hey beav
 

i just had to get my left cv axle replaced and the guy said that they housing was destroyed.

what the hell does that mean? do you think it has anything to do with the changed angle of the axle from the lowering of my car?

thanks is advance for the answers. :)

What housing? Part of the axle assembly or the tranny? Do you race this car? Was it a Subaru axle?

i think he was referring to the cv axle housing.
 

i dont know if that is part of the tranny where the axle goes or what?

i have not raced the car for almost a year. the axles are rebuilt axles i purchased locally. if i have anymore problems i will buy some from subaruparts.com.

He's referring to the 'tulip' of the axle, the cup/outer race where the balls, cage and spider reside. When axles get noisy it's usually due to notches worn in the ball races of the tulip. The notches are normal wear areas, the balls predominantly ride in a small area, mostly straight ahead (within a few degrees.) That's why you normally hear a bad axle when you turn the wheels and accelerate - you're hearing the balls running in and out of the worn areas.

Some rebuilt axles are better than others. Some days a person feels like doing a good job, other days... :( Who knows? I can't remember the last time I installed a new axle, the rebuilts are normally never a problem. However I never use locally rebuilts, I always install a national brand.

As far as accelerated wear due to lowering, well, hmmm... Lowering the car will increase the angle vertically at both joints, which will cause it to have a slightly wider 'normal' wear path. I'd say it would probably have an effect, but not one that should make enough difference to be concerned about. The axles I install never return for replacement, so I'd have to say they're probably good for at least an additional three+ years. Unfortunately I'm not installing near as many axles these days as I was, say, five years ago. Most everything on cars are sooo much better than they were just a few years ago.

Beav

damn i like you beav.......
 

i feel a lot better about the axles now. basically if they go out again i will buy oem axles from subaru.com and be done with it. no more local b.s.

thanks again beav.

Actually I believe that Subaru also sells reman axles (but I'm not certain about SVX axles.) The problem would probably be getting a dealer to admit that they're available. ;)

Beav

I had a reman installed at pep boys once in my suby wagon. It stripped out a few months later while I was doing donuts in the snow in a parking lot. I thought I blew something in the tranny - the 4x4 became a rear wheel drive since there is no limited slip for the front wheels. You'd be surprised at how hard it is to move a rear wheel drive wagon in the snow. I took it to a suby dealer and they actually found that it had an extra bearing floating around inside the boot! Of course I got my money back from pep boys and never went back to their parts again.

Subaru doesn't do rebuilt SVX axles. I think we should collect them and then rebuild them at Beav's garage. (long term planning?)

If all they need is to be yanked, cleaned, packed and re-booted that's not a prob. Figure about 30 minutes/side (just did my RF Friday - 23 min.) However, if they are damaged, making noise, etc. it requires machine work and parts. I have seen a 'rebuilder' take a die grinder with a round stone to an axle and then toss in a set of new, larger balls. Needless to say, that was the last axle I bought from them.

Beav