I looked them up. This seems like an expensive option. $300 ea for axle. $125 ea. core. Plus shipping for remans and returning cores. Thats some major coin right there I hope these are great axles

 

regarding your paint question, probably only CVJ can answer it for you

Regarding aftermarket axles, I've been burned a couple of times (worst was when an inner joint came apart and the flailing shaft cracked my transmission housing on a FWD Camry). I will only use OEM from now on.

What was wrong with your axles? If it was only torn boots, they can be replaced for about $40, and you get to keep the Toyota quality.

 

Re the 'black paint', is it obviously the same coating that's applied to the exterior housing?

If so, it's probably just matte black paint.

If it was applied ONLY to the splines and male thread, then it could be a baked-on dry-film lubricant, graphite or moly-disulfide based.

 

CvJ “remanufactures” stock axles. Because there’s not much to address with the axles, I suspect that they are basically rebooted and have a minimal inspection. I would go so far as to hypothesize that they don’t even tear down the outer joint. They have also sustained some criticism for the life span in their outer boots.

I suppose this leads me to question why you “need” new axles. I know rust is a major problem for you right now, but it’s not hard to “rebuild” these axles with a new oem boot kits for about $60 per axle. If you got the axle out, I know for a fact that you can rebuild the axle, clean up, and repaint the axles. My two cents are you either rebuild them yourself or buy oem for that kind of money.

 

All good points, just wanted to make sure I am not missing some obvious answers. I am fairly certain it's just paint, my theory is that they don't want to deal with masking the splines when they repaint the rest of the axle...

I wanted to buy at least one since whoever worked on the car replaced one of the CVs with an aftermarket one and then I realized the other one was close to being dead.

I think I could have certainly repacked the OEM one and I will keep that in mind for the future. Looking back at it I would probably buy OEM but it's ~$418 vs ~$236. Which is a bit considering that I am looking at replacing everything in the front.

I will make a larger post about how it all went and where I end up. Currently dreading the dealer visit to get brake lines and dust shields.

 

I have these axles and that paint was already flaking off when I received them so I just removed the rest with a brass wire brush so it didn't contaminate the seals.

They probably do this to slow down corrosion. It's a nice thought but I don't think its necessary, nor effective since its going to get scraped off when you install them anyway.

 

That's what I am thinking too... It's just frustrating since cosmoline and a hundred other oil films have existed forever and are not that expensive.

 

Yeah they are just bombing the whole part black, splines included. Wire brushing it off it probably best, but leaving it likely wont hurt a thing in the long run.

 

I would definitely remove the paint from the inner. Don't want the paint in the diff or ruining the seals. Make sure to put a light coat of grease on seal area as well as splines and snap ring to aide installation.

 

next question: why did they paint it black?

Does it mean they've stripped off the original zinc-chromate plating, and think that thin layer of rattle can black will hold back the rust?

 

I doubt it - that sounds expensive... I am also not all that concerned about the rust since one end is inside the diff being bathed in oil and the other end is in the hub which is more or less sealed. More of a head scratcher than a real concern...

 

During aftermarket "rebuilds" it is common practice to bead blast the parts so they look nice to the buyer, but doing so removes the plating which had protected it until then.

A really good rebuilder will re-plate the parts (not expensive but they have to be set up to do plating, so a quick lick of paint is what is usually done). In the case of brake calipers, they rust out from inside and pistons seize. In the case of half shafts the outsides would get rusty quickly if nothing was put on to protect them. Probably only cosmetic in the case of half shafts, just pointing it out so the buyer of such parts knows what they are getting.

 

You make a very good point. I think that's exactly what happened

 

The chrome plating was not removed on my axles. Probably why the paint failed to stick.

 

Replacing both CVs decided to go with CVJ.

The axles look decent and I will report on any issues if I discover them. In the meantime, does anyone have an idea why they paint the splines and the rest of the "working end" in this weird black paint? I can see how that would prevent corrosion while the parts are in storage but it really seems at least unnecessary. Also the paint is already chipping off, meaning that after time it will end up in the diff oil... From a manufacturing standpoint wouldn't it be better to cover the ends with grease?
Am I missing something here?

(as far as I know OEM axles don't have this btw)

View attachment 1197803
View attachment 1197804

I know this thread is old but looking for an update on these axles. How have they been and any boot leaking / issues?? I am looking to get a set of CV to install and keep my originals for spares, just found this brand online.
Thanks

 

In general, a company who spray paints the entire outside of a "rebuilt" part doesn't rate highly in my book. Especially since as noted by OP it was on portions meant to be kept clean from paint and on top of that was already flaking off from the box!

If they had properly re-plated them against corrosion the paint would not have been called for, but that requires more effort to do right. A gorilla can apply rattle can black paint to anything.

All of this is speculation because we don't know what (if anything) they did internally, just an indication of what to expect.

 

I've got 100k mi on my CVJ axles. I did upgrade both the boots when ordering them but they've been flawless since installed. I mostly use motorcycles for serious off road stuff so I can't say I've wheeled them hard but I plan on going back to them when replacements are needed.

 

My CVJs have lasted 3x longer so far than what I would normally get out of the Cardones before they start clacking. Probably because they don't bind? I think they were worth every penny.