Has anyone rebuilt their axles?
 

I jacked up all 4 corners to change the transmission oil (Swepco 201) and noticed the right rear outer CV boot had deposited its grease on the inside of the right rear wheel. I washed the car on Sunday including the inside of the wheels, and it wasn't there then. so I checked the other side, lo and behold, it's just starting to let its grease out too. :ah: I have some economically friendly (cheap -$34 each on clearance, shipping included) Chinese replacement axles to get me back on the road, but would like to do a quality rebuild on the originals and swap them back in.

I didn't exactly rebuild my axles, but the CV boots tore, and I replaced all of them. I did get the inner CV joints off, re greased, and put back. I don't think the outer CV joint is available separately.

Boot kits are available for the outside joint but the outer joint are not replaceable (they can be re-greased). You can buy inner caps, boots, bearing and clamps. In the end they are not hard to rebuild, it's harder removing them than replacing the boots and bearing. There is about $160 to $200 each in cost. You will need a clamp crimp pliers, but can use a side cutter pliers in a pinch (not recommended because they don't pull the band evenly).

I did mine and truthfully reman units are available from Advance Autoparts for super cheap and I will simply replace them next time.

I replaced my inner boots and didn't do the outer ones. Duh! Now I need to do the outer ones. Aftermarket axles are cheap but I have a tip so of course they are not available.

I came here to add this comment. Saying that rebuilt axles are readily available only applies to the manual transmission cars. Those of us with Tips get to disassemble, clean, replace boots, and replace inner joints. And go through multiple rolls of paper towels in doing so. It is a messy job, no way around it.

I also want to add that when I regreased mine, I made the mistake of putting too much in. So it ended oozing out and flinging everywhere in the engine bay.

If you really need rebuilt outers, send the whole assembly to Vertex and they can rebuild both inner and outer CV joints. I have a tip tranny with a failed outer CV and for a reasonable fee, Vertex rebuilt both axles and I did not have to deal with removing old boots, cleaning grease, or any other headache associated with repairing cv joints.

The biggest challenge is removing the axles but that really is not too hard, just time consuming.

Good luck-