Rockauto APWI axle quality?
 

I"m looking at picking up a right side APWI axle for my 96 for $42.00 and $15.00 shipping before coupon codes. Anyone have good or bad experiences with these?

I just put one in my car from Rockauto I think it was a APWI, but the one I got from them was good came with seal shilds and all unlike the one I got from Autozone for the left side that didn't have the hub seal shild and was built so that it couldn't be put on but buts up the hub enough to protect the seal....

This was pass side? Did it have the carrier bearing?

Here is a link to thier CV axle page and PDF catalog. These axles are advertised as 100% new.
http://trade.apwks.com/cv.htm

yep came with everything, new nut, the only thing I had to reuse was the thrust washer, the carrier bearing is built into them so if it didn't have one it would just be a rebuild kit

Axle and O2 sensor ordered Monday. Axle delivered today,I'll get some pics and post my opinion of quality after work. O2 sensor is in the mail jeep for delivery at about 4:00. Forecast is calling for two days of sun this weekend.:ben:

Opened the box today before I even changed out of my work clothes. Was dissapointed with what I saw.
Attachment 34285

Spoke with Ryan at Rockauto customer service and he sent me a pre-paid return address label. As soon as they see the tracking number active they will ship the replacement.

that sucks

Two weeks ago Monday I ordered a passenger side axle for my 96. It arrived that Friday with a torn inner boot. Rockauto was awesome and emailed a prepaid return shipping label and shipped the new replacement axle as soon as the tracking number on the return was active. This Friday I received the replacement APWI axle and installed.

The new axle looked good, but was missing the dust shield for the trans output seal. I swapped my old shield on to the new shaft, but it popped off when installing the shaft, due to the sealing surface of the shaft being 10mm inboard of the factory location.

I removed the shield altogether and installed the shaft. After tightening the three bolts on the carrier bearing I could turn the driver side tire in neutral and the passenger side turned the same direction, as if I suddenly had an LSD. This tells me the shaft is pressing hard into the diff cross pin "locking" the side gear and diff carrier together. Turning the driver side tire in gear results in the passenger side turning opposite with just a little effort.

My main concern is that the larger stepped portion on the sealing surface is within the output seal, causing a leak. I still need to clean the mess I made changing the axle and determine whether I am leaking gear oil.

IF it's leaking I will dissect the new shaft and swap the new inner boot and new outer joint/boot onto the OEM Nissan shaft, essentially rebuilding the original.

At this point I don't want to re-install the original shaft with worn outer joint and wait another week for another shaft.

Throughout this process Rockauto has been awesome, But I recommend spending five more dollars for the Cardone or more for the EMPI.

10 Months (~10,000mi) and all is good still.

The EMI axles are cheap enough so just buy those

Still no leaks at the output seal, and the axle is working great. Very good purchase.

I've had extremely good luck with CV axle assemblies from Advance Auto named Tough One. The parts have a lifetime warranty. If you use the TRT30 discount code a $69.99 CV axle assembly nets down to $48.99 out the door. So far, I've replaced the all of CV joint assemblies on all three of my 4th gens using AA Tough One brand without issue. You get to open and inspect the part before you leave the store. Usually there is a store in my area that has the part in stock, so no waiting. The parts all come with the ABS sensor rings that work on either the SE or I30.

There is nothing wrong with RockAuto either. I buy all of my NTK/NGK O2 sensors and BWD-SMP Intermotor (OEM high end) type parts from Rock to get the best price. It turns out many repair shops in my area order their parts from RockAuto and tell the customer they are waiting for a special "dealer order" that takes a couple of days to receive.. Go figure..

I just found the outer boot broken today. I will pick up a new boot from Napa and replace it. Axle is still working great and not leaking, even with the thin Pennzoil Synchromesh MTF.

that usually scares me when buying something from online like rockauto, if you get a damage part or worse, wrong part, that takes up your time waiting to send back and get the replacement, like this example of CV half shaft. I have bought things from rockauto from the past year and had no complaints. However I am a bit skeptical about buying CV axle. I was thinking if I should be better off buying brand new rather than reman but like most of you guys have said it that the brand new CV axle does not have a dynamic damper on it, but the reman does, but no dust shield. FYI, whenever you replacing your CV axle, it should strongly recommend replace the seal that seat in the tranny output so you can hit two birds with one stone and not have to worry about possible leak.

