New OEM Axles Vs Raxles

Memphis · Feb 5, 2018

I have a 2006 MKIV Golf BEW with Triptronic, it is my wife car and functions as a family car. I am in the process of doing suspension refresh and one axle's CV is shot. I was just going to order two Raxles based on everyones glowing reviews and not have to deal with it again. The problem is, the previous owner replaced one axle with a non-OEM (can't tell want kind).

So with that I only have one core to send back to Raxles, adding another $150 to the overall cost. This makes buying two new OEM from IDParts about $30 cheaper than two Raxles.

I THINK the Raxles are better axle but I am not sure, I think the OEM that is on there now is original and lasted about 200k miles.

So Raxles, OEM, or the option I am really not considering buy another cheap axle for the OEM side.

oilhammer · Feb 5, 2018

Get the new OEM ones, make sure the boots do not get neglected, and you won't likely have to replace them again, ever.

garreth5 · Feb 5, 2018

The OEM ones can last a long time but still depends on how you drive your car and how low your car is.

tpitt1946 · Feb 5, 2018

I know everyone bad mouths after market axles but I replaced both axles on my 05 Passat with new A1CARDONE axles and have never had a problem. This was several thousand miles ago. I re-booted the originals and they are sitting in my shed for when I lose another boot.

oilhammer · Feb 6, 2018

Because the Chaxles have more slop in them after 10k miles than the originals do after 100k miles, that's why. And they'll start to cause massive vibrations at idle in gear, and shudder horribly under acceleration.

This is proven out over and over again.

Luckily for the B5s (late ones, with the large joints), Volkswagen started offering a reman axle again. So we can chuck the Chaxles in the scrapper where they belong and get these cars back to normal operation.

jimbote · Feb 6, 2018

have a customer that's gone through three raxles due to boot failure all in less than a year... this was not installer error (he did the work), it was crappy boot material... could be a supplier issue but OE boots last a loooong time

tpitt1946 · Feb 6, 2018

oilhammer said:
Because the Chaxles have more slop in them after 10k miles than the originals do after 100k miles, that's why. And they'll start to cause massive vibrations at idle in gear, and shudder horribly under acceleration.

This is proven out over and over again.

Luckily for the B5s (late ones, with the large joints), Volkswagen started offering a reman axle again. So we can chuck the Chaxles in the scrapper where they belong and get these cars back to normal operation.

This is why I rebooted the others. I needed a quick solution and bought the A1Cardone axles, thought if they lasted a little while it would be okay. They've proven to be lasting and no vibrations at all. I will put the others back in if I have any problems. I believe the 1st one I put in has at least 40,000 miles on it. I would have to check my records. Happy so far!

Enabled · Feb 6, 2018

Benefit to Raxles is their warranty.
Originals or Raxles.

3rd option if you have original shafts, is to replace the CV joint ends yourself. Slightly cheaper, but requires know how.
I almost did that, but ended up with Raxles.

jokila · Feb 6, 2018

tpitt1946 said:
I know everyone bad mouths after market axles but I replaced both axles on my 05 Passat with new A1CARDONE axles and have never had a problem. This was several thousand miles ago. I re-booted the originals and they are sitting in my shed for when I lose another boot.

That is hardly enough data to determine reliability. If you said 100K miles, then maybe.

jokila · Feb 6, 2018

Memphis said:
I have a 2006 MKIV Golf BEW with Triptronic, it is my wife car and functions as a family car. I am in the process of doing suspension refresh and one axle's CV is shot. I was just going to order two Raxles based on everyones glowing reviews and not have to deal with it again. The problem is, the previous owner replaced one axle with a non-OEM (can't tell want kind).

So with that I only have one core to send back to Raxles, adding another $150 to the overall cost. This makes buying two new OEM from IDParts about $30 cheaper than two Raxles.

I THINK the Raxles are better axle but I am not sure, I think the OEM that is on there now is original and lasted about 200k miles.

So Raxles, OEM, or the option I am really not considering buy another cheap axle for the OEM side.

Why don't you just rebuild the CV joint? If they are the inner ones, it's not much work to do it and the cost is low.

tpitt1946 · Feb 6, 2018

jokila said:
That is hardly enough data to determine reliability. If you said 100K miles, then maybe.

Ah, but there still going! When they go bad I have the originals to put back in. If I remember right they only cost about $70 each and I was in a hurry. This allowed me to reboot my others at a more convenient time.

I do absolutely all my own work on my vehicles. I think I know what's best for me.

I do appreciate all the advice I get off the TDI Club, most of it good, but some of it bad!

jokila · Feb 6, 2018

tpitt1946 said:
Ah, but there still going! When they go bad I have the originals to put back in. If I remember right they only cost about $70 each and I was in a hurry. This allowed me to reboot my others at a more convenient time.

I do absolutely all my own work on my vehicles. I think I know what's best for me.

I do appreciate all the advice I get off the TDI Club, most of it good, but some of it bad!

"Ah, but there still going! " Well that's true for any part, isn't it?

