GSK Axles - NOT WORTH IT, no matter how low the price
 

Wow. For those of you that don't want to read the details below, here are the highlights from my experience with GSP Axles from Advance Autoparts:

-1 axle failed after 0 miles (outer joint assembled wrong, so it fell apart as I was installing the axle)
-Outer boot on other axle started leaking on initial test drive
-Inner joint came completely apart after about 3000 miles.

The low price and "lifetime guarantee" are very attractive, but there seem to be very, very serious quality control problems with these axles.

Now for the full story:

When I purchsed the 84 300D the boots on both CV axles were torn, so I went ahead and purchased two new GSP axles from Advance Autoparts a few months ago. Left axle installed fine, after removing the spacer ring. The right axle was a bit more trouble, since it required me grinding the inside of the spacer ring a bit so that it would sit flush with the new axle. After installing the right axle I gave the tire a spin to make sure everything felt right and just heard a "clunk, clunk, clunk." The outer joint had separated. I got the axle off and cut into the boot. The C-clip on the outer joint has never been installed, so the joint just fell apart as I bolted the axle to the hub.

I had AA order a free replacement. This took a full week due to some unfortunate screw-ups, but eventually I got the new axle, which installed without issue.

Since then, my wife and I have driven the car about 3000 miles, including a 1200 mile round trip to FL (this trip to FL was the main motivation for replacing the axles in the first place, since I didn't know the condition of the old axles with the torn boots and didn't want an axle failing while cruising down I-75.) Today, my wife was driving down the road back to our house (55 mph country road, but with a decent amount of traffic) when she heard a rapid thump, thump, thump. She was about to turn into our neighborhood, and was only half a mile from the house, so went ahead and kept going. Once in the neighborhood, she was heading up a hill when she went over a speedbump and the car suddenly would't drive. Moreover, putting it in park had no effect.

So my wife (who is physically handicapped, by the way), is stuck in the middle of the road on this hill with a car that won't go forward and won't go into park. She put it in neutral and drifted down the hill a
bit and got the car off of the road and into someone's yard. She then hobbled home.

I found a ride home from work (my wife had driven me in this morning) and crawled up under the car. The inner joint on the left axle had come completely unbolted (I suspect the bolts came loose when she was going 55, resulting in the "thump, thump, thump", then going over the speedbump pulled the axle completely apart), and the axle was sitting on top of the exhaust (I'll post pictures later). All of the bolts were there, so I bolted the joint back together and drove the car the 100 yards back to the garage. I'm ordering rebuilt axles from CVJaxles this afternoon. I'll see if AA will let me return the axles for a refund.

So, the moral of the story: No matter how attractive the price is on these GSP axles, please, please just bite the bullet and buy quality rebuilt axles. Luckily, this axle waited until my wife was going 25 mph through the neighborhood to completely fail, rather than failing while going 55 with some fool tailgating her.

Rebuilt or low cost imports
 

I bought and installed 4 "rebuilt" axles from Advance Auto in the past 2 years and I have experienced no difficulty. Do you think yours are rebuilds or are they low cost imports?

AAParts axles' quality control stinks.

My record is 4 returns for the same part for reasons ranging from poor fit to torn boots within months.

MB axles are expensive for sure. Does anyone have any tips on where to get new/rebuilt axles that are acceptable.

GSP, not GSK
 

They were supposedly new parts, not rebuilt. I had read on the forum about quality issues with these, but figured that would just translate into axles that lasted 100K rather than 200K. I had no idea I'd have two fail within two months.

By they way, I should have said "GSP" not "GSK". I guess I was a bit too frustrated to think/type correctly.

CVJ Axles out of Denver does quality rebuilding work.

I have had great luck with mine, as have other forum members. The company is a pleasure to deal with.

$150 per axle after returning the core. 3 year, unlimited mileage warranty.

That's what I am counting on. Just ordered a pair over the phone.

I re-booted my existing axles a few months ago with Flexx Boots, cost about $70 total. No leaks, no noise. Original axles still in perfect shape despite 283k on them. On my dad's SD, it had grinding original axles....so we swapped in a set from the junk yard (after re-booting them) from a 500SEL.....they have been great so far, and looked to be in excellent shape. The car they came from had 330k on it! :eek:

x2 on rebooting and regreasing your existing axles. A simple hydraulic press can separate the CV from the axle.

Do you send them your old axles back for a core charge? How do their prices compare to the GSK?

They quoted me $142 per axle, plus $75 refundable core charge when I ship back my old ones. They offered to refurbish my old axles, but I prefer this way so that I have less down-time.

The GSP axles were around $70. Definitely not worth it though.

Here's a quick picture.

http://www.chem.ucla.edu/%7Eswheele2...le_of_evil.jpg
I suppose the other take home message, for those with GSP axles already on their car, is to check the bolts on the inner joint fairly frequently. Once I get this thing off of the car I'll see if the bolts just backed out somehow or if the threads are stripped. I suspect they were just never tightened to spec.

GSP - mine failed too
 

I tried 2 GSP's also. One is bad -- noisey and slinging grease. The other is OK. I maybe have 5000 miles on them. 1984 300D

I will replace the bad one, but if either fail again, I will go with a rebuild on the MB ones I took out.

If my old axles had the bolt-on inner joints, I might have been able to replace the cracked boots, but the axles on my '82 240D had all the joints sealed inside the crimped-on cans. After an unsuccessfull attempt to reboot them, using the tranny-funnel method, I found none of my local autoparts chains had replacement axles availble, though a local import place did have new Chinese ones in stock for $110. However, after a bad experience with a replacement Chinese flexdisc, and reading about noisy, ill-fitting, Chinese axles on another posting here, and not wanting to do this job multiple times, I decided on the CVJ-Denver rebuilts for about $50 more apiece.
So far, after over a month, they've been working perfectly.

Happy Motoring, Mark

I use the PNP brand :D.

I have about 9 for the 123 and 4 for the SD.

everytime I see a good one, I pull it. the best one I scored on is when I was in Portland, Or. in June. there was this rusty beat up old 240D. I was actually looking for 240 front springs, but looking at the condition of the car, I decided to pass.
then took a look under the rear, and there was a new MB axle with the MB part# on it. wasn`t even dirty. $25.00 out the door :D. a new Annular axle. YESS!!!!

Charlie

How do you return the core? Wouldn't the shipping be pretty high?