Broke both front axles and need advice

[DallasStarsFan]

Somehow without doing any real wheeling I broke both front axles. That is what the dealer is telling me anyways. I crawled under there before I took it and could not see the axles being broken. Tried moving them by hand and there was no movement besides the passenger side would move in and out a little bit. I drove it home and then to the dealer ship so in total about 100 miles. could they be broken where the axles goes into the transfer case?

I did read that if they need replaced to go with OEM or Reman OEM. I'm not sure if this is is as easy as pulling and replacing if they are broke inside the T case. Any advice?

 

[badattitude]

Is dealer telling your front axles are broke? They go in the front differential. You probably just said transfer case by mistake. Yes, it weird to break a toyota front axle. Very weird to break both.

Are you in a Limited, Sr5 or Trail?

9808 - CVJ Axles

 

[83Mule]

I can't believe you could break both unless the front axle was locked and you were spinning fast and suddenly got traction. More likely you broke one side at the spline in the case. Stock should be fine or RCV if you never wanted it to happen again and were abusing it.

 

[Argyle Edison]

I highly doubt you broke an axle (never mind both), and drove anywhere....

 

[Argyle Edison]

I can't believe you could break both unless the front axle was locked and you were spinning fast and suddenly got traction. More likely you broke one side at the spline in the case. Stock should be fine or RCV if you never wanted it to happen again and were abusing it.

Yeah, maybe some spline damage that left it engaged?

Weird

 

[DallasStarsFan]

Is dealer telling your front axles are broke? They go in the front differential. You probably just said transfer case by mistake. Yes, it weird to break a toyota front axle. Very weird to break both.

Are you in a Limited, Sr5 or Trail?

9808 - CVJ Axles

The dealer is telling me I broke both and you are correct I said transfer case but thats not right. I was still spinning from what they said. It is a 2015 Trail, lift and 285's.

 

[Hans Moleman]

That's pretty gnarly

 

[pDubs]

Mayyyybe your boots are torn, or the axles are starting to fling grease a little bit?

Please define "broke" here. When you say broke axle, I am assuming you snapped them. If that's the case, the broken piece connected to wheel bearing would be smashing around off everything, no way you drove 100 miles.

 

[DallasStarsFan]

Mayyyybe your boots are torn, or the axles are starting to fling grease a little bit?

Please define "broke" here. When you say broke axle, I am assuming you snapped them. If that's the case, the broken piece connected to wheel bearing would be smashing around off everything, no way you drove 100 miles.

The passenger boot is torn but has not been long and its a smaller horizontal tear. The dealer said broke but there was no visible sign of breakage and no play. Thats why Im curious about it breaking in the differential. BOTH of them. I see what other people do in theirs and Im over here just driving down dirt roads and broke both???????

 

[pDubs]

Again. I think "broke" is being used to broadly here. I don't think anything is broke. They may be "worn", or recommend being replaced, or the boot is torn.

There is no maybe with a CV being broke. You would know, without a doubt, if the CV was broken)

 

[Pathfinder!]

What you are saying doesn't make much sense. Why did you take it to the dealer in the first place if it was still driving fine?

Also do you not have a real mechanic around you can take it to? The only reason to go to a dealer is if you need in warranty work done or a recall.

 

[mteolus]

Seems like you are not providing enough information. You weren't doing any "real wheeling". What does that mean? You were in 4WD but on easy terrain? Were you on dry pavement in 4WD driving around? I can't imagine it would even be possible to break both axles at the same time. One would break before the other one most likely. I would take it in for a second opinion. You should be able to drive it in 2WD.

