CV axles....where to find

[santacarl]

Hey All,

I was replacing my brakes and saw the dreaded grease 'splash' from a CV boot making a total mess under the car.....time to replace the axle....

01 SSEi with 185K miles..... I started looking around and saw some ugly reviews on aftermarket axles assemblies so I thought I'd go back OEM but the CV axle assemblies from GM (Part # 26075600-driver side and Part # 26075599 passenger side) are discontinued.

I was hoping someone here has had luck with replacing theirs and could recommend a reliable brand.... Right now the best aftermarket reviews I'm seeing are for new NAPA assemblies. But, as I understand it, those are made by A1 Cardone and the reviews I've seen on Cardone are pretty shaky.... Not sure why the difference as you'd think the NAPA ones would get similar reviews as the Cardone ones....

Anyhow....any recommendations and/or stories of success or failure are appreciated....

[dougtoth]

I have had good luck with axles from Detroit Axle.
Price is good and quality seems O.K.
I also have used their wheel bearings.
Shipping is also free.
Also found out that Amazon handles them and price is actually better than from Detroit Axle direct in some cases.

[nos4blood70]

I'd get a usedOEM axle from Andrew if I had to do it again. Look him up here as Harofreak00 or look up Bonnevilles Unlimited.

My 2003 SLE is at 217k miles. OG driver axle... THIRD passenger axle and I still have a bit of wobble on acceleration. I regret getting rid of my original axle just cause of the stupid cracked boot, should have rebooted it.

Make sure you get a new ACDelco Axle seal as well. Luckily it's not too bad of a job.

[santacarl]

I have had good luck with axles from Detroit Axle.
Price is good and quality seems O.K.
I also have used their wheel bearings.
Shipping is also free.
Also found out that Amazon handles them and price is actually better than from Detroit Axle direct in some cases.

Thanks "doug".... I called Detroit Axle before I posted the original post....they have a passenger side one but the one that is slinging grease is on the driver side..... DA said they had no way to 'order' one up..... I actually had to insist that the SSEi takes a different axle assembly than a standard Bonne.....they had no idea....or at least the guy I spoke with didn't.....

[santacarl]

I'd get a usedOEM axle from Andrew if I had to do it again. Look him up here as Harofreak00 or look up Bonnevilles Unlimited.

My 2003 SLE is at 217k miles. OG driver axle... THIRD passenger axle and I still have a bit of wobble on acceleration. I regret getting rid of my original axle just cause of the stupid cracked boot, should have rebooted it.

Make sure you get a new ACDelco Axle seal as well. Luckily it's not too bad of a job.

Thanks "Nos4"..... I don't think I can get away with just 'booting' up..... After thinking about it I went for a drive and without any blower running or no radio.....I can hear a roar so I'm thinking I already have damage and didn't catch the boot eruption in time....

I'm a bit leery of a used one....and how long it might last given it's going to be roughly the same age as mine.....That's not a job I want to tackle too often....so I was hoping there was a decent aftermarket part that I could rely on....

Thanks for the confirmation on my thought on a new ACDelco Axle seal.... I figured that was the way to go.....

[nos4blood70]

The roar may be unrelated, perhaps a wheel bearing?

[santacarl]

The roar may be unrelated, perhaps a wheel bearing?

Already replaced both wheel bearings....Ouch.... This sound isn't the same 'roar'....but who knows....could be just the early stages of a wheel bearing...It has been a while since the bearing replacements...

[Hooloovoo]

I've also got a bad bad driver-side boot. I don't think it's too bad yet (no symptoms, wasn't there a few months ago). I'm not going to replace it immediately, but I'm looking at what to get right now.
The axle was replaced when I got it (~60k miles ago), but I don't know what brand it was replaced with; the stock passenger axle is still going strong.

Looks like napa sells several different variants, and even cardone sells both remanufactured and new parts. I haven't looked at reviews /price for any of them yet, though.

I'm thinking of getting a used OEM and putting new boots on. There's at least a couple possibilities including acdelco and cheaper alternatives - is it worth paying the extra $20 for the acdelcos?

[santacarl]

Hey All....it's me again asking about CV's.

I am now only able to find Cordone CV axles for my 01 Ssei. NAPA no longer carries them. There are other manufacturers but none of them break out the Ssei axles, which are different than the other 2 models. Last time I checked Detroit axle didn't have them in stock and didn't know when they'd get them.....and I wasn't comfortable when I had to tell them that the Ssei axle is different..... What could possibly go wrong there?

Anyhow......does anyone have any experience using the Cordone part numbers 66-1444(left) and 66-1198 (right)? I don't want to buy them if they have known issues. I'm leery of rebooting because I don't know how much damage I might already have and I might just reboot a breakdown in waiting.....

[Imonacomputer]

I had issues finding the passenger side CV axle for mine. Napa and AutoZone both gave me the same thing - claiming trim didn't likely matter. I learned the hard way that it very much does. The ones they gave had a smaller diameter than what my '03 SSEI had. 1aauto actually had the right one. Installed with no issues. I'm by no means a mechanic but I've been doing work on my own vehicles for around 15 years now.

TL:DR - Nobody local had the discontinued part need for my '03 SSEI but 1aauto did.