Napa CV Driveshafts

[octanejunkie]

Looking ahead at this and had noted that others here have referred to Napa lifetime warrantied CV front driveshafts.

A quick search on Napa online and it seem s only the "new" $75 CV shafts have a lifetime warranty, while the $57 remans have a 3 year/36K mile warranty - interestingly both warranties mention Cardone.

Are these worth buying?

 

[tystaco]

I threw a set of the lifetimes on my 99, as both sides had leaking boots... So far so good.

They are the same price as the dual boot kit, and a lot less work. I kept both of my OEM ones on the off chance I ever decide to refurb them, but given how easy the swap is to toss in a new one...not sure I will.

 

[Noshirtganshirt]

I threw a set of the lifetimes on my 99, as both sides had leaking boots... So far so good.

They are the same price as the dual boot kit, and a lot less work. I kept both of my OEM ones on the off chance I ever decide to refurb them, but given how easy the swap is to toss in a new one...not sure I will.

I did the exact same thing. Still have my torn OEM ones as I planned on doing the boot stretch mod and refurbishing them. Don’t think I’ll ever care enough to do it as replacing them with Napa lifetimes are just easier.

Only reason I should need to refurbish my old OEM ones is for trail spares, which I ought to do haha.

Have had my NAPA lifetimes on for 6 months, a couple wheeling trips. No complaints so far.

 

[csp]

Lifetime warranties on auto parts is a marketing ploy to make people think the part is a higher quality. There's very little risk that anyone will own a car long enough to really go beyond the warranty period of the non-lifetime part.

 

[4yogger]

i did the exact same thing. Still have my torn oem ones as i planned on doing the boot stretch mod and refurbishing them. Don’t think i’ll ever care enough to do it as replacing them with napa lifetimes are just easier.

Only reason i should need to refurbish my old oem ones is for trail spares, which i ought to do haha.

Have had my napa lifetimes on for 6 months, a couple wheeling trips. No complaints so far.

x10000

 

[LittleCaesar]

I have to ask WHY you of all members would be asking this question......

 

[Snowden]

Are these worth buying?

I'm running the lifetime version after my factory boots cracked immediately upon lifting as everyone experiences. I wheel some decently challenging stuff and haven't had an issue so far although I'm always in pucker about them when crawling rocks. Like others stated I was originally planning to reboot my factory CVs but still have not done that.

Now I am leaning toward the Lotus or RC brand CVs anyway. I've pretty much been convinced that they would be bullet proof especially if I don't put lockers up front. And rear locker will get you over 98% of things realistically. YMMV.

 

[Tyler James Inc]

I guess I'm the odd man out, because the boots on my lifetime NAPA CV's split within the first 3 months of installing them. No way would I get another set. I don't give a rats ass if the replacement is "free", my labor isn't! Ran them split wide open another year without any problems though [emoji23]
Personally, I would much rather have a set of used, re-greased, and re-booted OEM axles than NAPA "lifetime" axles.

 

[thecole1098]

They call it a lifetime part because you'll be changing the damn thing out for the rest of your life!

 

[theesotericone]

Now I am leaning toward the Lotus or RC brand CVs anyway. I've pretty much been convinced that they would be bullet proof especially if I don't put lockers up front. And rear locker will get you over 98% of things realistically. YMMV.

Lotus is bullet proof. Bullet proof enough that instead of snapping the CV you'll snap things in the diff. You can still drive out with a broken CV and they are easy enough to change in the field. I'd rather snap a CV which is why I haven't upgraded from OEM.

 

[1985taylor1925]

I have the same opinion as Tyler James. I went through two Napa sets in less than 2 years. I did nothing but on road driving and some forestry trails. Nothing even close to hard core off roading. And my front end was only lifted 2” at the most. Changing cvs is a pain and gets old really fast. And if they know your truck is lifted they may not allow you to use the warranty. They let me use it once and said that’s it since they had seen my truck before and knew it was lifted.

 

[calimobber]

I have to add my words. I have the napa new and Ive ran them for a few years with no issues. I am lifted and have don't a ton of off-road trails requiring very tech skills. Don't be scared of napa CV's.

I currently live and work at Death Valley NP, we have some gnarly roads! Ive done them all

 

[nc-grayson]

no complaints from my napa lifetime's. I still have the OEMs to reboot/pack for when a rainy day has me staring at the walls.

