Best replacement axles?
 

Unfortunately raxles has not dealt in ours for a while. I see a lot of reman choices, just wondering what are the best options?

You should search the forum for in depth opinions on this subject as there has been a lot of axle talk recently. That being said, trust no aftermarket axle! They all absolutely suck! If you can refurb your OEM axles, go that route instead of aftermarket. I've now changed both axles 6 times in search of a smooth ride with no vibration on acceleration, and nothing even comes close to the OEM axles. I've used SurTrack, Cardone, Autozone Reman, Nissan Value Advantage, SurTrack again, and finally have settled on OEM remans from Autozone. I literally bought 3 remans from every local Autozone, and selected the best of the bunch to install. My vibration isn't totally gone, but it's a lot better than the aftermarkets that were in there. Please be warned that Autozone doesn't always use OEMs as remans, some axles that they tried to sell me were actually returned aftermarkets (no vibration damper). In addition, one Autozone that I visited, actually tried to sell me an aftermarket axle that I turned into them months ago for a core charge credit, and I am convinced that it was never refurbished or anything. It still had the leaves and grass in the package from my yard when I did the job last autumn (lol)! Sorry for the long reply, but stay away from any aftermarket axle! For whatever reason, they are not engineered correctly, they don't last long, and they make horrid noises upon acceleration!

Napa Reman or OEM.

sanford...just curious....how low are you

Thanks all.

sanford: That sounds like quite a lot of trouble I would like to avoid. I am not sure if I can refurb mine, the grease has probably been gone a while and they are clicking.

VQ: Napa has both reman and new in their brand. Better to go with the reman because they will be built on OEM? Is it still possible to buy new OEM?

So how can one determine if an axle is good or not before installing? Some state they can determine that, and I'd like to learn how to as well....

Yes, the napa reman are identical to oem. plusmost have the damper on them. OEM New passenger side is NOT available for purchase for automatic transmission.

I've never tried Napa brand axles, so please let me know how it works out...

With regards to my '02GLE, it's not lowered at all! I'm actually anti lowering as I don't like the look, it makes the car ride rougher, and it stresses components.

After removing all the other aftermarket axles that I tried, I could actually shake them and hear/feel the inner joint rattle. The vibration that I am receiving is definitely from inferior aftermarket inner joints. We are talking about loose clanking inner cv joints after only a month, 3 months, 6 months, ect... I've considered the fact that I may have a bad dif bearing in the tranny, but if that bearing was bad, I should theoretically hear it all the time and it would progressively get worse, wouldn't it?

Some guy seems to have done the research on what brand comes from where and the import direct ones from autozone are the same as the cardon or whatever you guys consider the top quality brand. Plus it's autozone so if it does anything weird you can exchange them same day.

It's a big long thread look it up.


btw I've read you guys saying oem and stay away from aftermarket all my **** it's autozone or ebay.
My duralast coil isn't melting down. my aftermarket power steering line isn't making loud noises. my autozone alternator didn't stop working 100 miles in. My autozone maf didn't burn up. I can go on.
Don't believe everything the forums say to you is what i'm saying.

Donkeypunch, true haha. I was going to go with the Napa ones, but then happened to search on car-parts and found a set at a scrap yard about an hour from my work. Called them up and paid the deposit for them to pull them and tell me if the boots were totally sealed or not. They were, so I got them. Ended up paying $100 for the set. Only thing I am not sure of is if I should do the boots before I install or take my chances with the originals.

Ive got a terrible vibration at 55-60 mph coming from the passenger side. I just replaced the axle with andvance autozone brand called A1 cordone or ac delco i believe. Not sure just yet if its the axle or the control arm causing the vibration.

I ended up only doing my driver's side. The carrier bearing on the passenger side may be no good. How much play should that have?

I went with a re-manufactured one and so far no issues whatsoever.

If youre not lowered i think aftermarket axles are fine, if you are, either rebuild oem axles or look for one at the junkyard. Im slammed, bought junkyard axles, lasted me 8 or so months, i was experiencing vibrations on acceleration, i went with tranckotive axles, big mistake, its still vibrating, will be grabbing a couple from the junkyard again to replace cause for me anything less than OEM is a disaster

I have gotten burned on some local shops that have sold me rebuilt axles only to have them start clicking after a 6 months to a year. I have had the most luck with an online place called AutohausAZ. I swapped out my axle 8/2014 and knock on wood it's still humming along. I buy all my parts from my local Nissan Dealer or AutohausAZ.

Pretty much none. If you can feel play in it it's probably shot.

I called my local Napa store yesterday and they said they couldn't find ANY axles for a 2003 maxima - either remanufactured or new. Is anyone else having that experience?

edit: sorry, I have a 6sp manual. They can find the auto axles, but not the manual.

You can certainly buy them from Rockauto.com.

Yes those are TrakMotive, not napa brand though. I can't remember what people said about Trakmotive, any idea?

I've read most all the threads on aftermarket axles. To sum it up, most people say they have problems with aftermarket brands. The napa reman brand seems to have the best reviews, even though they're not that great. So that's why I was looking for those specifically.

I did just try looking up the autohausaz ones, per the user above. They are made by OPparts. I don't know if those are re-branded Cardone or if they are original by OP. The customer service rep didn't know either, but he said they were manufactured OEM. I have a had time believing that though, especially since they don't require or even ask for a core return/refund.

Rockauto sells SurTrack/TrakMotive, Cardone, and APWI. A reasonable choice.
My SurTracks lasted 3 years and 25K miles. Not great. The worst part is that one of the two axles had a slight vibration from the beginning, and it just got worse. (And the boot on the other one tore up bad, so I had to replace both).
My mechanic replaced them with FEQ's. No vibration at all. However, it's too early to draw any conclusions.

I posted on a facebook group, asking about good 5.5 gen aftermarket axles. A guy responded that using 6th gen axles is the best idea, as they are more beefy. BEEFY. But you have to use the 6th gen carrier bracket.

Anyone else tried these? He hasn't had them very long so just curious if anyone else has tried this with results that lasted longer than aftermarket 5.5gens......anyone?

I'm running a hybrid type axle that I built for one of my 4th gen that I call the "super axles". Basically it is a GSP axle with OEM outer boot. I ran GSPs for years without any mechanical failure. However, the outer boots would fail somewhere between 3 to 5 years. So I got some new GSP axles on warranty and enhanced them with a better OEM boot. Then I use "green grease" instead of the original CV grease. This is a multi-year longevity experiment. So it will take over 5 years to really know if this is better.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...psoiof2u63.jpg

It takes 1.5 tubes of this grease to replace the original black grease that is used by GSP.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...psramgce9b.jpg

Since I have owned this vehicle I have swapped out the driver's side axle several times. Here is the history and dates from my records:
Purchased car: 2/12/2005 - Mileage:40,500
6/28/09 - Swap Drive Axle Driver Side @ 61,000 (Raxles)
2/19/2011 – Swapped Driver Side Axle @69,830 (AutohausAZ) -
8/18/2014 – Driver side axle replaced – @ 93,000 (AutohausAZ) - OPparts 40738025 - CV Axle Shaft
Current Mileage : 104,210
As you can see I am not driving the car as much anymore. It is a low mileage car now that my main transport to work is the train. Good luck choosing an axle because trust me there is nothing worse than swapping an axle out and hearing that clicking noise six months later. Aside from the swap you have to also refill that liquid gold in the manual transmission.