How many CVs have you broken?

[brian2sun]

My $95 napa cv joints are working good. I just demolished one last week on claw hammer. I took in the pieces and they gave me a free one. Those unbreakable cv joints sound cool but way expensive, that's trail gears sas kit and a front axle. $1800 goes a long way.

I think the cv joints are pretty strong, I'm running a front Aussie locker and they still take some skinny pedal to break. I think if your dual cased you may find yourself breaking lass cv's just because you will be moving much slower and smoother.

I agree. I think being locked up front might actually help the CVs too. I know it's more stress, but if you can get traction and slowly crawl, that's still safer than having to gun it and bounce your way up. That's harder on CVs than a locker IMO. I've only broke one CV since I've been locked up front (~8 months) and I wheel kind of a lot.

I personally don't think I would want "unbreakable" CVs. The idea is good, but the price is out in orbit and I really have doubts as to whether a 7.5" ring can handle all the stress. Like mentioned earlier, if the CVs won't break, the gears are the next in line. To spend $1800 only to grenade your wimpy little front diff would suck.

 

[04rnr]

I agree. I think being locked up front might actually help the CVs too. I know it's more stress, but if you can get traction and slowly crawl, that's still safer than having to gun it and bounce your way up. That's harder on CVs than a locker IMO. I've only broke one CV since I've been locked up front (~8 months) and I wheel kind of a lot.

I personally don't think I would want "unbreakable" CVs. The idea is good, but the price is out in orbit and I really have doubts as to whether a 7.5" ring can handle all the stress. Like mentioned earlier, if the CVs won't break, the gears are the next in line. To spend $1800 only to grenade your wimpy little front diff would suck.

couldnt agree more :beer:
Im at 2 CVs (one per rig) in about 6 years now, and YES, I do wheel and wheel alot, on some harder trails, not "hardcore" but 6-8 rated trails :boxer:

 

[scottyb]

Just broke my first one in the quary at moody hill yesterday. The truck can take some abuse, but I guess that's not the case for the cvs. And I just replaced the inner boots and did that boot slide mod a week ago... son of a b.

Does anyone have a preference for replacements? I called autozone and they have lifetime replacement on their cvs so I was thinking of going that route.

 

[Gerdo]

Does anyone have a preference for replacements? I called autozone and they have lifetime replacement on their cvs so I was thinking of going that route.

The only real replacements are OEM rebuilds. They are the strongest at this point.

 

[04rnr]

Just broke my first one in the quary at moody hill yesterday. The truck can take some abuse, but I guess that's not the case for the cvs. And I just replaced the inner boots and did that boot slide mod a week ago... son of a b.

Does anyone have a preference for replacements? I called autozone and they have lifetime replacement on their cvs so I was thinking of going that route.

from my understanding, and I could be wrong, even if you got the dealer, them are Remans. and not truely "new" I personally like to Lifetime replacement, but make sure you keep the receipt lol

 

[brian2sun]

I just returned a broken one to Napa today. No questions asked. I agree the OEMs are the best, but the Napas seem to be almost or as strong and are about 1/2 the price. And you only have to buy them once.

They way I see it is, The OEMs can break too. To have to cough up $150+ every time you break one just wouldn't make sense to me unless the OEM's strength really outweighed their much higher cost and absence of the lifetime warranty (which isn't the case IMO).

Honestly, I think 9 times out of 10, if a spot on the trail would break an aftermarket CV, it would break an OEM too.

 

[04rnr]

im having good luck with a napa CV as well.

I believe thats what I have now. seems to be doing just fine

 

[glenyoshida]

I believe thats what I have now. seems to be doing just fine

Was it the outer joint that broke? The most common break I've seen is the outer joint on the side that's drooping with the wheel cranked. Also by fat the passenger side seems to break more often.

I broke a couple of inner joints when I used the Cardone brand axle from O'reilly's (Formerly Checker Auto Parts). The Mastercraft brand from Oreilly's was the worst. They also had a lifetime warranty but the inner axle broke off inside the differential and both (two different axles) had to be drilled and tapped to remove the broken part of the axle.

5Runner/CSL bought an axle Autozone and the joint locked up at full droop. So if you get one from there check it before you lower the rig again.

Good to hear that a few have had good luck with the Napa axles. We are lucky here in Denver. CVJ Axles will rebuild the outer joint for about $45. Let us know if you break another and what you think.

BTW I'm currently running about 4" of lift in the front. I'm sure that is contributing to the axles breaking.

 

[scottyb]

My outer passenger broke when I was going straight up the obstacle with no droop. There was some wheel spin though...

So I suppose the strongest would be to buy another oem axle, install that, and then have the broken one rebuilt by CVJ for a spare. Then have the axles rebuilt from there on out.

It also sounds like the Napa ones are better than what is available at the other auto part stores. I've only read good things so far.

I might grab one from Napa and have my broken oem axle rebuilt for a spare. That way I'll have both and see if I notice a difference.

 

[brian2sun]

Was it the outer joint that broke? The most common break I've seen is the outer joint on the side that's drooping with the wheel cranked. Also by fat the passenger side seems to break more often.

My Napa broke on the outer joint, driver's side. But I agree, I've seen more break on the passenger side on other people's rigs.

 

[driffter33]

I have been running NAPA cv's for about 2.5/3 years and I to wheel a bit I have yet to break one!

 

[JWaldz]

I wheel pretty hard as well and only truly have broken 1 cv and it was an OEM. It only broke bc when I put my lift on I rode for about a month without the diff drop and it tore up the boot. Then it broke on me toying around offroad close to home on an easy rock ledge. I replaced it with an Autozone and had to replace it again after about 6 months when it started humming on me. Beyond that, haven't had any problems.

