I found that I have torn CV boots, both front and rear. Changing the front axle looks pretty straight forward, I found some info here and there. Its also good to know that I shouldn’t have to touch the control arms. Now for the back I haven’t been able to find any info on that. What all is involved it that, any Diy’s floating around? Would 2hrs per axle be a realistic expectation? Also where are most getting their replacement axles from? I know a lot of questions.
I bought mine from FCP Euro. They have the best price on the front axles and they also give you a lifetime warranty with the purchase.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/audi-cv-axle-assembly-rear-a4-quattro-s4-vag-8e0501203sx
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/audi-cv-axle-assembly-front-right-a4-s4-rs4-vag-8e0407452jx
I think 2 hours per is definitely way more than enough. The rears are fairly easy. You might be able to get them out by just removing the big axle boot while on the ground and then the heat shield. I did this last when I removed my diff case so I might of dropped that a little bit to get enough room which is also easy. The fronts can come out pretty easily too after you crack the axle bolt while on the ground, then pop the heat shield and I think just the pinch bolts so it can swing outward from the top to give you enough room to pull he axle out. An impact with some long extensions helps a ton with getting the axle to trans bolts out.
You can replace the fronts really fast and easily if you are lucky enough to have the bolts come out easily and know the bolt sizes by heart. After breaking so many front axles it takes me less than a half hour to change out a front axle if the bolts come out easily.
The rear axles kind of suck in my opinion. The easiest way to remove them is to drop the differential and then pull them out that way. Most people go about it differently though like this.
- Crack the big axle bolt loose with the wheel on the ground and parking brake set
- Jack the car up and take the wheel off
- Take off the parking brake
- Mark the top camber bolt (that attaches the upper control arm to the spindle) with a sharpie or whiteout to the spindle so that you can get the alignment correct again.
- Loosen the rear brake calipers and let them hang
- Remove the lower rear shock bolt/nut/washer and knock the shock free from the spindle
- Support the rear suspension with a block of wood on a floor jack
- Remove the two 18 mm bolts that hold one side of the rear subframe to the body
- Slowly lower the rear subframe down on one side only. If you have to do both sides then only do one side at a time.
- Remove the heat shield for the inner CV joint from the diff case
- Fully loosen all 6 triple square bolts for the inner CV joint to the diff case.
- Remove the top camber bolt and knock the upper control arm free
- Remove the coil spring
- Remove the axle
- Install is the reverse of the previous steps.
1k for oe axles. I won’t be going that route.
OE are not cheap…raxles have a pretty good rep. If your joints are still good, just reboot them over buying cheap replacement axles.
Agreed they are not cheap. The boots have been open for idk how long, I was just going to replace them.
Yea that does look kinda shitty. I was thinking about doing it myself until I saw all of that.
Also trust me I’m not cheap, I just had planned other things with the money I had so this was unexpected. Well I don’t think I would be doing it myself so that’s $300 in labor rite there. I’ve narrowed it down to 2 choices. 2 new aftermarket axles $170 for both and no core. I get to keep mine and rebuild them at a later time if I chose to. If I get 3-6 yrs out of the aftermarket ones I’m fine with that. $500 on 2 raxles. Opinions?
I don’t “abuse” my car like lots of people here (i.e. I don’t track it or have many go-fast parts) but I do DD it. I got the Raxles for my fronts about 80k miles ago and they’ve been solid ever since, with no issues. Boots still intact and everything. That said I have no experience with other aftermarket ones do I can’t personally draw a comparison.
That said, the OEM ones from FCP are only $40 more and you do get the full warranty through them, so that’s something to consider.
Honestly I thought about it for another hr after my last post. I just decided to go with raxles. I DD my car, don’t track it. I might get on it every now and then. I do plan on getting a tune this summer. That was one of the things I had planned on doing. I just bought new wheels before my axle issue, if I had known I wouldn’t have bought them. I will try to diy it. and follow some of the advise that I was given on here for the rear. One question if necessary is it ok to give any of the axle fasteners heat?
Does anyone know if there is a diy around anywhere for the rear? I have to be able to see it to know if I can replace them? I’ve already seen how to do the front so that’s not really an issue.
How long can you wait? I have to replace a rear CV boot on Monday. Also I have been really bad about uploading DIYs since Photobucket has so many adds.
2-4 wks easy. I’m going to front on thurs and I know I wont being doing to back for at least 2wks after that.
Still haven’t done the front…lol Will a spring compressor be needed for the rear, or anything other than just basic hand tools?
Hey jimmy how did your replacement go?
Kind of frustrating but we got it done. Let me load up the pictures tonight and see how putting something together for you tomorrow.
Important note for anyone that needs to change rear outer CV boots: PLEASE DON’T STRIKE THE FRONT OF THE OUTER CV JOINT WITH A HAMMER! Instead thread the big axle bolt in like two to three turns and hit that. The car that I was working on had the nose of the outer CV joint kind of mushroomed out from being hit and it was majorly annoying.
[/quote]
Kind of frustrating but we got it done. Let me load up the pictures tonight and see how putting something together for you tomorrow.
Important note for anyone that needs to change rear outer CV boots: PLEASE DON’T STRIKE THE FRONT OF THE OUTER CV JOINT WITH A HAMMER! Instead thread the big axle bolt in like two to three turns and hit that. The car that I was working on had the nose of the outer CV joint kind of mushroomed out from being hit and it was majorly annoying.
[/quote]
Thanks jimmy. For you to say frustrating, that’s not a good thing seeing how your one of the gurus for us…lol
It was just frustrating since the end was mushroomed. I had to use a Jimmy specialty made bolt to pull the outer CV joint into the wheel hub. The bolt is the longest M16x2.00 bolt that Home Depot sells and I ran a M16x1.5 die over it to cut new threads. After the end of the CV joint is pulled into the hub a tiny bit then I could switch back to the normal 17 mm Allen bolt to fully pull the outer CV joint all the way in and tighten it up. If the end wasnt damaged then this would have been a cake walk.
Gocha. Idk if the front is easier or not but my breaker bar snapped 5mins in on the big bolt today. It was brand new. I can’t make this up. I think that was my sign. I’m just going to pay to get them changed. 135 a side isn’t horrible
Dude around me $135 is one hour of labor at certain dealers. Some dealers charge between $160-175 per hour. I would just pay the money and not have to fuss with it for that much!