Originally Posted by
storey618
also my vin is WAULC68E33A186667 i should be getting "from #8E2120000" axles right?
I'm not sure. I still don't know how VIN-splits work. Maybe a dealer can tell you.
If they run your VIN, they should only get two PN's anyway. One will be probably an old superceded NLA one, and the other current will be the same exact thing with an X digit on the end, meaning remanufactured, because Audi no longer makes these 2000's-era kits, at least in whole axle form. I assume they still make the joints, since they can still be bought at the likes of ECS.
So you would re-use your shaft since after all, it's the joint that goes bad, not the shaft. Unless you swap in a supercharged 4.2L and break it at the drag strip.
Preventative maintenance. Atmosphere, age, etc. take a toll on the boot. Once that rips, your grease flings out, which gets thinned by the hot exhaust down-pipe passing nearby.
It's high speed rotation flinging it out.
On top of that, dirt, water, etc. can enter.
The grease also protects it from rust.
This is why if you rebuild a joint and leave it sitting clean, it will flash rust.
My spare outer joints did this, so I coated them in some oil before bagging them up.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe a joint shouldn't have play. But if you have a coilpack unplugged causing misfire bucking, I'm not saying throw parts at the car that won't fix the issue.
I believe Marty @ Raxles takes your used OE shaft model, hence core send-in, and rebuild it by putting on new OE joints, and his choice of quality grease.
You also need to know which joints. I think the outsides are all the same.
And quattro rear axles are the same.
But it gets tricky with the front inner, bolted to gearbox.
For example, B6 3L 5AT is tripod like this:
But maybe B6 1.8T 6MT is like this, tripod but circle housing:
Whereas 6MT 3.0L (such as '02-'03 US 01E and '04-'05 US 02X GJV) is a different design. Not tripod, but rather rzeppa, aka 6 ball cage.
I hear tripod has needle bearings that needs more of a 3% MoS2 grease, because any more will clog them.
Whereas Rzeppa can use 5%, because it has no needle bearings.
I think there might be OE grease packet PN variations too, based on this.
And then comes the step of rebuilding a good part if you choose to do so. It's messy and time-consuming.
I dunno if you kept your stock old axles and if they're rebuildable, or the joint is trashed due to being driven so long that it developed play, hence replacement.
The idea with that is to rebuild it with a fresh boot and grease BEFORE the old boot rips open after ~100k-mi, if you're saving parts cost vs. Raxles $200/axle.
Maybe you can find an old used one, but you can already see the potential flaw with that. This is probably one reason why people go with Raxles.
As opposed to spending all weekend looking for a used part, and then by the time you find it, the guy is asking too high of a price, and hands it over to you with a stripped outer thread...
I dunno if this answers your question but hopefully it's helpful info.
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