So, before i write a bunch of stuff.. will someone let me know they'll help me?

2005 lexus rx330.. i recently started to hear a clicking noise when i would turn my wheel to the left. Right before this i needed a new wheel bearing. While it was getting fixed, the guy fixing it found out that its a bad cv axle on the drivers side. From my understanding, its the cv axle with the inner and outer cv joints that is bad. I was told that the only replacement piece he can find costs $1,100 from the lexus dealership. Something about the driver side being a different length than the passenger side. Hes apparently not able to find any other part for it than from lexus. Im having a hard time understanding that, so does anyone know what he means? I cant pay over a thousand dollars for just the part. Please PLEASE somebody help me

 

I don't know how you feel about aftermarket but the parts came up on Advance Auto website
for your car approx $100 for FWD and AWD models if I am seeing this correctly.

Maybe others have info on this.

 

Front wheel drive and all wheel drive use different axles. From Lexus the front left axle is $527.27 for front wheel drive and $998.10 for all wheel drive, so I guess you have all wheel drive.

You will pay close to $100 for all wheel drive at your local auto parts store, $75 - $80 for front wheel drive.

I have not had good experiences with autozone axles. Napa Auto Parts axles have been good to me.

 

I just put this in the "Help my car is shaking the crap out of me" link, but it is applicable here also. And yes ours shake where most click first. Same thing. And yes the part is $59 and that's a NAPA part. There a dime a dozen because the Toyota and Lexus CV axles are one and the same. Millions of them out there.

Replay to other question a few minutes ago. =>"Help my car is shaking the crap out of me" link


Yep it needs a CV axle. I had it happen to our 2007 RX350 2WD 50 miles into a 700 mile vacation 1,400 round trip. Driver side. I thought it threw a wheel weight. But at different speeds it shakes differently. And yes the common symptom is shakes on acceleration only. At speed it will shake really bad at the wrong speed. I was worried the car would fall apart. Drove it 650 miles shaking like no tomorrow some of the time. Had someone rotate all the tires and switch out the spare before he sent me to a mechanic who figured it out. If you get it up to speed and you can find an RPM where it will spin into a balance it can run OK, but it was rough. The mechanic did say he felt we could drive back on it without a problem.

Relax it will be OK.

Good news is the CV Axle is easy to find and the part only costs $59 each side. When I got back I had both changed out for about $300. If your mechanically inclined you can do it yourself and only do the bad side. Hardest part was figuring out what it is. And a crook of a mechanic can take you with this problem. Your kind of at there mercy. Youtube Toyota CV axle replacement for the same year RX or Highlander. We had only about 80,000 miles on the car. And yes it is also a one owner car in perfect condition. And don't even try to get it fixed at the dealer. Any good mechanic can do this for about 1/4 the price. You may have paid about $300 at the dealer already and a good mechanic could have diagnosed it correctly and fixed it for that. Just the fact that they did not know or tell you what the problem is right off the bat speaks volumes for the dealer. If you want a good laff search Youtube for "Mercedes-Benz Dealership Tries to Rip somebody off for $6500". I had a very good old mechanic in Tennessee tell me in 3 minutes exactly what it was. A dealer should be able to tell you what the the problem is on the phone. As far as repairs this one is relatively cheap quick and easy.

 

Thank you for sharing it helped me decide on this.

The boot on my outer passenger side CV axle is showing the early signs of a split and I was wondering to repair the boot or slap on a new axle (OEM $$$).
Since you had good luck with Napa aftermarket I think I will go with new.

While I'm in there I'll order a new axle nut and smack on a new ball joint(OEM only) while I have it apart just for fun.

 

I have replaced boots on axles as well as replaced the axles. Replacing the boot is less expensive, the boots run between $10 and $15 and come with grease.

The key point of whether to do just a boot replacement is whether the cv joint is still good. If the boot has been split for some time and all the grease is gone, the likelihood of the cv joint being worn/damaged is high, since dirt and other contaminants have probably gotten into the joint. So replacing a boot only applies to when the boot has not been split for a lengthy period and not been driven is super dirty environments like dirt roads.

To replace the boot requires more work. You have to remove the axle from the car to replace the boot. You then remove the old boot, pull the cv joint apart, clean it real good (a messy job) then slip the new boot on, pack the cv joint with grease, snap the cv joint back together and secure the boot. Time-wise it's not that bad, but separating the cv joint sections requires a vice or something to hold the axle while you smack the thing with a hammer.

A repair shop will rarely replace a torn boot because an hour of labor is more than the price of a new axle and chances are you don't want to pay any more than you have to.

But why do you want to replace the axle nut? (fyi,the torque spec for the axle nut is 217 lb ft.) If anything, you should replace the axle seal in the transmission case.

 

I replaced both side CV half-shafts for under $70 each side. I ordered from Rockauto.com. New Cardones, not remanufactured, and they work perfectly fine for the past 6 months. It was simple to do if you have the right tools.

 

Thank you for sharing your knowlege for me and whoever else is going thru this.
A big dilemma OEM(big $$$) vs aftermarket.

Here is my situation:
My cv axles are original & OK and the boot is not torn completely there is a crack with a drop of grease showing so I will be in the same position as the OP.
I don't know how I got 150k miles on originals but I drive like a grandpa lol

Back in the day at more than one shop I worked at we didn't boot replacements or the "zip on" boot fixes either because of
customer comebacks and the extra labor like you explained. So I've only done whole cv axles.

So I have no experience pulling the axle apart into pieces but I was thinking trying because of the
cost $$ of the OEM replacement. Now I'll try the Napa.

So my dilemma was put in a new axle @ $500 for OEM or take a chance on a boot replacement and keep
old cv axles that will evenyually fail or take a chance on aftermarket that doesn't have quality
control issues as autoparts stores change vendors frequently- another
reason why a recommendation in an old post for a certain brand may not live up to today's expectations.
PS: You just saved me $800 for the pair and I shortened my post to save space.

 

You're welcome. This is what the forum is about - share your knowledge and help someone.