No one is challenging what you do to your vehicle. That's on you, but my point is your time period is short and the chinesium axles have a propensity to fail. Since TDIers usually drive lots of miles then it's important to consider something with proven reliability.

tpitt1946 · Feb 6, 2018

I guess we'll see, wont we. The others are ready to go in, when and if they fail. I've been turning wrenches for over 50 years, but I still have a lot to learn. LOL

selway · Feb 6, 2018

I put in a A1 cardone select axle it lasted 200 miles and was making more noise then the one I took out . So I put in a Raxle then the other side went put in another Raxle good to go now 30000 miles later no noise or vibration .

tpitt1946 · Feb 6, 2018

I guess it's just luck of the draw. I purchased mine in 2013 and will have to check and see how many miles on them. $53 at the time and at that time I didn't want to deal with the boot. Originals are ready to go if need be.

joep1234 · Feb 6, 2018

Been down the same road. I have had to replace 2 right and 3 left axles in less than 3 years (lifetime warranty) because I needed the car back on the road plus I have a DSG and they are harder to find. Got where I can do it pretty quickly. My problem is the boots don't last. I have the factory ones and on the first warm Saturday I am going to clean them up and reboot both sides to replace them.

jokila · Feb 6, 2018

tpitt1946 said:
I guess it's just luck of the draw. I purchased mine in 2013 and will have to check and see how many miles on them. $53 at the time and at that time I didn't want to deal with the boot. Originals are ready to go if need be.

And that's precisely why people will take a huge risk buying that kind of part. You at least concede the obvious with your logic. Lifetime warranty is the panacea for buying inferior parts. You just take a gamble and hope for the best.

If you want the long haul solution, you purchase the proven way to go and low cost chinesium axles are not it.

jptbay · Feb 6, 2018

Source for inner tripod joints.

Tiptronic inner joints are a tripod style joint, not CV like most other MK4's.

They do not seem to last as long, and have been seemingly unavailable to buy separately.

Options have been:

1. New OEM complete axle
2. R-Axles rebuilt axle
3. VW Rebuilt axles JZW407449RX (driver's side), JZW407452CX (passenger side).

I have bought several VW remans and have had bad luck with the inner joints failing early, except for one which appeared to be a new axle that had a reman part # stuck over top of the new axle sticker.

All of these axles the outer joint has been fine, and the inner joint failed.

This led me to looking again for quality replacement inner joints and after digging around Europe, Amazon Germany comes to the rescue.

SKF VKJA 8014 https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0711NFL22/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Complete inner joint kit with joint, boot, clamps and grease. Shipped to my door in North America for 90.44 Euro.

Fix_Until_Broke · Feb 6, 2018

I put Raxles on my 02M and have ~25k miles on them so far. They replaced OEM axles that had 2 of 4 torn boots that I ran for ~50k miles.

At ~20k miles one of my Raxles had a boot crack and start slinging grease. Their service was excellent, they replaced most everything since it was apart, however it did cost me ~$70 to ship it both ways which is not trivial.

Raxles were less expensive than OEM (by a lot) for the 02M and I was not going to play axle roulette with CRAP so the decision was expensive but easy.

jimbote · Feb 7, 2018

Fix_Until_Broke said:
I put Raxles on my 02M and have ~25k miles on them so far. They replaced OEM axles that had 2 of 4 torn boots that I ran for ~50k miles.

At ~20k miles one of my Raxles had a boot crack and start slinging grease. Their service was excellent, they replaced most everything since it was apart, however it did cost me ~$70 to ship it both ways which is not trivial.

Raxles were less expensive than OEM (by a lot) for the 02M and I was not going to play axle roulette with CRAP so the decision was expensive but easy.

so an oe axle boot can easily last 150k +, your raxle boot failed @ 20k ...lets say the boots on both raxles survive to 50k next go around ... $75 shipping for each boot failure seems kinda expensive when you add in the downtime and your labor ...personally i would have rebooted the oe axles

Memphis · Feb 7, 2018

Update

Thanks for all the responses.

As far as rebooting, interesting thing is the side that is bad (OEM) boot looks fine. Grease is getting out somehow, but I haven't been able to locate the a tear. It has been making noise long before grease came out. I am guessing previous owner rebooted it too late.

Buying new OEM axles, just became less appealing. I went ahead and ordered from IDParts, the ones on the website for some-reason wouldn't work with my VIN. The ones that would also had a core charge (since I only have one OEM I would need to eat the one core charge).

Now Raxles is significantly cheaper than new OEM, I think I am back to them. As far as fixing the OEM. That could be an option, but I don't trust the inner isn't going to fail soon not knowing the history...and since one side is chinese I really want to just fix them both.

Sounds like OEM has a better chance of lasting but this car gets about 7-9k miles a year (all town). If I get 5 years (50k miles) before I need to send the axles back in, I would be supper happy.

Going chinese is something that might be worth the gamble (70 bucks to replace the one OEM vs 650 for my raxles + core). I have owned the car for 5 years and 5 years I have been dealing with some axle vibration (also went through a couple of wheel bearings). I just want it to be smooth.

