Front CV Axle Recommendations

While changing the oil and filter on my 2000 Tundra 4x4 SR5 Access Cab the other day I noticed that both inner CV joint boots are torn. I searched here and elsewhere for DIY info and have come to find out that replacing the entire front CV axel doesn't cost much more and is about as much work as replacing the two boots. Seems like a no-brainer just to replace both CV axel assemblies.

I'd like to get some recommendations from the experts here. OEM is the way I would normally go, but I'll explain why I probably won't do that this time.

I picked this truck up for a reasonable price a little while back and it's in pretty nice shape for 233K miles. I'm the 3rd owner and both previous owners took good care of it. Although it looks pretty worn on the outside, the interior is in surprisingly good shape and it still feels and drives like it'll go another 100K. I'm going through it, fixing and replacing things that need attention as I go. I had a 2010 Tundra Ltd. that I really liked (and miss), but I sold it and bought a collector car so I just wanted a knock-around, run to Home Depot or pick up some auto parts kind of truck and this fit the bill. So it's not a daily driver by any means.

I've been working on cars and trucks for more than 40 years so I'll be doing the work myself. I've seen pairs of axels advertised for less than $150 and others for more than $400 per axel. I don't want to cheap out (you get what you pay for), but I do want decent quality that'll be safe while keeping in mind that it'll probably only be driven a few thousand miles a year.

Brand names, suppliers and any tips would be more than welcome!

TIA!

 

Someone recently bought remanufactured OEM axles for a very reasonable price. NAPA have also been recommended in the past. I would check on the Reman Toyota option first and see what your local dealers charge. What state are you in?

 

Great minds think alike! I was just looking into that. I found them for as little as $77 ea. (McGeorge Toyota) to about $115 from a local Oregon dealer - Part #Part Number: 434300C01084 - both plus core charge. That's more than reasonable in my book. I don't know of any reason that rebuilt OEM wouldn't be just fine.

I tried calling the local dealer in town just now and had to leave a voice mail. I'll post back if/when I hear from them.

Update: The local dealer wants $135 ea. That's quite a bit more than McGeorge, but I don't have to pay for shipping so I guess it's not totally unreasonable.

Thanks!

 

Glad you found it, I was about to post this link: https://www.tundras.com/threads/do-these-look-like-oem-cvs.109810/

Never order from dealers directly. Setup your order through https://parts.toyota.com and when you go to add to cart, it'll ask you to set the dealer you'll pickup from.

If you buy at the dealership directly, you're almost guaranteed to pay full MSRP. If you follow the process I just outlined, you'll get anywhere from 5%-50% off the MSRP depending on what the dealership you choose offers.

Not all dealerships participate. I have 4 participating dealerships near me, and at least two of those give more of a break on price than the other two. YMMV.

It's also entirely possible your local dealerships aren't participating at all! Others have found the same.

 

Again... great minds! I found that thread earlier and thanks for the link to the Toyota Parts site. The dealer here in town apparently doesn't participate, but there's one that's about 12 miles away that does. The online listing shows $95 each, so a pretty hefty savings over the local guys. Even with gas prices being what they are, it's worth a couple of round trips. I can take the wife's RAV4 to save gas.

Thanks Shifty and FirstGenVol!

Welcome any other ideas/tips from others, but so far I think this sounds like the way to go.

 

I agree, in my opinion, if you don't have any lift and don't plan on putting any in, then I would also suggest spending the money and purchasing the OEM axles. Don't use the parts store brand axles. As you can see the money is really not that much more and since you don't need them immediately, order them.

Since I don't know if you have a stock set up or if it has any type of lift or leveling, here is my experience with parts store CV axles...
I purchased a 2002 AC as the 2nd owner and it was 19 years old and had 27K miles. When I purchased the truck, it had no lift but both boots were torn (probably just age). Both were OEM axles. I was new to FGT world and I installed about 3" of lift in the front (with new Eibach coil-over springs and small spacers), front drop axle kit, and leveled out in the back with helper leaf springs. That gave me about 3" all the way around. When I put the new suspension in, I replaced the OEM CV axles (with the torn boots) with Advanced Auto (Carquest) on one side and Napa brand on the other. I figured, how bad could they be? Also, I replaced just about every other front suspension part that I could including steering. I purchased the parts store axles b/c they were in stock and I needed them quickly, but both of those boots tore within the first year. I am sure it was because of my lift and the angles were too much for those boots. Following that, I replaced one of the CV Axles with the built CV axles from CVJ Axles (cvjreman.com) with the high-angle boots. Everything I read online was they had success with the high-angle boots with a lift. I can say, that when I installed, I could see the difference in the high-angle boot and could see where it would help. CVJ Axles was also supposed to use OEM axles in their builds with the high-angle boots for the FGT. I figured this would cost me a little more, but I would get back to the OEM axle with the high-angle boot. The cost of the high-angle boot was about $80 alone. In your case, if you have a lift (or are planning on putting some on), with 233K on the truck, I would purchase the entire new CV axles with the high-angle boot. Unfortunately, my son totaled the car after a few months, so I can't give any feedback to those. I can say the boot held up. We are still working on finding a replacement FGT.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks for all of the great info!

The previous owner did install a 2.5" lift kit so that may be the cause of the CV boot shredding. If/when I replace the axles I'll throw in a differential lowering kit. For <$30 and maybe 20 minutes of work it might help, probably couldn't hurt.

Since it's not a daily driver, won't see much if any 4x4 action (unless it's at the Home Depot parking lot ), I think I'm still going to go with the rebuilt left and right CV axles from Toyota. For about $200 that'll probably be fine for the rest of its life... at least as long as I have it anyway.

