tdiblair
Veteran Member
- Joined
- May 16, 2005
- Location
- CT Yankee
- TDI
- Passat 2005 silver Passat Sedan & 2005 Wagon Stone Henge Gray
Well just replaced the driver side axle on the 05 Passat. Figgured I better start doing it myself since this seems to happen by 50,000 miles and the cost to have someone else remove and install seven bolts plus the axle is too much. This was my third one on two Passats.
The inner CV joint ( next to the tranny flange) is fine.
The outer CV joint - (next to brake rotor) might be fine - dunno - I'm not a CV joint expert. Broken boot but haven't inspected it yet for grit.
I simply bought a completely assembled axle with boots and ' new joints' to get this all done in an afternoon duing the weekend - promising that her car would be ready on Monday. On another forum the said go to raxles.com since you get new joints from him - ( not the cheap remanufactured or re-ground joints) that you might get from other places. Vw charges me $300 for a complete axle ....raxles is $189 ( really $211 after you pay for the UPS Label to send your core axle back. This guy Marty even sends you the the huge 27mm Hex to remove the axle bolt and the and the star tool to remove the 6 bolts where the CV joint flange attaches to the tranny flange. You don't dash to AutoZone. He even offers a lifetime / limited warranty. He ' claims' his boots last longer than originals. I really dunno until I make it past 42,000 miles. I did hear a rumor that VW did upgrade the boots from another parts, again, I dunno. Our B-5 Passats have a tigher turning radius than other cars - especially Jap cars. If you like turning your Passat from lock to lock in tight turns - you'll probably go though the new improved CV boots too ( if they are improved). The key thing here is raxles.com are not re-ground like the Chinese axles at the big box auto stores from the literature I read. Found this raxles.com down in Florida on another Passat Forum - highly recomended and I like the service too. You just slide the old axle in the box his axle came in. He has a printed UPS return label made for you. He even prints a road map to the nearest UPS store near you. He even supplies you 7 new bolts for install your axle and the plastic bags have the torque setting written on them. Ahh you have to return his removal and install tools with your old axle. I even got a folding knife key chain with his phone number to keep. All guys like knives.
The cheaper ' re-ground' joints are said to vibrate the car when in gear at a red light. Vibration goes away if you sift to neutral or step on the gas in drive. Most think it's a loose motor mount. It's the cheap reground CV joints. Marty / raxles.com gives you brand new joints on a VW exhange axle. He does re-paint the axle tube. Last time I let someone else do this the Axle was $300 from VW. Labor was about as bad and you surrender your old core. So Marty, to me, appears to be cheaper on the part and offers a far better warranty than VW.
Big question I have is I do not assume the CV joints are part of the core exchange and my inner ( next to the tranny) CV joint is fine. The outer has a split boot but it ' might ' be fine too. I'm thinking of hammering these joints off the axle tube and just returning the axle tube but it does look like it will be a greasy pain of a job. Before I go though this, does anyone have a clue how much the innner and outer CV joints cost at World Impex. I don't know the part number to look up for myself. I only have the complete axle number.
Blair
The inner CV joint ( next to the tranny flange) is fine.
The outer CV joint - (next to brake rotor) might be fine - dunno - I'm not a CV joint expert. Broken boot but haven't inspected it yet for grit.
I simply bought a completely assembled axle with boots and ' new joints' to get this all done in an afternoon duing the weekend - promising that her car would be ready on Monday. On another forum the said go to raxles.com since you get new joints from him - ( not the cheap remanufactured or re-ground joints) that you might get from other places. Vw charges me $300 for a complete axle ....raxles is $189 ( really $211 after you pay for the UPS Label to send your core axle back. This guy Marty even sends you the the huge 27mm Hex to remove the axle bolt and the and the star tool to remove the 6 bolts where the CV joint flange attaches to the tranny flange. You don't dash to AutoZone. He even offers a lifetime / limited warranty. He ' claims' his boots last longer than originals. I really dunno until I make it past 42,000 miles. I did hear a rumor that VW did upgrade the boots from another parts, again, I dunno. Our B-5 Passats have a tigher turning radius than other cars - especially Jap cars. If you like turning your Passat from lock to lock in tight turns - you'll probably go though the new improved CV boots too ( if they are improved). The key thing here is raxles.com are not re-ground like the Chinese axles at the big box auto stores from the literature I read. Found this raxles.com down in Florida on another Passat Forum - highly recomended and I like the service too. You just slide the old axle in the box his axle came in. He has a printed UPS return label made for you. He even prints a road map to the nearest UPS store near you. He even supplies you 7 new bolts for install your axle and the plastic bags have the torque setting written on them. Ahh you have to return his removal and install tools with your old axle. I even got a folding knife key chain with his phone number to keep. All guys like knives.
The cheaper ' re-ground' joints are said to vibrate the car when in gear at a red light. Vibration goes away if you sift to neutral or step on the gas in drive. Most think it's a loose motor mount. It's the cheap reground CV joints. Marty / raxles.com gives you brand new joints on a VW exhange axle. He does re-paint the axle tube. Last time I let someone else do this the Axle was $300 from VW. Labor was about as bad and you surrender your old core. So Marty, to me, appears to be cheaper on the part and offers a far better warranty than VW.
Big question I have is I do not assume the CV joints are part of the core exchange and my inner ( next to the tranny) CV joint is fine. The outer has a split boot but it ' might ' be fine too. I'm thinking of hammering these joints off the axle tube and just returning the axle tube but it does look like it will be a greasy pain of a job. Before I go though this, does anyone have a clue how much the innner and outer CV joints cost at World Impex. I don't know the part number to look up for myself. I only have the complete axle number.
Blair