Genesis · Feb 7, 2018

My '03 has more than 230k miles on it, and OE axles. The boots are still intact.

I'll be re-booting them when they start leaking grease and will be rebuilding them if they start making noise. That sort of service life is pretty darn good!

maxmoo · Feb 7, 2018

I just picked up 2 perfect low milage oem axles out of a city golf at my freindly local wreckers for $50cdn apiece.

UhOh · Feb 7, 2018

maxmoo said:
I just picked up 2 perfect low milage oem axles out of a city golf at my freindly local wreckers for $50cdn apiece.

I'd been thinking of going this route and rebuilding so that I can have spares at-the-ready. I don't have any torn boots but I know that I've got some CVs that are likely heading toward twilight (over 200k miles).

Fix_Until_Broke · Feb 7, 2018

jimbote said:
so an oe axle boot can easily last 150k +, your raxle boot failed @ 20k ...lets say the boots on both raxles survive to 50k next go around ... $75 shipping for each boot failure seems kinda expensive when you add in the downtime and your labor ...personally i would have rebooted the oe axles

I agree with you, however my OEM axles were junk when I got them with torn boots and visible "stuff" inside so it's not always as simple as "just rebooting the OEM axles"

UhOh · Feb 8, 2018

Not too long ago I'd read here about there being issues with sub-par rubber. Not sure if this wave has passed, but there seems to have been an awareness of this.

JDSwan87 · Mar 27, 2018

Memphis said:
Thanks for all the responses.

As far as rebooting, interesting thing is the side that is bad (OEM) boot looks fine. Grease is getting out somehow, but I haven't been able to locate the a tear. It has been making noise long before grease came out. I am guessing previous owner rebooted it too late.

Buying new OEM axles, just became less appealing. I went ahead and ordered from IDParts, the ones on the website for some-reason wouldn't work with my VIN. The ones that would also had a core charge (since I only have one OEM I would need to eat the one core charge).

Now Raxles is significantly cheaper than new OEM, I think I am back to them. As far as fixing the OEM. That could be an option, but I don't trust the inner isn't going to fail soon not knowing the history...and since one side is chinese I really want to just fix them both.

Sounds like OEM has a better chance of lasting but this car gets about 7-9k miles a year (all town). If I get 5 years (50k miles) before I need to send the axles back in, I would be supper happy.

Going chinese is something that might be worth the gamble (70 bucks to replace the one OEM vs 650 for my raxles + core). I have owned the car for 5 years and 5 years I have been dealing with some axle vibration (also went through a couple of wheel bearings). I just want it to be smooth.

So what did you finally decide to Do? I'm in a similar boat as I have 2 Chaxles but still have my (I think) OEM axles. I saved my old ones when I changed out to Chaxles (gambled and lost, they vibrate after 15k miles).

The $700 pill for axles is tough to swallow...

IndigoBlueWagon · Mar 27, 2018

The axles on my wagon have received a bunch of new boots over the years, but they're still original at 362K, and for 120K of that the car was making more than twice stock power. Lots of track days, lowered on coilovers for a time, still going strong. My son's '02 Golf has 354K on original axles. I believe if you keep after the boots VW OE axles last a long, long time.

In fact, of the 6 TDIs my sons and I own (all with over 200K miles, except for the '15 GSW), the only axle that's giving me trouble is an Autozone replacement the PO put in the B4.

Memphis · Mar 27, 2018

JDSwan87 said:
So what did you finally decide to Do? I'm in a similar boat as I have 2 Chaxles but still have my (I think) OEM axles. I saved my old ones when I changed out to Chaxles (gambled and lost, they vibrate after 15k miles).

The $700 pill for axles is tough to swallow...

I went with Raxles, got about 1500 miles on the car now. So far so good. I can't complain. Raxles core charge is cheaper than the rest, so if you need new OEMish quality they seem to be cheapest short of junkyard. Plus super customer services is a big plus.

maxmoo · Mar 28, 2018

IndigoBlueWagon said:
The axles on my wagon have received a bunch of new boots over the years, but they're still original at 362K, and for 120K of that the car was making more than twice stock power. Lots of track days, lowered on coilovers for a time, still going strong. My son's '02 Golf has 354K on original axles. I believe if you keep after the boots VW OE axles last a long, long time.

In fact, of the 6 TDIs my sons and I own (all with over 200K miles, except for the '15 GSW), the only axle that's giving me trouble is an Autozone replacement the PO put in the B4.

^ I agree this has been our experience too.

New OEM Axles Vs Raxles

Best Axles

New OEM Axles

Raxles

Cheap Autostore Axles

Active member

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor

Certified Volkswagen Nut

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Vendor

Vendor

Veteran Member

Vendor

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Vendor

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Certified Volkswagen Nut

Active member

Top Post Dawg

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Top Post Dawg

Top Post Dawg

Black Swamp Thing

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/

Active member

Veteran Member