Thanks again!

 

So an eye-popping experience this morning. I went back to order the CV Axles from the dealership that's about 12 miles away and the price had jumped from $95 each to $150 (plus the core charge)! I thought I had messed something up and reloaded everything and it jumped from $150 to $183 each! I saved the original cart with them at $150 each, but, holy cow! You snooze and all.

McGeorge still has them listed for $76 each, but shipping is about $80 and then I'd have to pay return shipping (I believe) so that makes them more than the local guys. Wish I'd bought them Friday.

ToyotaPartsDeal has them listed for $84.50 each plus $20 shipping (plus the core charge). That's a lot better, but I've no idea what the cost of return shipping for the cores would be.

Now I'm back to thinking about going with a third-party from RockAuto, or as @FirstGenVol mentioned, NAPA, etc. Or maybe just replacing the inner boots. Will have to do some more research. Sigh.

 

If you can wait, wait until Labor Day. Toyota Parts typically does big-holiday parts discounts.

I'm not aware of any recent sales event, so I'm super surprised by what you're describing. Normally it goes like this:

Go to Parts.Toyota.Com and they give you the really-high MSRP price around $150 for CVJs. You go to add it to cart, it makes you choose a dealership near your ZIP, and you get to see the new, discounted price once it redirects you to the local dealership parts site (or add to cart).

Put your browser in Private/Incognito mode and try again

 

Yep, did all of that. That's how I initially got the $150 price from the nearby dealer. I changed to incognito in Chrome, private browsing in Firefox and Safari, even changed to a private VPN with a couple of different locations to see if it would make any difference. It gave me plenty of "local" dealer choices, but all were the same $183 price. Must have been some kind of price increase set for August 1st or something. Crazy.

I guess I could wait, but both inner boots are split and have thrown a lot of grease out. I don't drive it all that often or far, but I do have to hit freeway speeds and I'd rather avoid trashing it if possible.

Local NAPA store has remans for about $70 each. From what I've read, A1 Cardone is the supplier for NAPA and almost everyone else except OEM. With as much as I (don't) use it and really never abuse it, I'm thinking those would be acceptable.

 

Crap, you must be right. That sucks, I was totally about to order some and told myself, "eh, they're always there and I need to declutter right now".

Sure enough:

 

IKR?! No idea what happened.

I checked on the LBJs and they changed a slight bit, but nothing like that!

 

Well, the ship seems to have righted itself. I've been checking the CV Axle pricing now and then and today the price has dropped back down! Put in my order for two #434300C01084 and the total was $189.56 plus the core deposit ($150). Phew! No idea what happened, but happy that I waited.

Now all there is left to do is remove the old ones and install the new ones. Not looking forward to it, but at least the price won't leave a terrible bruise to my wallet.

Checked on the LBJs and they've actually gone up $15 each. No rush so I'll keep checking to see if they come back down pretty soon.

 

You have to unbolt the lower ball joints to get the axles out. That would be the best time to knock them out.

 

My plan exactly!

 

Went ahead and ordered the LBJs and flange bolts from the same dealer - $237.07 for everything. I'll pick up those and the CV axles in the next few days. Way too hot to work on it this week anyway.

 

Based on this thread I ordered these stronger ARP LBJ bolts and will be returning the Toyota flange bolts.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/arp-663-1003

 

New Toyota remanufactured CV axels installed this week. Fit perfectly. Replaced the lower ball joints, front coils, shocks, sway bar links, serpentine belt, idlers, water pump and timing belt at the same time. I removed the 2.5" leveling kit, rotated and balanced the tires and had it aligned. RH toe was a ways out of whack. Nice ride, drives straight and some peace of mind now. Phew! Hopefully it'll be good for another quarter-million miles!

Thanks for everyone's feedback, much appreciated!

 

Nice did the reman come with the cv boots ?

 

Yes, they come ready to put on the truck.

 

They did. Plug and play.

 

Just a heads up, using the 43430-0C010-84 P# shifty listed, I was able to find the CV at my local dealer for $117.91.

 

Just so you know, MSRP on 43430-0C010-84 is $115.59. A lot of dealers sell them in the $80ish range.

 

News to me. I’ve always bought Duralast golds for $99.

 

Would you believe...$77?!

https://toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota....anufactured-shaft-assembly-front-434300c01084

 

$80...with free shipping!

https://toyotaonlineparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com/p/97715460/434300c01084.html

 

If you order directly via the parts counter, you'll almost always be forced to pay full MSRP.
If you order online via Toyota's Parts site for pickup at the parts counter of the same dealership, you'll usually pay 5, 10, sometimes 30%+ less.

It's all part of Toyota's parts network (link), and each participating dealership has different levels of discount on different parts. I have two dealerships near me charging full MSRP, even through the parts network. My regular dealership just changed owners and is no longer a member, but I could usually count on them for 15% off (or more) on average. There's one other dealer near me that often hits 18-20% off MSRP. I'm fortunate though - I have at least half a dozen participating dealerships within 30 miles.

If you want more info on how to use the parts system, check this out.

 

Since they want a core return I factor that into the shipping. Doubt they pay for the return shipping. For them for 100 local dealer.

 

That makes sense. I’m guessing that my local dealer doesn’t do enough volume to get the best pricing, and therefore would take a loss if they sold at ~$80.

 

I don't necessarily think that's how it works - but only someone like @Roman would probably know what the story is behind the discount rate.

Other places that do retail get things at a fixed wholesale rate, and discount from there. This is where sales come into play: Short period where you lower the price, taking less profit, but attract customers, move inventory. I'd be curious to know how the discount figures in, because it seems variable, and I've had the same experience with VW and GM parts buying.