What non-OEM axles are any good?

Post by **clarkerussell** » 02 Aug 2021, 18:27

Hello all,

I replaced the original axles from my S70 about 10-12 years ago at about 150K miles with ones from R-Axle. The car now has 150k miles and the boots have split and thrown all their grease inside my wheels... I wanted to replace with new R-Axle units only to find out that they no longer sell them. Factory axles are crazy expensive at about $500 each, are any of the aftermarket ones any good?

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 02 Aug 2021, 23:05

If they aren’t clicking or causing any vibration,
just get some GKN boots and rebuild. Anything
close to OEM quality is near impossible to find.

Post by **Eddystone** » 03 Aug 2021, 02:22

What's the scoop on aftermarket axles such as Cardone New® products? Do they have functional deficiencies, or do they just not last like Volvo original equipment axles?

Can Volvo OEM axles be rebuilt to greater degree than just regreasing them and installing new boots?

If you have OEM axles that exhibit no clicking or other problems, will regrease/reboot keep them running indefinitely, or do they just wear out even if a torn boot doesn't allow water and lack of grease to damage them?

I'm wondering if replacing them with Cardone New® as a preventive measure before they fail and doing a thorough rebuild of the OEM axles so that you have them ready when the aftermarket axles go might not be a good idea. I know there's a lot of labor involved and probably an alignment.

The Cardone New®axle assemblies are only about $52 each which ain't bad if you consider them temporary, especially if you have more than one P80 that they fit.

Is this all crazy?

Post by **abscate** » 03 Aug 2021, 04:25

If you catch them before noise, new grease and boots will refresh OE for life. Don’t forget junkyards for these, too. Use GKN boots , not aftermarket.

Maybe 3 hours of labor to remove amd replace a axle, so about $75 a time in the official MVS GAAP book

Post by **Eddystone** » 03 Aug 2021, 11:04

abscate wrote: ↑03 Aug 2021, 04:25 If you catch them before noise, new grease and boots will refresh OE for life. Don’t forget junkyards for these, too. Use GKN boots , not aftermarket.

Maybe 3 hours of labor to remove amd replace a axle, so about $75 a time in the official MVS GAAP book

Wish I could find old Volvos in junkyards anymore. When I was in the Philadelphia area, there were a couple of u-pull-its that had maybe ten P80s to pick over. First the 940s disappeared, and then the P80s disappeared. Here in the Cleveland area, it seems like they sold no Volvos at all in the 90s. I don't see them around, and none of the yards have them in inventory. I notice that Robert is still pulling parts in New Mexico even though he has moved to Ohio. Lucky Robert is able to range all over the country and hit all the junkyards. I suspect that more were sold in urban areas but that more cars survive in junkyards in mor rural areas where they have more space to store cars. Urban junkyards can't afford to have cars take up space that are not in demand.

Post by **clarkerussell** » 03 Aug 2021, 15:24

So, if I were to look for used ones in a junkyard to rebuild, how do you identify it as an OEM part vs aftermarket? Is there a Volvo stamping anywhere? Also, the axles are the same for 850's and s70's throughout the run so I should be able to look for any FWD 850 or S/V70, right?

Post by **abscate** » 03 Aug 2021, 16:00

clarkerussell wrote: ↑03 Aug 2021, 15:24 So, if I were to look for used ones in a junkyard to rebuild, how do you identify it as an OEM part vs aftermarket? Is there a Volvo stamping anywhere? Also, the axles are the same for 850's and s70's throughout the run so I should be able to look for any FWD 850 or S/V70, right?

Some nut jib here on MVS did a catalog of part numbers on these recently…standby for searching “ wanker +axles + tabulation”

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=94409&p=557308&hili ... on#p557308

Post by **clarkerussell** » 03 Aug 2021, 16:16

BEJinFbk wrote: ↑02 Aug 2021, 23:05 If they aren’t clicking or causing any vibration,
just get some GKN boots and rebuild. Anything
close to OEM quality is near impossible to find.

They were not clicking, but they have been split and spewing grease for sometime. It's been 4K since my last oil change and I didn't notice it back then, so I'm assuming it happened between where between 1 and 4,000 miles...

Also, I can find the GKN outer boots at FCP, but not the inner. I'll have to keep searching as I don't want to do the job twice.

Post by **scot850** » 03 Aug 2021, 17:44

The 2 main issues with aftermarket axles I have had are:

1) Truly crap axle boots ( <6 months to splitting)
2) Terrible vibration as they are badly made with poor balancing.

Like anything parts wise, there is that blue moon event when an aftermarket manufacturer gets one right and they can last a reasonable time. I think the last one I got was from NAPA but it may have been Worldpac. That axle was fitted to the 850 that went to California and is only now 3-4 years later had a boot split. Otherwise it has been ok.

The RH axle with the bearing is to be watched out for. The bearings used are suspect. I have had 3 aftermarket axles I have pulled and all had noisy bearings. Mind you , also had OE ones with same issue but a much higher mileages.

It is concerning that FCP no longer have the inner boots.

Neil.

Post by **clarkerussell** » 03 Aug 2021, 18:44

It looks like FCP has the inner boot kit via Original Volvo parts along with the GNK outer one... total kit price is currently $58.38... ouch.

Looks like they have a Rein kit as well. I've had good experience with Rein on my BMW's. Perhaps that's an option.

UPDATE: They have the GNK kit for the 1999+ cars, just not my 1998... Doh.