I recently lowered my car on full coilovers and when I first did the drop and tried to roll out of my driveway, I could tell that the cv axles where at too much of an angle because they where clicking pretty bad (didn’t before).
Soo, I raised it up an inch or too and things where fine, except that the axles are not straight out of the transmission to the hub. They are actually angled up quite a bit.
Anyway, I ended up breaking an inner cv joint on the pass side yesterday and figured that it might be because of my drop.
Has this happened to anyone else. And would some better axles stop this problem? I don’t want to raise the front back up. THANKS
The problem with modifying is that it usually turns into a battle of continuously exploiting the next weakest link. A lot of people have issues with CV axles in general and a lowered car puts more stress on them. A good CV axle will still function fine on a lowered car, but the problem is that some have trouble finding a good one. I decided to buy some cheap aftermarket new axles for mine and never could get a good one from that brand that lasted more than a few months (one didn’t even last a week). I finally ended up just getting a set of remanned ones from Autozone and currently don’t have a problem (although a lot of people have had issues with those and I haven’t had them very long). The best axle is an OEM axle that has the rubber torque damper rings in the middle. Many swear by www.raxles.com.
raxles is great. some can be customized to ur drop and for a different amount of torque and power being put on those axles. when the inner joint breaks (dislocates) its usually not broken. it can be easily slid back into its grooves… sometimes u gotta remove the boot, but i’ve done it so much that i could leave it on the car or put it on a vise and get it back in without a problem. it keeps happening to my driver side one… but that is cuz i have an autozone one, and it is an inch shorter. so whenever i take off the steering knuckle/hub… it stretches the inner joint a bit and gets dislocated unless i’m careful and get some tie wire to hang the axle leveled as possible.
raxles would be a good investment if u are making some pretty good power. oem is always nice too, but can be pricier than raxles. so good used ones can be a good option and is usually affordable from someone.
OEM axles are NOT made by Honda. They are a outsourced part. They don’t come in Honda packaging. Keep that in mind when you take about the wonders of OEM axles. Get Raxles. Neil, our beloved founder, has had his Raxles since 2002 w/ no complaints.
I talked to the guy at Raxles. He said to prevent breakage and the vibration at acceleration, is to get the remans from Advanced Auto. He also said that they reman with OEM Honda parts. I still haven’t tried this theory cause my OEM Honda axles work great.
Other than getting an axle without any grease in the inner joint, and one with a pin hole in the inner boot, Auto Zone’s A1 CarDone’s New axles have been great. ~$70 per axle, with lifetime warranty. These are NOT the remans you can get for ~$10 cheaper.
These are on a 90 DB1, with ~2.5" drop, and a 2nd gen B16 with a short gear transmission.
The shaft with no grease failed of course, and when I cut the boot open at AZ, the counterman immediately replaced it, he even apologized for it. I did not let it get to the point of it failing completely.
The current shaft has a pin hole in the inner boot. It is slowly loosing its grease through that hole. I just don’t drive it enough anymore to pull it apart and replace it.
