irish44j

iTrader: (38)

My driver's side CV axle is clicking, so I ordered a new axle from RAXLES, a company I've heard alot of good things about. Now...I haven't installed it yet, but I already have a "review" that speaks to what an excellent company RAXLES is:

1. I called to order, and the guy said they did not have one in stock - but that he would "build one" for me and ship it within two days. He actually shipped it the NEXT day after I called, and emailed me to let me know it was on the way.
2. They do not charge a "core charge" for the old axle, but DO send a pre-paid shipping label to return the old one to them, at your convenience. If you NEVER send it back, then they charge you...but they don't charge in advance (like most places do)
3. Their axles are NOT remanufactured, they are BRAND NEW with new bearings/CV joints/etc. They are built using AMSOIL lubricants as well...

now, on to what I see when I open the box:
1. A small baggy with several thick shop towels and latex gloves in it....nice of them to send supplies to keep you and your **** clean...
2. A small packet with a RAXLES brochure, invoice, and a little metal swiss-army-style knife....nothing big, but a nice touch.
3. Prepaid return label, and...this is really customer service....a printed out Maquest map and directions from my house to the nearest UPS dropoff point.
4. The driveaxle.....it's practically a work of art. Seriously, I don't want to put it on, because it might get dirty. Every metal surface actually looks like it's or brushed....no grease on anything....this is a far cry from the rebuilt axles you get from Autozone...

Anyhow, I just wanted to post about this...will follow up once it's installed, but I foresee NO problems.


BTW, he also said that the passenger side driveaxle acually comes with a NEW centering bracket (autozone/Nissan axles you re-use the old rusty one off your car)....nice.

so far, :

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

Where are the pics

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

fine...I'll take a couple real quick

Puppetmaster

iTrader: (48)

Why are you not at work?

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

here you go....eye candy....a pretty CV axle

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

alternator died about 2 miles from home this morning....Wife came out and jump-started the car, I kept the revs around 5K all the way to the in-laws house with just enough electrical to not stall out....spent 3 hours in their garage putting in a new alternator.

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

Hmm how much was it?

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

$150...a bit more than the remanufactured units, but from what I hear, the raxles units almost NEVER fail - alot of road racers use them too...well worth it.

Puppetmaster

iTrader: (48)

I guess on the bright side, it didn't die on the Beltway in traffic in teh heat. At least they have a nice garage.

Puppetmaster

iTrader: (48)

Btw, that axle looks great. I think $150 isn't a bad deal at all, provided it works as well as it looks. I may just buy one to decorate my study.

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

Joel, he said he could make the axles with a carbon-fiber or chrome finish, when used for wall decorations



btw, related to the alternator issue....too late now, but do you still have my digital multimeter? I had to borrow one at the in-laws, old-school 1970s multimeter (HUGE, but worked fine, FTW)...

Puppetmaster

iTrader: (48)

Oops sorry... yeah, you left it with me a while back but I forgot to return it, along with Cutler's spring compressors and Torx bits.

Nomad

iTrader: (5)

Irish can you provide pricing and contact info. might replace both on my brothers max if the price is right. Does he sell outer cv joint separately?

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

www.raxles.com....

or email Marty at sales@raxles.com

the C/V for each side are $150...I think you can buy components from him (outer joint, for example) if you want to assemble yourself, but suggest you speak to marty to find out...

MaxBoost925

iTrader: (33)

Damn i feel so damn stupid.

I bought a 64,000 mile OEM passenger axle for $160.




I could have gotten a freaken raxle~ -_-

papasmurf

Raxles FTMFW!!!! Marty is the shiznit!!!! I have them and love them!!

Puppetmaster

iTrader: (48)

Wall decorations? I think I'm gonna hang a CF one from my rear view mirror....

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

Where?

MaxBoost925

iTrader: (33)

at my local dismantler

Nomad

iTrader: (5)

Thanks Irish that's a damn good price. nissans price @ $400 a piece sounds just weird

papasmurf

i would like to see a pic of what the carbon ones would look like

vsamoylov

thanks for the heads up. i will order from them in the future

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

I hope you're not serious.....

spdfreak

Stupid question: What makes you think the old ones are gone?

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

standard clicking sound when turning tight....I'm quite familiar with the sound thanks to my old integra, which tore up CV joints like they were going out of style.

spdfreak

The Auto-Xing probably cased this to happen quicker than it should have.

JSutter

iTrader: (46)

Its nice to know a company cares so much about their customers! I had seen a picture of all the stuff they send, gloves and such, BUT a map to the nearest UPS! Thats just nutts. I just about paid the same price for my used LSD axle. Go get the passangers side, what are you waiting for?

steven88

iTrader: (28)

hey josh, does that $150 include shipping?

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

it's possible...but then again I have 105K miles on the car....My Honda and Acura were both on their 3rd CV joint replacements by 100K miles....they're wear items, and most cars CV joints will go bad eventually, especially on heavy, high-powered FWD cars...


