Calling all raised wagons - cv axle question

[Drclaw]

I've been lifted about 2" for the last 3 years. I'm on koni reds and the idparts towing spring kit. Last year my left outer cv boot broke. I replaced it and 1 year later it was going bad. I found water in the boot and the joint was toast. I was going to buy a new axle from raxle. I called this morning and spoke with Marty who told me that he's currently troubleshooting a raised wagon issue with another person right now who had a bit failure in 1 month of the replacement axle.

Is the increased ride height wearing out or axles? Anyone else who's raised have boot, or axles problems? ???

Edit: ended up ordering the axle from raxles. Don't really have another option. Maybe I'll change out front spring if ride height is an issue but hoping to gather more data on that here.

 

[oilhammer]

Anything that places the CV joints further away from level will increase the wear.

 

[Drclaw]

Anything that places the CV joints further away from level will increase the wear.

Makes sense. If anyone has any data or observations from their lifted wagons it would be great to collect and see if there any concrete data we can glean.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Not a Wagon, but my son's golf is pretty tall with its Metalnerd 2" lift. OE axles, no failures of axles or boots in the last 220K miles since he bought it.

 

[Drclaw]

Not a Wagon, but my son's golf is pretty tall with its Metalnerd 2" lift. OE axles, no failures of axles or boots in the last 220K miles since he bought it.

Thanks. Not familiar with the metalnerd lift. What hardware does that use?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

VW/Audi Accessories - Part LIFT-A4-2 - 2 inch Lift Kit for MK-IV Chassis (Includes refundable $100 charge)

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www.metalnerd.com

 

[borninabus]

VW/Audi Accessories - Part LIFT-A4-2 - 2 inch Lift Kit for MK-IV Chassis (Includes refundable $100 charge)

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www.metalnerd.com

i'm sure you knew this, but spacer lifts don't change the axle geometry.

 

[dieseldonato]

How not? Unless it's a body lift, the suspension has to be held at a different angle to raise the vehicle. Doesn't matter if it's a spacer or a stiffer springs.

 

[borninabus]

How not? Unless it's a body lift, the suspension has to be held at a different angle to raise the vehicle. Doesn't matter if it's a spacer or a stiffer springs.

you are totally right, sir.
too many cars on the brain today.
to maintain factory geometry, you would also need to drop the subframe.

 

[oilhammer]

Yep, subframe spacers. That's how all the car-based cross-dressers typically handle that sort of thing. Or thicker (spaced down) subframes and different engine/trans mounts. This enables the axle geometry to largely remain the same, and also allows for a larger diameter tire/wheel combo that is offset with a lower final drive in the transmission. So a Civic-based CRV, a Golf-based Tiguan, or a Corolla-based RAV4 won't place the axles in any more of an extreme angle than the car their based on.

Extreme angled CV joints are something us Volkswagen T2 and T3 Transporter owners are used to. Only with those, you can swap them side to side to equalize the CV joint wear... but the search for durable CV boots goes on. The LIFTED guys really have issues with those.

 

[740GLE]

Alltrack here, no issues other than a stick puncturing an outer boot at 60K, but I also think the alltrack has specific axles for the minor lift ~.5" lift.

I wonder if you sourced alltrack axles you'd be better set up for success?

 

[oilhammer]

The AWD cars use totally different axles.

 

[Drclaw]

Well I found a tear in my raxle boot today. Transmission side. 6 months old and less than 10k miles. Prob closer to 5k.