 

[DallasStarsFan]

I will add some more context. I had it in 4H on some dirt roads at the deer lease that had some mud puddles. i was only using it to keep the traction up and not dig to much into the road. My buddies Toyota Camry did just fine and I'm trying not to rut the place up for him. Turned left into camp behind him and there was a loud and physical clank but not a pop. Then a clunk clunk. Next morning in 2WD pulled out on the paved county road and there was a wobble in the wheel with it wanting to go left, slowed down and it went away then can back 100ft down the road. Thought maybe one hub was stuck even though the light was off so I did all the steps to get it to disengage. No light and the problem seemed to go away. Drove it home doing 60 cause that seemed safer than 75 LOL. When I turned left into my house there was another clank like at camp. Crawled under to inspect, found the torn boot and decided I would go to the dealer for extended warranty work because it seemed like something internal. I know it sounds odd or I'm leaving something out but thats it. I drive like grandma and the 4wd is only because Im alone most of the time.

 

[Jetboy]

Can you tell us how much front lift you have?

The front axles are very strong. I've done 4wheel burnouts in mine on slickrock. I don't think you could break a both front axles if you tried. And I mean I literally do not think there's anything you could do intentionally that would actually break both of them unless you have a front locker and did a full throttle 4lo power brake. Even then, I'm not really sure.

I think the other posts are correct that you probably have torn boots if you have too much front lift. And you may have gotten mud/dirt into the joints and they are shot. That's possible. If so - most aftermarket axles are garbage. I'd go with either OEM or RCV. There's a ton of 4Runners in salvage yards now so you can buy low ish mile OEM axles for around $150 or less each. Both sides are the same.

 

[DallasStarsFan]

OK guys just got back from the dealer and I spoke with the tech about what actually is going on. The outer CV joint broke on 1 side and the other side is in pretty bad shape also. The side that had the tear in is the side that broke. The tech said that it looks like it broke and sent a piece out of the boot and its was not caused by stuff getting in. Both sides looked to be in the same condition. Not sure If my warranty will cover it but hopefully so. Premature wear caused by the lift may not be. Revtek 3" front and 2" back with the diff drop kit.

 

[mteolus]

Get 2 rebuilt complete CV joints and swap them out. Get it done somewhere else. New will be very costly plus stealership labor. It's been a while ago but I swapped out a Jetta CV joint for $100 myself. Stealership wanted $800.

My guess is the grease was slung out of the CV boots after the rubber degraded and tore and the joint slowly wore out.

 

[yotantexas]

Being in DFW I would contact Tandem Automotive in Haltom City. I want to say they quoted me $150 each to rebuild my stock CV axles. I would strongly recommend keeping your stock axles and having them rebuilt.

 

[DallasStarsFan]

Being in DFW I would contact Tandem Automotive in Haltom City. I want to say they quoted me $150 each to rebuild my stock CV axles. I would strongly recommend keeping your stock axles and having them rebuilt.

Thanks for the info. Gave them a call and they have a huge back log right now. He did tell me they send out the axles to be rebuilt so if I do end up having to pay for it Im probably going to oull them and take them someplace.

 

[mteolus]

Seems like the place I got my CV joint at was Ft. Worth Drive Axle but this may be the same place. I think there may be a similar place in Dallas too. I just took it off and swapped it for a rebuilt one for $100. I am sure it will cost more than that like the $150 quote from Tandem. Tandem is a good place to get your vehicle serviced though. They specialize in Toyota 4x4s.

In order to get the Jetta CV joint out I had to buy a special 25 spline socket from Snap-on to get the big bolt on the outside off and then there were about 6 bolts holding the CV join on the inside. Then I had to dislodge a ball joint to be able to get it out. Wasn't too terribly hard.

One more thing, put this in a spray bottle and spray this on the CV boots before you put it on. It will make the boots last longer.

 

[Grug556]

The axles are cheap relatively speaking. I broke my fronts. The main concern is any damage to the front differential. I had to wait almost 5 months for a new diff...all the while the undriveable truck sat on the shops lift. Toyota even confirmed the diff was in stock..still took months.

Edit to add, in my experience with snapped front axles, you hear a metallic clicking noise. The tires dont move and when snapped sag out of alignment and do not appear to be straight with the road. You wont be able to drive it and wheels look like they will fall off. Its a mess...