nfnsquared

That axle was probably weakened over years and finally just snapped.

The clicking probably means the joint/s are going on the other side. Are the boots intact? And yeah, lowering probably puts additional strain on the joints, not sure about the shaft itself.

peewizzle

The other side is same story, no vibration, no wobble, boots are mint and no leaks. I guess it make sense that lowering would weaken things over time and New England potholes don't help the matter either. Moisture getting caught underneath the damper allowing nature to do its thing also makes a lot of sense. Hopefully weather will warm up and I can do the passenger side.

This is the first time an axle has snapped on me. Usually on all my cars if clicking is heard, I'll change them but the cold has been hindering me recently.

Hope this thread motivates other people not to be a procrastinator like me haha i took a gamble waiting and lost

MarcDavidoff

I'd say it is definitely dirt and moisture getting trapped under that damper. On my 02TLs I had the fuel line rot thru on the firewall due to a similiar situation. There is a rubber piece mounted to the firewall and the fuel lines run thru it. Dirt/salt/moisture kept it wet thru the years into the metal lines rotted thru

MarcDavidoff

I'd say it is definitely dirt and moisture getting trapped under that damper. On my 02TLs I had the fuel line rot thru on the firewall due to a similiar situation. There is a rubber piece mounted to the firewall and the fuel lines run thru it. Dirt/salt/moisture kept it wet thru the years until the metal lines rotted thru

Morrissey25

iTrader: (4)

I decided to bite the bullet... $640 for both axles shipped from Raxles. Sadly, they do not honor a core charge when dealing with cars in the northeast... I plan on keeping this car forever so for me, it is worth the investment

WDPanda

not necessarily but you can check the bearing which is the only failure point.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

the engineer in my always wants to know details so i reached out to raxles for more info on their product and this is what they said:


...joints? Are they new parts or are they oem parts just hardened?

New, our design too!

Also, is the rest of the axle exactly like OEM or are the shafts stronger/hardened/treated at all?

Exactly the same, the shafts themselves need no strengthening.

are the cores used inspected for any rust to ensure there is no degradation of the shaft around the damper

We NEVER use any with ANY rust.

Are the dampers on both axles (right and left)?

Yep!

peewizzle

aww dang that stinks that core is non refundable on axle from northeast but it's understandable and at least that's proof they're putting out a quality product. hopefully i can set aside some $$ for a set of raxles in the future

nfnsquared

Way too much for me. Majofo has over 100K on the GSPs. That's good enough for me If I was slammed, I might consider Raxles...

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g.../#post15931634

jimmyfu

This has me worried as well. Not sure if it's a sign of mine going bad, but I hear like 3 little clicks only on the first left turn when I leave for work in the morning, and then nothing else after. If it's going bad, am I supposed to hear clicks happening all the time?

peewizzle

When mine first started clicking, it only happened when it was cold in the mornings. This was about 2 months ago, so New England chill was starting to set in.

Then it went from only a few clicks when turning from a cold start, to just about every other turn now no matter if warm or cold.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

just got a quote of 130 total labor to replace both axles (they are a well known honda/acura shop with great prices and allow you to bring your own parts)...to me that's completely worth my time haha.

i'm also going to order the PCI compliance bushings (spherical) and have those pressed in while they are in there.

appt is in 2 weeks but i will update with some pics of the raxles when i get them

nfnsquared

^^^^ Damn, for $130 I'd also pay someone to do this work. That's a very good deal

And I'm in for your review of the PCI bushings.....

Morrissey25

iTrader: (4)

My Raxles should be delivered to the shop today and hopefully they will be installed by the weekend.

The PCI bushings are great! For this driver, the bushings let feel the road more and the front end just feels a tighter and more planted. I'm in for your review as well

thoiboi

That's a fantastic price IMO!
Dang what shop is that? I'm still looking for a decent mechanic to get stuff done. Do they do Timing Belts?

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

it's a place called mira mesa auto techs...honest, good prices, and they let you bring your own parts.

they did my 105k service (TB, water pump, thermostat, etc) and they were by far the best price around. i bought the aisin kit and just brought it to them. i forget what i paid but it was cheaper than anywhere else for sure. i highly recommend them!

i've probably given them about 10 customers from work/friends/TL owners. i take them any work that i either don't have time for or can't do on my own (damn that crank pulley bolt!)

Morrissey25

iTrader: (4)

Just picked my car up from the shop... $190 for labor. My mechanic was really impressed with the Raxles axles. He said that they were nice and beefy... A solid product!

$130 sounds like an amazing price. Either way, I'm glad to have my baby back

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

glad to hear it's going well! hope you have a long car life ahead without any axle issues. i forget, are you lowered at all? if so how much?

you got your raxles so quick! they are still building mine, i guess they said it's hard to come by the ones for manual cars. i'm hoping they ship out on monday (they said it takes about a week to arrive to california). good thing my issue wasn't urgent like yours or i would be car-less for work

nfnsquared

Not to burst your bubble, but Raxles are just used OEM axles with rebuilt joints. Visually, they can't be any more"beefier" than OEM. Not really sure what the mechanic was basing his statement on.

Congrats on the purchase and install! They should give you years of good service.

thoiboi

:sweet: thanks!! Bookmarked for future

Morrissey25

iTrader: (4)

I am lowered about 2" but I think that the major culprit for the failure is the harsh winters here in NY. I did hear that the MT guys have a harder time sourcing the axles.

