How to tell if Toyota OEM CV shafts

[Flybynight]

I had them replaced as both were torn and I kept the old ones, I will re-pack and re-boot them if original OEM pieces but is there an easy way to check? I'll just toss them if they're aftermarket.

 

[AuSeeker]

I had them replaced as both were torn and I kept the old ones, I will re-pack and re-boot them if original OEM pieces but is there an easy way to check? I'll just toss them if they're aftermarket.

There's several posts/topics that show what the OEM shafts looks like, and if you know what to look at it easy to tell if they're OEM or not...but to get a faster positive answer to your question it would best if you posted photos of the shafts in question.

 

[y=mx+b]

I had them replaced as both were torn and I kept the old ones, I will re-pack and re-boot them if original OEM pieces but is there an easy way to check? I'll just toss them if they're aftermarket.

First, I'd look at the inner boot, and see if it has Toyoda (with the d, not t) on the inner boot. OEM inner boots also have 4 ribs, whereas some like napa maxdrive only have 3


From there, look at the shape of the inner joint bearing cup. The OEM body has a tulip shape should have the short grooves on the inner housing vs after market like napa maxdrive below often have longer grooves or none at all.


On Left: Napa maxdrive 3 inner boot ribs and long slots on inner housing for comparison. Right: O'reilly generic CV has a chonker of an inner joint housing and no slops.


And lastly, if you really want to get fancy, you can check the clamps. The OEM toyota axles use 4 different types of clamps at each boot connection, so you can check they are exactly as follows: Larger Inner, Small Inner, Small Outer, Large Outer

 

[Flybynight]

Here are the pics, pretty sure I am looking at OEM shafts and thank you y=mx for the detailed reply.

 

[y=mx+b]

Here are the pics, pretty sure I am looking at OEM shafts and thank you y=mx for the detailed reply.

No problem, yeah those look like OEM axles to me. Good stuff. I have a writeup on rebooting mine with PNs of everything I ordered, check to make sure those 3 bearings on the tripod are good. The OEM inner joint is more expensive than a whole new axle, but there is a febest kit that I've been wanting to try. I'd recommend using some worm drive CV clamps over the OEM clamps. The worm drive CV clamps are pretty much the same cost as the tools needed to crimp the OEM clamps, since they have all different clamps on each boot end. They also make the inner boot stretch mod easier to do.

CV Reboot Tutorial with Boot Stretch (80+ Pictures)