W123 300D CV axles - Altrom / Napa
 

My local shop quoted me on installing new axles from Altrom.

I looked these up and found just one vendor who offered them. I think NAPA also offers them. I would likely have shop supply axles, but just researching what it is they offered.

As you can see from link below, the vendor offers two Altrom axles. One has Altrom number 651401, the other 1073504310 (which is an MB number, but still Altrom part, it seems). The prices are hugely different! Can anyone see what the difference might be?

MERCEDES-BENZ 1985 300D TURBO DIESEL Constant Velocity (CV) Driveshaft | ALT-651401 ALT-1073504310 | Best Auto Parts Canada - Cheap Auto Parts Online

I will try calling them in morning. The 651401 price is fine (about US$109, no core charge) but not the other one! NAPA also shows a crazy price for 1073504310. I did check PP and they have good pricing on axles, but once shipping to Canada is added the cost more than doubles!

If you are an AAA Auto Club Member you can get a discount from NAPA. Not sure on other Auto Clubs or something like a Veterans discount but ask.

The City School District I worked and a business I worked for and a lot of repair shops use NAPA Parts.
I don't know if that ends up meaning their Aftermarket Axles are better then say AutoZone’s. Also don't know if they have lifetime warranties.

Altrom is likely a made up name like AutoZone’s Duralast name or the Sears JC Higgins. So NAPA likely picked an already made brand and put their name on it.

There is a whole lot of reboxing that goes on in the auto parts business. And offshore CV axles seem to be leading the way.

Altrom is a distributor along the the lines of Beck Arnley. They have joined forces with NAPA to supply import parts.

It is worse then that. I bought a Thermostat for my Volvo Diesel from Autozone. The Box has Made in Israel on it. But the Thermostat had made in Germany on it.
They are not even sure what is getting put into the boxes.

Altrom have been around in Canada as a parts wholesaler for a long time. I recall getting stuff with their name on it many years ago. I had not realized that NAPA had bought them out. In Canada, NAPA was previously United Auto Parts (UAP) I believe and only later became part of the NA NAPA network.

What is puzzling me, is why Altrom and likely NAPA offer axles for same car at such different price points. On the NAPA Canada site, the 300D Altrom axle is priced at C$954! Our dollar is weak, but not that bad!

Some of the Altrom stuff are genuine parts reboxed.

List on a genuine W123 axle is $570, or $724cad as of this morning.

Even at wholesale pricing which should be down around ~$500cad, throw 30-50 points of retail margin at it... and you're at $900cad+ if you're reboxing someone else's parts. Some of that stuff too they show a part number and a price, but they'll actually have zero inventory. It'll say source from supplier, and that supplier is Mercedes Benz. We rent to a Napa corporate store and I've had this conversation with the store manager a few times. The stupid expensive stuff that has a Mercedes looking part number is a real part.

I've bought parts from Napa/Altrom and had them be a genuine Mercedes part in an Altrom box before with the star ground off of them. What that really means is you should call the dealership first and buy them direct.

On Axles if the axle is fine but the boots are splitting I buy Astoria boots and re-boot and re-oil them myself. I did put a $75 import eBay axle on a 123 for my dad last week, fit fine, but its got 50 miles on it at this point so I have no idea of its true quality.

Thanks Dieselpaul. That makes more sense. High priced axles are likely OE. Come to think of it, stuff I bought years ago in Altrom boxing was actually genuine Bosch or Mercedes.

My first choice, is to reboot my existing axles. But without Astoria or similar pneumatic tool easily available to me in Canada, I would have to do this with cones. Local shop has a tool and knows about stretch boots and says by time they re-boot for me, cost will be not much different than rebuilt or new aftermarket axles. But will get a firm price on that.

Getting kind of old for the R&Ring of the axles laying on my back! So may let shop put in the cheaper Altroms. No core required, so I would then try the British cones and boots posted about above on the old axles. Then keep those axles as spares for both my 107 and 123.

Is that $143 each ? I think I bought a set for less than $70 at Advance auto parts ,still rolling along after 3 yrs .
I just looked up on their website and I most have got a deal or their system was wrongly priced at the time ,its back to around $90 each.

Their price now is US$86-$91. (C$115-$121). They don't ship to Canada and if they did, cost would be crazy as it is from some other US vendors. They might ship free to border town, but cost of picking up there would make C$143 delivered to my door look quite good!

Local shop within walking distance that I sometimes use for grunt work wants $169 for same Altrom axles.

What brand, exactly, did you purchase?

How was the fit at the differential when you installed them?

I used SurTrac axles for my 240D 2 years ago. Still available today for $54.46 + $2.00 shipping on Amazon. I think I paid $57 or $58 with free shipping, so price seems stable and some local 4-wheelers have used them.

This was a 3rd car, and I recently sold it to replace with a newer wagon, but I had no problems over approx. 12,000 miles & 2 years. Doubt they will last like the originals, but they seemed well made. I put up a review on Amazon if you want more info. Don

Should have added those prices are per axle. Don