montero65

I've had a bad vibration for a while, and based on reading stuff on the forum here, felt it was my intermediate shaft. Shaking under acceleration only, between 40 and 70 MPH. Struggled to change it myself, ended up taking it in and had it replaced with OEM. Vibrations improved, but were not fully gone. A few weeks later, vibration has gotten worse than before, but in a narrower band, now 60-70 MPH. I took my car in late last week to have this looked at, as well as get my timing belt service done (just hit 101k miles).

Diagnosis is both my driveshafts need to be replaced. Fine. Rather than let the dealer order the parts, I tried to order from OEM Acura Parts to save a few hundred. Got an email today that the driver's side is currently back ordered nation wide, with no available ETA. So I assume this means the dealer that was going to do the work cannot get this part either, at least not quickly. Upon all of the recommendations on this site, I checked out Raxles.com as an alternative. Unfortunately, Marty tells me they currently don't have driver's side in stock either.

Any other suggestions for what I could do to get this problem fixed? I don't want to keep driving until a driveshaft breaks on me. Any idea why everyone would be out of driver's side shafts? Is this part used on other vehicles, or was the driver's side more of an issue with these cars? Just seems odd to be out of stock on one side but not the other.

Nytetime6

I had my passenger side axle replaced by the dealer about a month ago and they used Napa axles. Everything has been good so far. Last summer the driver's side axle was replaced by them which is also from Napa.

thoiboi

A dealer used aftermarket parts

Ken1997TL

They often do

They'll give the option since they make money either way. But by default, all repairs and service are done with genuine Honda/Acura stuff.

csmeance

honda accord V6 03-07 uses the same shaft to my knowledge!

Ken1997TL

Insane Shafts?

2004-2008 TL ? Insane Shafts

thoiboi

Wasn't aware of that, I thought it was always OEM. I haven't been to the dealer to perform a service in a while so forgive my ignorance

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

But still charge OEM prices... It's a rip off either way from the dealer.

Midnight Mystery

My Honda dealer did the same with the tie rods and struts on the RDX... Tie rods were fine because endlinks we got for it were OEM, but the struts started rattling after a few thousand miles, and by 10k miles, we couldn't take it anymore... The mounting hardware wasn't completely compatible, so we had to go OEM, and that fixed my mysterious light, numb steering... Both were from AutoZone... They were just trying to source cheaper pars to save us money... We've done so much work with them they always give us 10-20% discount...


But yes, dealers will do this...

Midnight Mystery

BROlando

The axle is very unlikely to break from this type of vibration.

But if its driving you nuts, just grab an axle from a parts store. Not as good as OEM...but cheap and usually readily available.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

I assume this is an automatic TL; yes, no? I ask because I just checked and see the OEM axles immediately available for the 6MT models.

DMZ

I used NEW aftermarkets from rockauto. They work just fine and they're cheap!

My 2¢
.
.

montero65

Nope, 6-speed Type-S.

I still haven't heard any more on when the OEM ones will become available, and it's been 2 weeks now. I am very tempted to just cancel the order and go to a parts store or to Rock Auto or something as suggested.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Hmmm, I just tried to order a pair from Bernardi Acura and it looks like they have them in stock.

montero65

I have now heard back from Peoria, and they now have an ETA of 12/16 for the driver's side shaft. So they are coming, but still a month out.

DMZ, did you go with the Cardone Select ones? Very tempting at $114 shipped for the pair of them.

DMZ

Went with APWI's. Like I said, they work fine! Just checked rockauto. They're in stock.
.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

When I bought my 2006 6MT back in May of 2017 it had the tell-tale shimmy of tired axles. I put up with it until I had the clutch replaced, and at the time, a fellow member was selling a new set of Duralast axles for a bargain basement price, so I bit and went with those. Long story short, while they were a significant improvement over the tired 133,000 mile OEM axles (a fairly constant light shimmy along with a more pronounced shimmy upon acceleration), they still had a noticeable shimmy, especially noticeable upon light acceleration between say 50 and 70 mph. This week I finally grew tired of the shimmy and had a new set of APWI axles installed, and WOW, what a difference; since I bought the car I've put over 45,000 miles on it, and it has never driven so smoothly as it does now.

In summary: new OEM axles (are probably) > new APWI axles which are > new Duralast axles which are > very tired OEM axles.

No, that didn't come out right, that middle bit just doesn't make the point well enough, it should be more like "new APWI axles are >^1000 better than new Duralast axles".

90foxnotch

I went to a friend who works at the Honda parts dept by me and he said they often use CARQUEST from Advanced Auto for axles. I replaced mine and no issues for over a year. Only about $100 per axle also-6mt

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

That's the beauty of the APWI axles; they are $47.49 per side from RockAuto.

seinfeld-bassline

are they better than the Cardone option on rock auto? My TL-S MT has developed a very slight (as in, sometimes not even there) shimmy >60 MPH... replacing one rim this week to see if that helps, but if not this is the next item

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

I do not have any experience with Cardone axles as I have heard very mixed reviews on their axles and deliberately steered clear of that brand; that said what you are experiencing with your axles is very similar to what I was experiencing with my new pair of Duralast axles (I only felt the shimmy on light to moderate acceleration). Once the one-year-old Duralasts were replaced with the new APWI axles, problem solved.

Edit: Thinking about what I just wrote, I wouldn't be surprised if the Duralast axles were just repackaged Cardone units.

seinfeld-bassline

excellent, on your recommendation I will go this route. Not to hijack the thread, but is there any danger to driving on my OEM, potentially slightly out of spec axles other than being annoying? They *appear* to be fine (IE no rust or damage)

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Well, I drove 19,000 miles with the shimmy on my tired OEM axles (and there is no telling how far the original owner drove the car in this condition), and then another 25,000 miles with the Duralast axles which were at their worst between when accelerating between 60mph and 80mph. I had my car inspected last week and I asked the shop to give the front suspension bushings and joints a good going over; no parts needed replacing.

seinfeld-bassline

thank you, your wealthy of experience is always appreciated

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Damn, I just installed a couple Cardone 66-1243 CV's ($43.89ea) on my mother's Olds. They looked pretty good quality for Chinese made. The OEM ACDELCO's were $199.99ea, both at RockAuto. Just did a quick recheck on the same part #, at RockAuto, and the price went up to $56.79ea in less than a week. Trump's tariff's must have kicked in.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

My understanding is getting a good set of Cardone axles is a hit and miss proposition; some sets appear to work out pretty well, others come out of the box causing a shimmy; often times worse than the axles they replaced. If the axles on your mother's car drive straight and true, and without any shimmy, leave them alone, odds are pretty high you got a good set.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

^
No 'shimmy' as of yet. The fastest I've had the car, thus far, was 55mph. At her age she does not take it out on the highway for those speeds anyway. It's just an 'around town' car. Next time I visit, I'm going to give it the <75mph test.

wusty23jd

Following