But like others have stated, mine have held up for almost a year now and I'll likely just swap it out if anything goes awry in the future.

also curious as is [MENTION=69868]LittleCaesar[/MENTION].....you're doing the swap aren't you!!???!

 

[Dezerts10]

I have the stock ones I just pulled off my 1996 so I could install Napa lifetime tundra axles for my camburg long travel install.

If youre interested we could meet up some where and they are yours for maybe alittle more than gas money to get to the meeting place.

the inner boot will need to me put back on the cv because I pulled them apart at that point before reading how to pull the entire cv out but that shouldn't be to much of an issue.

One of the CV's is less than a year old the other I have no clue how old it is.

 

[rkymtnman]

as soon as we lifted the '98 and put some miles on the original driveshafts, the boots tore and started to spit grease (very predictable). We took the '98 driveshafts and used them as cores at CVJ and get a replacement set from them. Great service and a really nice product thus far...extended boots and all.

We'll reboot the set from the '99 that are in good shape aside from the torn boots and keep them as spares.

Why napa over someone like CVJ? Just curious....as we considered both.

 

[Dezerts10]

i did the total chaos diff drop spacers to save my cv boots. It was suggested by a few people so I spent $35 and 20 mins to install it.

 

[octanejunkie]

Thanks for all the input.

For those asking [MENTION=69868]LittleCaesar[/MENTION] [MENTION=112743]nc-grayson[/MENTION] yes, I am planning on upgrading my 2WD to 4WD. [MENTION=149702]Dezerts10[/MENTION] that is a sweet offer, I might take you up on it!

Regarding the swap: I don't have the room for a complete donor vehicle like [MENTION=139000]phattyduck[/MENTION] did, so I will probably piece the parts together from various sources. Purchasing CVs outright is a consideration, hence this thread. If I'm gonna do the, it's either gonna be spring or summer, depending on what opportunity to source parts I find along the way.

Why napa over someone like CVJ? Just curious....as we considered both.

If my sourcing of parts doesn't include CVs or the ones I get in the deal are bad and need rebuilding, why not just get new ones?

My main goal for a swap is overall capability, not a dedicated wheeler. I do understand that a lift (I already have a slight lift) will stress stock CVs and boots. I would definitely drop my front diff if it helps the situation. Like my original post said, I'm just looking ahead, and if I will be tearing boots or breaking shafts, Napa is close by.

Thanks for the input, keep it coming!

 

[octanejunkie]

I'm running the lifetime version after my factory boots cracked immediately upon lifting as everyone experiences. I wheel some decently challenging stuff and haven't had an issue so far although I'm always in pucker about them when crawling rocks. Like others stated I was originally planning to reboot my factory CVs but still have not done that.

Now I am leaning toward the Lotus or RC brand CVs anyway. I've pretty much been convinced that they would be bullet proof especially if I don't put lockers up front. And rear locker will get you over 98% of things realistically. YMMV.

This is good input, and I can see where a spare set of trail parts will come in handy when I meet up to crawl with [MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION] in the spring or summer Lol

I have a rear locker (Aussie Locker) so I guess I'm most of the way there

 

[SaulG]

And if they know your truck is lifted they may not allow you to use the warranty. They let me use it once and said that’s it since they had seen my truck before and knew it was lifted.

Kinda B.S. the counter clown likes to spew,how do they know it's your truck??
Always throw the old one at 'em in the box for return no questions asked..

Replaced enough of the cool CVJ to not bother with them again (oddly 4th gens)
Found new GKN at 35 ea. so the fleet is done.

 

[Snowden]

Thanks for all the input. For those asking [MENTION=69868]LittleCaesar[/MENTION] [MENTION=112743]nc-grayson[/MENTION] yes, I am planning on upgrading my 2WD to 4WD.

Mike respect to you Sir! That sounds like love if you ask me lol... Is this the automotive version of getting your gal a boob job?!

But seriously, I will be looking forward to following your thread when you do that I hope you create one of the project. But if you are going that far you may as well look at the heavier duty off-road engineered brands of CVs. IMHO. Costly up front but muuuuuuuch cheaper than SAS if you look at it that way.