Raxles is just too expensive ... the last quote I received was more than the current price of OEM axles.

I just checked Pep Boys, they carry A1 Cardone reman, and they have a 35% off coupon today. So I pulled the trigger and ordered both sides for what will amount to about $35 per axle plus tax ... hard to beat that price.

I will be picking up the axles from the local store today or tomorrow, and I won't be installing them until next weekend so I will have several days to take a really good look at them to assess quality. They said I can return them for a full refund if I decide not to use one or both of them, and they have a lifetime warranty.

I asked if these are OEM axles, the guy did not know. If anyone knows of a way to identify if an axle is OEM or not, I would be curious to hear.

Thanks. John

 

I can only speak of two vendors that worked for me. The Advance Axles was a hit and Marty at Raxles was a hit.

 

Okay, I picked up the "A1 Cardone" axles from Pep Boys earlier this evening ... this is what I got (pics below). The axles are heavy enough, nothing feels loose, the splines look clean but not new, and the shafts look a bit rough as it they had some rust on them in their past life. I could believe these are original OEM axles.

 

Having an OEM axle shaft is fairly irrelevant, the issue is in the CV joint. If you're not keeping the car very long, then you're probably good to go, but if you expect these replacements to last even a quarter of the time of the units which came from the factory, well...

 

Really? Hmmm, I had Raxles quote me $189 per side for my 2001 V6 Accord EXL; the best price I can find for Honda remanufactured axles is $312 and for new Honda axles the price jumps up to $509 per side.

 

That's still a bit more than $35.

I understand your comments around longevity of the OEM vs aftermarket parts.

This is a burner car -- I bought it for the kids' first high school car. It wasn't meant to last forever, the body is rough, and the engine is tired with a fair amount of positive crankcase pressure which must be worn rings. So it's not worth much, probably not even worth the cost of the parts that I've put in it over the past couple of years, much of which I've done just as a hobby / learning experience.

If this were one of our regular use family cars I would probably get a Honda OEM or Raxles part and just spend the $200.

If these last 1/4 of the lifetime of the OEM product, that's probably 5 years or 50k miles ... that's longer than I will have the car for sure.

-- John

 

All my customers get the Advance Auto "new" AXLES.
I have one Raxle axle on my 95 accord and one Advance Auto axle. Can't tell a difference.
Most are under $60 at Advance with coupon code.
I would never go the re-manufactured route on axles again, unless its from RAXLE.

 

If you are lucky and get a good one, you can't tell the difference.

I'm willing to pay a bit more to avoid replacing them frequently. My opinion is biased by my experience w/ AZ axles; 2 axle replacements per side before going w/ Raxles to solve a vibration under acceleration problem.

However, I bought an O'Riellys $60 axle for my son's MDX and it has performed flawlessly. I had to replace immediately when my plan to replace only the boot fell through when parts were found to be severely worn.

I also had a torn boot replaced at a local "CV Axle Rebuild" shop. This place was a real sweatshop w/ young immigrants toiling to "rebuild" CV axles. I watched a bit and found the repair procedure was basically; separate CV axle by pulling apart, wipe out most of old grease, slop in new grease, fit new boot, reconnect axle, close boot. Voila a "rebuilt" axle! That was a few years ago, and likely most of work is now performed in China.

good luck

 

The label on these axles suggest that the work is being done in Mexico.

Logically, assuming the same company is providing parts, then the only difference between their new axles and the remans, is that the remans will still contain some old OEM parts.

So, if the remans are failing more than the new, what would seem is happening is that the OEM CV joints are being left as-is with their current age, and may in fact be near end-of-life, whereas the new axles get non-OEM parts but they are new.

And, if a reman received a new set of non-OEM CV joints then it should be as good as one of their new axles.

 

Fyi I installed a new bearing, lower ball joint and axle on the drivers side over the last couple of days. The vibration I was experiencing on the freeway that I thought was bad wheel balance, is now gone. That axle on the left was a Quality Tuneup replacement part from the previous owner ... must have been a cheap one. The A1-Carone reman I put in seemed pretty sturdy.

Fingers crossed now ... if all holds up well for the next month or two, I have the parts for the passenger side that I will replace next. If these are truly OEM remans, then they will likely have less wear than the original on my car's passenger side, which has 250k miles on it now.