My passenger side Axle has a crack and the boot is leaking. I want to replace it, but I'm having issues finding the right CV Axle.

I found several from different places, but different spline counts and lengths and all say for my year, type and side.
My mini is a '04, automatic, manufacturing date is 10-03. From what I've ascertained, manufacturing date could have different axles for this year. Anyone know?

I know some have the carrier bolt attached and some don't. Some have 23 splines and some more. Some have a length of 20 something inches and some 30.

Direction and information would be greatly appreciated.

 

I just bought a pair at buyautoparts.com and was very pleased with the price and service and quick shipping. They seem to have the axle you need and it's only $94! You might consider replacing both of them if you are in there anyway. At least check that drivers side one carefully.

The only problem is that they shipped it with the wrong carrier bearing housing but it was no problem to swap that out. The axles themselves were the correct ones. They also have a very good return policy.

Val

 

Buy a boot kit it's the cheapest and best solution.

 

Many of the aftermarket axles are junk, so be careful.
OEM and the good aftermarket ones (i.e. driveshaftshop) are a bit pricey, but will last.

 

So I'm in the process of rebooting my axles, 1 down, 1 to go. I've read in multiple places that aftermarket axles are prone to failure, but what specifically fails on them?

 

The one time I bought the cheap ones, the splines were cut so badly I couldn't fit them in. Gave up, returned those, watched some YouTube videos and learned to reboot! No going back now...

 

BTW, if you are a real nut, redline makes an outstanding red moly CV joint grease. Very high "drop point".

 

Regarding aftermarket axle, the cup will wear, crack or explode. Splinters cut wrong or spring clip cut not deep enough, wide enough and axle falls out. The spring clip slot can be fixed with a cutting wheel in a dremell. But others not that well. The cheep axles have cheep boots. They split at about 40k miles, if you don't notice and reboot them they will wear out and you get violent vibration while accelerating.

 

Aftermarket axles are typically cheaply made and fail sooner rather than later. We have reboot kits here if you caught the leak in time and the axles aren't clicking yet or we have axles shafts here. The OEM supplier axles are sufficient enough replacements over aftermarket axles, and they're economically priced if you don't want to go with genuine.

 

I agree, did mine last week. You don't have to touch the carrier bearing. You can simply separate the axle while the other half stays on the car, pop off the snap ring and tap the joint off. Slide new boot on followed by joint and snap ring and you're done. Takes no time and only cost $25 at local auto parts store. This is probably the easiest job to do on a mini.