I'm sure that he was referring the quality of the Raxles axles to non OEM axles. They had an 04 TL with the same axle break last month and they replaced the axle with a "generic/cheaper" axle. I am sure that he was making a comparison between the two different replacements

jimmyfu

Just ordered my raxles today too! Marty is a super friendly guy. You wouldn't happen to know any good shops up a little more north in the bay area would you...?

thoiboi

Little north ! ?! Bay area is 8 hours from SD

jimmyfu

8 hours ain't that far!

thoiboi

Then drive it down to this shop he recommended

Majofo

$130.. that's a go.

Yep, there's mixed reviews online, but my GSPs are holding up very well.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

just wanted to provide an update, got my raxles in on monday and the car went into the shop on tuesday. they had a minor hiccup with the install (squeaking from the right raxle) but after some highway driving i think it's all gone away now. murphy's law of course, the shop said they've installed hundreds of axles and never had one squeak during the test drive and raxles said they've never had one report of a squeak either...lucky me. but i think it's all gone now anyway haha.

the raxles look extremely good and i feel completely confident driving now with the improved joints and grease. before, i had major shaking and wobbling at acceleration around 50 or so, but what i didn't realize is that i had way more vibrations than i should have at all speeds and rpms...my car is butter smooth now and it feels like a new car, i didn't realize how bad my axles were making my ride quality. even my wife said my car feels like it's on skates now.

i also got the PCI/Fastline compliance spherical bushings put in and that may also account for the smoothness, but i love them so far. if i got into my car without knowing they were in there, i wouldn't jump to the conclusion that they were in there. steering is MUCH tighter and smoother, you do feel more "jolts" when you hit a bott's dot or a deep crack in the road, but it really isn't that bad. to me it's completely worth the upgrade.

i paid 130 for the axle installation and 130 for the compliance bushing installation, pretty good price overall.

final conclusion: i highly recommend raxles and also the PCI/Fastline compliance bushings, my car feels new again!!

(i'll do a separate write up/review of the bushings in another thread)

nfnsquared

You sure the squeaking wasn't coming from one/both of the bushings?

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

no chance. It squeaked on every wheel rotation on the rack. The shop said it for sure was the right axle and nothing else. Moot point now I believe since I don't hear it anymore

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

here's my review thread on the raxles

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-t...raxles-954307/

i'll do a review later today on the PCI compliance bearings and post that link later

aIRpeACE

iTrader: (2)

what are the alternatives?

I read it on the other thread that many used GSP from advance auto.

Advance Auto Parts: Search Results for axle shafts

but that's all they carry and i don't see any gsp. Please advise.

aIRpeACE

iTrader: (2)

Best CV Axle Parts for Cars, Trucks & SUVs

Not sure how how the Duralast perform.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

PCI bearings review: https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-t...cement-954321/

kbouchard1092

I have changed both mine on my TL-S 6MT.

I got OEM, only reason being that after contacting Raxles they informed me they do not have them for the 6 Speed.

When i first contacted raxles they said they had them. After asking some clarifying questions about the 6MT being different, they confirmed that I was right and they actually do not have the axle for 6MT,

Hence why i had to go with OEM. Also, dampers are on OEM to dampen noise and vibrations (also on raxles, but not any other replacements i've seen),

Now are they needed? No. But if the axle shaft is slightly imbalanced you will feel it much more on a axle without the dampers, so it provides a buffer for the variability that can occur in the manufacturing process

jimmyfu

Just got these replaced with Raxles today, along with changing the compliance bushings (oem). One of the bushings was torn, but the shop didn't keep track of which one. Could failure of the bushings cause the axle to start failing too? At this point I'm not sure if the clicking I heard while turning was because of a compliance bushing or an issue with the axle =\

jmrcincy

Driver side axel broke at just 94K miles (though car is 10 years old). I don't drive the car hard (brakes lasted 87K). That seems absurdly early to me. Anyone else have an axel go with that few miles? Second question is whether I should replace the passenger side as well? Seems like it may be a ticking time bomb waiting to strand me as the two front axels should have experienced same conditions. I guess I was lucky because it happened two days before taking my daughter on an 800 mile round trip out of state. Got it fixed in time to take it but decided to get a rental instead because I don't know if I should trust the other front axel. Would love some input on this.

nfnsquared

Hard to know for sure, but the other axle is probably fine. My 04 6MT is approaching 300K miles on the original axles. Why some axles fail earlier than others is anyone's guess..

In the past, I've read a lot of reports where the OEM axle snapped at the harmonic balancer location. Is that where yours snapped?

quantum7

I think that the issue is also related to time versus miles. I know that these are prone to rusting out and had to replace left axle and right half shaft around the 150,000/190,000 mile marks but at 6 and 8 years.
I strongly recommend Acura axle since my dealer initially used some other brand and we had repeating failure of the shaft to mate to transmission. Finally noticed that they were not replacing with original part and insisted that they do. No problems since.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

jmrcincy

Your point makes alot of sense. I was thinking in terms of miles and 94K isn't very many. But if the issue is rust weakening the axle, then the mileage is less important and time is probably the bigger factor. Thanks for the input.