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Just wondering what you guys term as normal life expectancy of a front CV joint on a lifted vehicle. I have been wondering this for a while, especially now as I'm again driving around in 1WD (right rear axle, welded diff) while I wait until the weekend to get a chance to put the fronts back in. I haven't had a front last more than about 4500km's since lifting my car (16000km ago!).
Car is an MY wagon, but I'm keen to hear about the L stuff too.

Hi

i've only had to replace the right front once and the left front once in the four years that ive had my MY wagon.

its been lifted for about 2-3 years of that, cant quite remember

Thats a BYB 3 inch lift + longer travel suspension

Cheers Tim

Yer Tim you should be getting more then 5k on em. Something is not right in there if thats the case.

how hard are you pushing your shafts?

If you have a 2" body lift with 4" strut lift.. your not going to get long out of them, especially in a FWD car. On the other hand, If you have a standard kit with standard driveshaft angles theres no reason they shouldnt last..

AWD really helps with driveshaft life, as the load is spread to all four shafts all the time. I am squeezing an extra inch of angle out of my front shafts, and about 2 1/2" out of my rear shafts and i havnt had any issues so far. My car is a liberty though

The MY shafts are already at a crazy angle without a lift, where the L series ones seem to be much better. I was actually quite surprised at the difference when I first got my RX.

Are the kings springs you guys use std hieght ?..... maybe using a softer factory style spring would be better(touring wagon spring are comfy!).... I found the kings to be a bit hard and they don`t let the suspension relax at any time..... thats probally whats killing your joints, where you getting your replacements from, are they new or re-con...big diffrence !



OS

O/S i have been on Kings and KYB for years and no probs... actually i really enjoy the firmer ride (personal pref) however yes the starting condition of the shafts (new vs 2nd hand) will make a huge diff in the long run.

Yeah somethings not right there....

The old MY's suspension geometry shouldn't be too far off stock standard (only the springs making a slight difference I guess). And they aren't getting a butt-load of power chucked at them either (EA82 - worst motor ever).

Mabey you should make a one-time investment at a CV joint place. Pay for some to be installed, then you can just constantly claim warranty and never have to pay again!

AndrewT wrote:Mabey you should make a one-time investment at a CV joint place. Pay for some to be installed, then you can just constantly claim warranty and never have to pay again!

I wouldn't do that because I accept that my car has more power than standard, is lifted and as such the angles are most likely out, runs bigger tyres and is offroaded often. All these factors would adversely affect the life of my CV joints.

I think I have the answers I was after. Thanks guys.

honestly, anything over 5000kms on a lifted, tuned and modified offroader is good enough for me.