Front Axles replaced; Common?

[Highlow]

Is having the front axels replaced common for a 60k 2001 S?

[JAAY]

We don't have any! Rear wheel drive cars have no front drive axles.

[Highlow]

Rear axles, my mistake

so what about those?

[JAAY]

boots rip. so i guess so. there have been others that fix this them selves. do a search

[eightsandaces]

Just my 2 cents but CV and ball joint wear can be accelerated by how many pot holes and RR tracks you have to deal with. Like everyone else, I try to go easy over tracks but when the area limit is 40 and you have rustbuckets behind you, people get unpleasant about someone else holding up traffic to treat their car a bit better.

[gschotland]

Read other threads about CV boots & axles and you'll see the S models are more prone to boot failures, which recall reading is due to a somewhat more extreme axle angles than non-S models. Boot condition is something you really need to keep your eye on or it can result in very expensive axle replacement if the boots fail and the joints get contaminated with road dirt. My brother, who was the previous owner of my car, learned this very expensive lesson (both axles replaced @ ~$3k/pr, L&M, as I recall).

My car's an everyday driver, so I've gotten into the habit of examining the boots every time I change the oil (@ 5k intervals). Replacement boots are cheap at around $10 each, and I understand replacement is a relatively straightforward DIY. Even if you can't or don't want to replace the boots yourself, having a mechanic do it is far, far less expensive the new axles. If boot condition is even a question, replace them asap.