Over the past 4 years, I have purchased 5 CV axles from Advance Auto Online for three 4th gen Maximas. I use the TRT41 coupon code and specify local store pickup. I can get a set for approximately $115.

If I have an issue with a lifetime warranty part I purchase at AA I just take it to the store for exchange. I may be the exception or just a fluke but no problems to date with any of their axles. Note, I have found some defective electrical parts that are made in China. If the supplier has changed to China manufacturing then I might look for another source.

I use the TRT41 and other coupon codes for BWD Intermotor parts that I purchase at AA. BWD Intermotor parts are made by Federal Mogul. Federal Mogul is a major Nissan and BMW just-in-time manufacturing supply partner. BWD Intermotor parts cost about as much as OEM. It is only feasible to buy BWD Intermotor parts when using a coupon for 40% off or for when you can't wait for a dealer to order the part you need.

We don't have AA here. Autozone, Oriely's, Napa, and Knecht's.

330,000 miles and this axle is still going after the reboot.

Err, is that a typo?

I just got done doing a bunch of work to the front of my car and got it aligned, only to find a cracked axle boot a few days after the alignment. For most of you, this wouldn't be a huge deal, but I have camber bolts on my car, so if I remove an axle I pretty much have to get an alignment if I want to be sure my specs are 100%, and since I race the car, they need to be 100%. Since the boots on the other axle appear to be on their way out, I figure I should probably replace both axles while I'm at it. Here are the options on different sites as of right now:

Advance Auto:
USA Industries- Reman, ~$55
Carquest- New, ~$70
FEQ- New, ~$80
Heri- New, ~$80

Rockauto:
APWI- New, $40
Cardone- New, $70

Just for sh1ts and giggles I called up Courtesy Nissan. A new axle from them is over $600! I don't mind paying more for quality, but there's no way it's 15x better than the $40 APWI axle!

I don't think either of my axles is making any noise, and barely any grease has escaped so far, so now I'm considering just installing OEM boots with high quality grease. Do you guys think it's worth the hassle? At this point I'm not sure where the axles in my car came from, but I can be pretty sure they're not OEM, so are they worth throwing money and new parts at?

I also learned that Raxles no longer makes stuff for our cars- apparently nobody was buying them so they stopped making them. I would have gone with them in a heartbeat if I could, but times change, and we now need a new good solution to our crappy axle problems. Any feedback would be appreciated!

How timely and discouraging considering I need two new axles and am registered for a national AutoX event this coming weekend. I bought axles from Advance locally, which looked fine, but had the extra dustcaps on them which I didn't quite understand. I'm not really well-versed on what to do with those since they seemed to prevent me from installing them. Maybe I'm clueless.

Previously, I replaced both with some used CVs I bought locally. They were mostly fine until Pittsburgh winter took them out (potholes). The driver side was already suspect, and the right one is now making clicking sounds under load. I just want new ones now or decent remanufactured OEMs. The local driveline shop doesn't rebuild them anymore because of cheap aftermarket axles (and my used ones were aftermarket anyways).


So for my 5MT without LSD according to Rock Auto, my choices are CARDONE SELECT 666150 / 666147 or SURTRACK/TRAKMOTIVE NI8031 / NI8147.

Am I missing something here about the dust shields on the AA "CARQUEST" parts? Am I just supposed to remove them? The CARQUEST parts were NCV53545 / NCV53532 FWIW. Did I have the right part and was too dense to figure that out?

Are matching oil seals easy to find? I need to replace them too. Don't know much about replacing those, but I expect I'll need some kind of tool to make it easier. I need easy. Thought it was gonna be easy. :-/

(edit) Not trying to hijack the thread, but I find it worth noting both source and price/availability in current terms. I think asand1 makes a good case for APWI if you can afford to manage a bit of quality control yourself, or have the skill to replace the thinner aftermarket boots with oem boots. I did end up learning a lot by reading old threads, but the market is totally different 10 years later.