C-V Axle Round Vs Tri-lobbed.

[ViaPhoenix]

I just pulled the CV Axles out of my '98 limited and my '97 SR5 T4Rs, however the 98 had a trilobbed inner half, and hte '97 was perfectly round.

Is one of them OEM and the other after market? Is there just different flavors of the same OEM part, or differences between years or SR5 v Limited?

see attached photo

 

[Sparky 97Runner]

My OEM CV axles on my 97 are trilobbed and the spare aftermarket NAPA CV axle that I carry around is also trilobbed. I'm also curious to know where the round axle came from.

 

[Sparky 97Runner]

At the bottom of your picture it looks like the axle shafts are different diameter and the dust shield is on backwards on the round one. I wonder if the round axle is from another generation 4Runner?

 

[ViaPhoenix]

Thanks for your reply.

The Dust shield is just cause it pop off removing the axles, and I just put it on the shaft to keep things together.

The shafts are actual the same diameter, I just measure with my calipers. 33mm closer to the splines and 46mm for that bigger section at the boot. The shaft between the boots, the Round one is actually 4 mm thicker.

I just looked up O'Rielly's and AutoZone, both of them show a round inner part to the CV axle. I will assume a previous owner replaced the CVs with auto zone parts. I will go ahead and rebuild the trilobs out of the my 98 for my 97. ( I only bought the 98 as a parts car and to rear axle swap to steal the rear locker.)

 

[Sparky 97Runner]

That sounds like an all around good plan. And now you have a spare axle to take when you go off roading.