JSutter....waiting for? I'm waiting for the other one to go bad The Raxles are nice, but I'm perfectly ok with the OEM axle as long as it's working fine...


Steven,
Shipping was like $12 or something like that....but return shipping, as I mentioned, is free.

kpr10is

iTrader: (9)

Being located in Gainesville, the same town as Raxles, FTW. Hopefully just a few minutes drive up there and no shipping. Theyll be getting a call very soon as my passenger side has been clicking for a while now.

Thanks for the good write up.

papasmurf

of course not....seriously though Marty does make a great product that will handle a fairly decent ammount of crap, even what most max drivers can dish out.

Larrio Motors

iTrader: (23)

wow, looks nice. I just placed an order for mine based on those pics, thanks!

Marty says that the 4th gen and 5th gen axles are different despite various members swapping between the two gens and auto/manual combos. Supposedly the abs splines are different and the length of the passenger side axle is longer on the auto 4th gen also. I had to pay the core charge out of pocket since I have a 98 auto in the pass. side right now.

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

UPDATE: It's now installed.

A few notes:
1. When changing these things out, make sure to have a big drain pan handy...and plenty of extra MT fluid too. I was being stupid and ended up with about 2 quarts of dirty Redline MT-90 all over my parking area in front of the townhouse. That is some stinky, slippery crap (also got all over my tool bag and some tools, grrr....) I'm sure my HOA is going to be thrilled with the big brown stain on the blacktop (not that I care what they think). Then I did not have enough MT fluid to refill....

Called my wife to stop by Advance auto on the way home from work.
- they did not have GL-4 MT fluid...just GL-5
- same thing at the local "really good" auto parts store..GL-5 only.
- Nissan dealer tells me they don't sell bottles of MT fluid, they "just have a big vat of it out in the service bay." WTF?

Why the hell did Nissan specify GL-4 instead of GL-5...that's my question.

So after a call to Jason (Cutler) to see if he had any spare MT fluid, he hooked it up and made a call out to one of his Miata places that was about to close shop for the day. Scored me a few quarts of Redline MT-90 and drove em over to my place. to Cutler for helping a brother out.

Then, realize that the axle is not "in" after full assembly, so MT fluid is leaking when we go to refill the tranny (grr, again). Take front suspension apart again to get leverage to "pop" the splined end in. Good to go now. All back together.

Impressions:
- Well, it's a CV joint. If you don't feel anything or hear anything, that's what matters! Clicking gone, all is good

My only complaint: The Raxles axle came with a new hub nut, and it's a big b1tch! The OEM nut is a 32mm....the biggest sockets I own are 30 and 32mm. The Raxles nut is probably a 35mm (good luck finding that size socket unless there's a Sears or Snap-on dealer nearby). No biggie, the OEM nut has the same threads as the new one, so I just re-used it. Just a note to anyone planning to use the new nut....get a big, big, socket for it. The 32 won't work.

Overall, my usually good project planning was a bit half-a55ed today, and I paid the price for not having my **** together. As to the axle itself, it was a perfect fit and I have no doubt that the quality is there.

Highly recommended.

steven88

iTrader: (28)

thats good to hear...i will definitely keep raxles in mind for any of my CV axle needs...whether it be a maxima, or any other car!

Derrick2k2SE

iTrader: (3)

Thats pretty sweet. I've been wondering how long mine have left with over 100,000 miles on the car.

My 90 integra ate CV axles as well. I got really good at changing those out.

BTW, was the boot torn or did it just wear out by itself?

maxspeedse02

iTrader: (7)

It's funny to hear about raxles when they are right in the same small college town as me. I have never heard of people sending gloves out with axles and you sure as hell cannot beat a whole new axle not a rebuilt one. Those things sure looked pretty bling in the pictures. I will def go through them when the time comes..

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

no the OEM boots were fine. The OEM axle was not "totally" shot, but I could hear the clicking that is a predecessor to the heavier knocking. Since it's autocross season, I wanted to nip it in the bud rather than have a driveaxle break during an event....I'd say I could have gotten another few thousand miles out of the OEMs, but why bother?

michaelnyden

iTrader: (15)

yeah...my drivers side axle is from marty over at raxles...I highly recommend them! quality, quality, quality!

† ErV †

napa... overnight delivery to the store, pick them up, and let someone else fight with the 3 ungodly bolts on the passenger side.

if i had a lift, i could have managed, but no luck otherwise.

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

Acutally its a 36mm bolt, some later model 00 and most 01s should have those on there vs the dinky 32mm. I have Raxles on my Max... just for ***** and giggles as I don't wanna get stranded anywhere. I pretty much have 2 of each of spare parts laying around... car has 160K miles on it- never know what will go bad.

Like my clutch line that burst last weekend.... and the Group Buy SSteel one not fitting at all.... Thank god Nissan had me hooked up and I was rolln, the SSteel one is too long, and doesn't fit anything but maybe a 87 Dodge Omni.