On a trail rating of 1-5 (at the offroad park), 1 being like riding a gravel road and 5 being hardcore, I usually can ride all day on 3's and sometimes find myself on a couple 4's (not often). We wheel pretty hard out there a lot and I try to keep up with my sas'd friends for the most part and haven't broken one yet. Knock on wood

 

[04rnr]

I wheel pretty hard as well and only truly have broken 1 cv and it was an OEM. It only broke bc when I put my lift on I rode for about a month without the diff drop and it tore up the boot. Then it broke on me toying around offroad close to home on an easy rock ledge. I replaced it with an Autozone and had to replace it again after about 6 months when it started humming on me. Beyond that, haven't had any problems.

On a trail rating of 1-5 (at the offroad park), 1 being like riding a gravel road and 5 being hardcore, I usually can ride all day on 3's and sometimes find myself on a couple 4's (not often). We wheel pretty hard out there a lot and I try to keep up with my sas'd friends for the most part and haven't broken one yet. Knock on wood

nice, Im a firm believer in, its all about how you wheel, and knowing your rig... you can wheel hard trails, take the hard lines etc, if you`re good wheeler/know your rig, you wont break very often, for the most part, lol I do agree though, theres times, things just break

 

[sportscarfan]

nice, Im a firm believer in, its all about how you wheel, and knowing your rig... you can wheel hard trails, take the hard lines etc, if you`re good wheeler/know your rig, you wont break very often, for the most part, lol I do agree though, theres times, things just break

Additional to how many have broken, I'd be interested to know automatic vs. manual...which lends itself to the "how you wheel" comment above.

 

[04rnr]

Additional to how many have broken, I'd be interested to know automatic vs. manual...which lends itself to the "how you wheel" comment above.

post #65 answered that, but in 6-7 years of wheeling, (2 rigs) Ive only snapped 2 CVs one on each rig, both rigs are autos, just a rear locker, no front locker. :beer:

 

[J-money$$$]

id figure autos would snap more. we can be smoother but the constant brake and gas on at the same time lends it self to stress on the cv's more then the heal toe stuff the manuel guys do. plus they can instantly disengage the drive train with the clutch where in a auto you have to wait for the RPMs to come down on there own.

I think i might have poped one by braking hard coming down off a obstical with the engine spooled up...hard to say what happened that day but that would be a pure auto induced pop.

Well you have to just give the manual guys more credit

I think its not to much different. The one i broke was in reverse and i dropped the clutch with the tries fully cranked. I was really stuck.

 

[sn0wrunner]

id figure autos would snap more. we can be smoother but the constant brake and gas on at the same time lends it self to stress on the cv's more then the heal toe stuff the manuel guys do. plus they can instantly disengage the drive train with the clutch where in a auto you have to wait for the RPMs to come down on there own.

100% agree.

None of the guys that wheel a manual with me have broken one. Us auto's are the guys that keep breaking them with the two foot method. But using two feet is so controlled and smooth

 

[Dous]

Oddly Enough Zero.










:lol:

 

[glenyoshida]

At this point I'm convinced it has to do with the wheels being drooped and cranked that pops so many CVs, it takes a lot of torque to break an axle shaft.

Hats off to the manual guys, it takes more skill to get through the same obstacle in a manual with finesse. I understand that rigs with manual transmissions sometimes choose a path that looks like they are choosing to press and pray but it's cool as heck to see a calculated line that is done in one movement. It takes real skill to pull that off well.

In an auto it's easy to start and stop on an inclined obstacle. Cranking the wheels, while creating more opportunity for different lines does cause more broken axles. There's no doubt about that. In a manual it's less often an opportunity to crank the wheels and claw up something because of the inclines. Sure it can be done but what good wheeler would choose to smoke his clutch when he doesn't have to. Momentum is a good friend

I agree, there's cases where driver skill would prevent broken CVs, especially with rock crawling but it's also largely a matter of personal preference for risk. Cranking the wheel and taking the chance of breaking an axle can mean the difference of making a technical line or taking the bypass. I've been there when Sn0wrunner has broken some of those axles in the past few years and IMHO it's because he's taking some sick lines. The harder the line, the more stuff breaks. Skill helps mitigate but with a stock parts there's no way to ever be so good that things don't break.

I love those situations like cranking all the way to driver's, going forward 10 inches, then cranking to passenger to get the tires to bite. It gives an ear to ear grin knowing that that subtle maneuver makes the difference of a cakewalk vs a futile attempt. With a little luck the new Lotus CVs will allow some of those severe joint angles with less breakage.

For example look at this sissy line Snow took on the last trip to Moab no reason an attempt to go up or down something like this would cause a break even with a skilled driver right?

Or this pansy Hell's gate obstacle on the Hell's Revenge trail. Snow did this with open diffs. Nice!

Hell's gate looked easier after we watched this video Ha!
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ouWJa6FC7-E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Duhockey]

100% agree.

None of the guys that wheel a manual with me have broken one. Us auto's are the guys that keep breaking them with the two foot method. But using two feet is so controlled and smooth

I think part of that is that the lines we manuals take... Glen mentioned that we tend to try and keep momentum going where the autos can take more time and stop and start. I kinda agree... Personally, I try and pick a line, know where I want to go at what points and then use the crawl gearing and keep moving so I dont have to stop on a sharp incline.

I also try not to crank the wheel all the way one direction and hammer the gas, I think I tend to smoke a bit more of the clutch when Im cranked all the way just so I dont hit it too hard. I may not have broken a cv but my clutch probably takes the abuse instead of the axle.