Learned a lesson today, only OEM from now on!

[oragex]

I've been reading here for a few months about the quality of aftermarket parts. I need a right cv axle so bought a new one from NAPA for $80.00. Warning flag should have gone up since I know a blue box is about $430. Second flag was Made in China. Third flag was the inner shafts diameter was less than the original. But I pressed on.

The OEM came out very smoothly with no issues. Lubricated the splines and polished areas with ATF. I tried for 6 hours today to install this axle. It failed to go home by about 5/16. Tried multiple spots but no joy. The OEM slid in and out like butter. So the OEM is back in the car until I can get a quality piece. I believe raxles dot com is a quality piece?

Glad I learned my lesson but kick myself for not heeding the advice given here. No more aftermarket bits for me.

Gordon

Might have been an axle for non turbo? They don't have the same diameter and number of splines

[MSLV70]

I got my left axle shaft from Detroit Axle. It was exactly the same as my OEM. There was no rebuilding the OEM shaft cause it had been driven for who knows how long by the PO. It was so destroyed that it was on the verge of breaking completely. When I got it I drove it a few times but the horrible noise it made when I turned scared me enough to order a new axle. I also triple checked with Detroit that the axle was for the manual transmission NA.

Was the piece from Detroit Axle a rebuilt OEM piece?

[ashitaka695]

It was a remanufactured part but it wasn't labeled as OEM. When I first got my 850 I ordered a bunch pf after market parts and the axle was one of them. The only thing that was crazy bad was the cap and rotor I got on eBay. I installed it but didn't really notice that the cap wasn't exact. I drove it for a week and then it started to run like crap so I pulled the cap and all I saw was metal shavings and cap plastic shavings inside. The cap was too small and the rotor appeared to be substandard at best. Never again

[erikv11]

... Might have been an axle for non turbo? They don't have the same diameter and number of splines

Actually, the turbo and non-turbo axles are completely interchangeable. Same diameter, same number of splines. The axles seals are also exactly the same, as you would expect. The turbo axle has a larger outer CV but the overall geometry is the same.

The manual transmission axles are uncommon and different from the auto trans axles, maybe that's what you're thinking of, but again the axles for turbo manual and for non-turbo manual are completely interchangeable.

And you would notice if you got a manual axle because the shaft diameter is huge compared to an auto axle; the axle wouldn't even come close to fitting into the axle seal in the trans.

The only explanation is poor quality manufacturing.

[Jaguar xjs]

Well, I haven't sorted the cv issue yet. But something else came up. I recently bought a stock (Sachs struts and shocks) suspension kit from FCP for about $700.00. Installed all the bits and had the car road force balanced and aligned.

Car road very nice for a while. 200 miles from home I started hearing major clunks and bangs from the front end. Was able to get my tiny wife and daughter to rock the front end while I felt around under the car. I felt very loud and strong clunks on the sway bar links. I had no tools available so after visiting my daughter, I nursed the car home 200 miles.

So I looked up and the links that came with the kit. They are Karlyn branded and cost $7.19 each. The blue boxes are $57.99 each. I ordered the blue box. I found 3 stripped nuts out of 4 which were torqued to spec.and had a heck of a time removing them. The threads that went through the bar were hammered flat.

I guess we'll see if the blue boxes are any better, I hope so for the cost difference.

Gordon

[chrafael]

I have the Lemforder links on my sway bar and they work fine and are about two years old. Hope you don't have to change them again.