Front CV Axles - Factory OEM vs. RockAuto ???

[BayMonty]

CV Boots are ripped on both left and right sides. No clicking yet. Has anyone had a good experience with the CV Axle shafts from Rock Auto? I could get both for around $100. Mitsubishi wants close to $1700 for factory shafts! I could do a lot with the money saved. Or is OEM the only choice?

Has anyone installed just new boots and called it a day?

 

[nckwltn]

CV Boots are ripped on both left and right sides. No clicking yet. Has anyone had a good experience with the CV Axle shafts from Rock Auto? I could get both for around $100. Mitsubishi wants close to $1700 for factory shafts! I could do a lot with the money saved. Or is OEM the only choice?

Has anyone installed just new boots and called it a day?

Rebuild joints with fresh grease and replace boots is better than aftermarket joints

Sent from my SM-P580 using Tapatalk

 

[Salonika]

Rebuild! I had a bad experience with Rockauto CV's, the boots were cheap rubber that cracked within 3 years & only 15,000 miles. I emailed Rockauto and they will replace them, but luckily I never pitched my originals, so I had those rebuilt and they're going in instead.

 

[bikerjosh]

Rebuild! I had a bad experience with Rockauto CV's, the boots were cheap rubber that cracked within 3 years & only 15,000 miles. I emailed Rockauto and they will replace them, but luckily I never pitched my originals, so I had those rebuilt and they're going in instead.

Please listen to both the previous posters. You will likely be sorry w/aftermarket axles if you go off road. Rebuild your current ones, less likely to leave you stranded on the trail 180+ miles from home. Ask me how I know.

 

[Offroadmuch]

I just rebuilt and rebooted mine last week. After cleaning and examining all the parts they looked almost new and my truck has 160,000 miles on it. I would describe the OEM CV's as almost indestructible. I have heard nothing but bad reviews about aftermarket replacements. Keep them, clean, regrease and reboot. AND the OEM boots are far better than the typical autoparts store rubber boots.

 

[BayMonty]

I just rebuilt and rebooted mine last week. After cleaning and examining all the parts they looked almost new and my truck has 160,000 miles on it. I would describe the OEM CV's as almost indestructible. I have heard nothing but bad reviews about aftermarket replacements. Keep them, clean, regrease and reboot. AND the OEM boots are far better than the typical autoparts store rubber boots.

I'm following everyone's advice and will rebuild. I just bought both front axles along with the right inner shaft off of eBay from a 1999 Montero donor. I'll be rebuilding those then swapping those in. I'll rebuild the original set and keep those for spare. You can't have enough spare steering/suspension parts for these type of vehicles. I also took the plunge and bought new Mitsubishi idler and pitman arms, along with tie rods so that a good majority of the steering linkages will be new. I'll keep the original arms and rebuild those with the ADD Kingpin kit for the idler and just keep the pitman for spare.

FYI, I got a quote from a local shop to do the front axles (which they would buy new from Mitsubishi), tie rods, idler and pitman arms and they quoted $3400 including an alignment after. My goodness! I can buy another gen 2.5!

 

[BayMonty]

Anyone have any good experiences with an aftermarket CV boot kit? Just called the dealership and each side is a little over $200 for the boot kit (both inner and outer boots)...$400 total.

 

[Salonika]

I paid a shop $135 to do both of mine. They specialize in doing CV work though....

 

[plh]

Anyone have any good experiences with an aftermarket CV boot kit? Just called the dealership and each side is a little over $200 for the boot kit (both inner and outer boots)...$400 total.

I used the rockauto boot kit, seams to be fine at about 2 years use.

 

[ManfromSnowyRiver]

Typical problem with rebuilts is the ball are re-used, but have worn down and are smaller. They then polish everything up and remove more metal...then first trip off road and pow, they blow right away. OEM all the way