting?

 

Take it apart clean up all the rust and check for pitting. The important parts are going to be ok because they are covered in grease. As far as the shaft if you dont have any giant holes I would paint them and run them

 

Pitting ruins everything

 

A good quality paint job fixes that haha