Rear Axle Questions - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

PanzerSD · #1 01-23-2007, 06:35 PM

Are NEW rear axles readily available for my SD from anywhere except the internet and a Mercedes dealership?

I don't mind buying an aftermarket rear axle, I can get lifetime warranty....anyone recommend any particular manufacturer?

are all 116 rear axles interchangable?

Jeremy5848 · #2 01-23-2007, 08:35 PM

I recommend CVJ Axles in Denver. http://www.cvjreman.com/index.php
Their axles are about $140 each plus a $50 refundable core charge plus shipping and come with a three year warranty. Mine were installed (by me) in July and now have a little over 7000 miles on them and no complaints.

I doubt that anyone other than a Mercedes dealer sells factory new axles. There is a (German?) manufacturer, GKN Automotive, with a new axle (Phil has them -- just under $400 each). Factory axles are about $900 each, last I heard.

#3 01-23-2007, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy5848

I recommend CVJ Axles in Denver. http://www.cvjreman.com/index.php
Their axles are about $140 each plus a $50 refundable core charge plus shipping and come with a three year warranty. Mine were installed (by me) in July and now have a little over 7000 miles on them and no complaints.

I agree, I've had CVJ axles on my 300D for about 50K miles without any problems.

PanzerSD · #4 01-23-2007, 09:45 PM

what do they do? rebuild them? are you buying a rebuilt axle..if that's the case then theres a very reputable machine shop here that can do it.

#5 01-23-2007, 09:52 PM

Yup, they are rebuilt, that's why they are cheaper than the new ones. If you have a good local rebuilder, you may save some shipping costs.

dieseldiehard · #6 01-23-2007, 10:29 PM

I would not buy from a local rebuilder unless they have done a lot of axles. Meaning a thosand maybe. The tolerances in the knuckle joints are extremely tight. Most rebuilders cannot machine the knuckles instead they just throw out the bad ones and regrease the old ones and install new rubber retaining seals.
CVJ is good, I believe they do the work in Germany. I heard they get a lot of cores off cars in Europe. I've used them twice now. I also bought some no name rebuilds before my "learning experience" I will relate to you. one of those cheapo axles failed when I loaned my "personal" 300TD out to a friend, it was a long way from home and the towing was a nightmare, you can't trust anyone, the flat bed got my car all the way back to me in one piece then as they were about to leave I noticed my front license plate lying on the bed of the tow truck, it had been ripped off the bumper! I had to flag him down to get it and if I weren't there I'm sure it would have slid off and they would never have paid for a new personalized plates which the State doesn't make in blue and gold any longer (shades of UC Berkeley) plus what $60? Wow I was mad they ripped it somehow while chaining the car up onto the towtruck

I then decided to replace the other axle because I didn't trust them after one went bad (it would not even allow the car to move more than 0.1 MPH it went Clunkedy clunk!

) So I bought a set of CVJ's. More $$$$ spent unnecessarily

Listen, its a real hassle to R&R an axle and not worth the savings from buying cheap axles. Warranties are worth little as they do not cover your time and effort or labor if you have a shop do the work

I do not scrimp on axles since that expensive lesson!

dieseldan44 · #7 01-23-2007, 11:34 PM

another vote for CVJ reamnned axles.

i am doing the rear axle job right now...so i havent driven on them yet, but i can say they look very high quality and they really know these axles from when ive called them.

kendogg · #8 01-23-2007, 11:40 PM

How many of you guys have had bad vibrations when at speed from your cars, say, 35-40+ mph? I'm thinking it is my axles, as the boots are torn, and the grease definitely looks like chocolate milkshake. If I turn the wheels the withe car in the air, I can watch the axle move in and out of the inner stub, thats not normal, right?

Jeremy5848 · #9 01-23-2007, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieseldiehard

I do not scrimp on axles since that expensive lesson!

The cheap axles still cost about $100 each although some posters here have gotten them on sale for less. Results have been mixed -- some have gotten a lot of miles out of them, some (like dieseldiehard) have come away with a tale of woe.

My complete axle job -- two CVJ axles, shipping, returning the cores, seals, tools, oil, etc. -- was $359.57. For a job that you'll probably never have to repeat, why take the risk? You just won't save enough money on cheap axles (even if they do have a lifetime warranty) to want to do the job again. And as DD has just related to us, towing the car back home from Outer Dakota is not cheap either.

By the way, CVJ did not have finished axles for me in stock but did have cores and had them rebuilt and shipped to me. I received them a week after I ordered so they didn't waste any time.

Do the job once and do it right!

Jeremy

Eric Eliel · #10 01-24-2007, 01:12 AM

Another vote here for CVJ. I think I was one of the earlier users on the forum to try them out. I called the owner, can't remember his name. He doesn't perform any rewelding or "rebuilding" of the joint. They sort and find the used axles that meet particular clearance standards, clean them up, reboot them and add in the factory recommended oil.

I had them in my first 300D and when I totaled that car, I pulled them out and saved them. I put them in my replacement 300D around last April. Been fine ever since.

Replacing the axles is not technically that hard of a job. Its physically hard-on-your-body doing this in your garage, on the floor, while laying on your back. Its somewhat messy. Its not a fast job. It took me 6 hours to R&R the my first axle, but I don't work that fast (that included a shower before I went to bed

). The second time was to replace the other side, because I was too naive to replace both at the same time.

The third time was to R&R in my current car and I replaced both at the same time. When my wrecked car was on a professional lift, I had both axles removed within 20 minutes. The lift helps a lot.

There is enough evidence on this forum that should tell you which "rebuilt/rebooted axle" vendors product last. I don't believe I've heard of one failed CVJ axle yet. I heard plenty of autozone, Kragan, and MannyMoe failed axle stories to last a lifetime. As Jeremy mentioned, including shipping the rebuilts to you and shipping the cores back, its about $350.

If you roll the dice, buy some hack job axles for $200 a set and they fail, you have to perform the job again. At $20 to $25 an hour (and I hope you value your time at least at that rate), the math doesn't work for the cheap axles, the failure rate is just too high. Not to mention that while you are waiting for your CVJ axles to arrive, because you were too cheap to buy them in the first place, now you are renting a car.

CVJ axles, factory oil cooler lines, factory window seals, new R4 A/C compressor and Lemforder front end parts. These are the items of which you should not cut corners.