GKN Rear CV Axle - Thoughts?

[sixerguy]

I just picked up a set of new GKN rear CV axles and one of them was DOA - one side was completely seized, out of the box. I've got a GKN front axle on my X5 and its been fine for the last 3k miles or so. I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with GKN on the e28 or e24. I haven't installed these yet so its not too late to go with a genuine BMW part.

[RSheiman]

I surmise that it was sitting on a shelf for 20 years and probably just needs to be worked a bit. Why did you not just rebuild the ones you have? Dirty job but not too hard. I believe GNK is an OEM product and I have never had issues with their axles......don't get me started on A-1 Cardone which is crap.

[sixerguy]

The parts had a production date of July 2024, so just a few months old. The GKN box, not the outer shipping box, had taken some damage on the side of the axle that is seized. By seized I mean locked up TIGHT. Maybe I could break it loose in a vice, but I cant get it to wiggle or slide by hand at all. It should be almost floppy.

As for why I'm not rebuilding them, this is actually being installed on my recent e28 acquisition, and one side's original CV has some play in it and the other side feels good but has a fully detached boot so its anybody's guess if there's already some internal degredation. Once I have them off the car I may rebuild the one side and keep as a spare. The side with play in it I'm assuming is toast.

I'll probably rebuild the original CV's on my e24 with new boots since those I know the history on and the boots haven't started cracking yet, but for the e28 I'm hoping totally fresh parts will save labor long-term.

[sixerguy]

I just received the replacement order for the defective GKN axle from FCP and it too is defective. Not happy!

[DesktopDave]

I kinda went through the same thing, FCP Euro sent me a set of mismatched GKN axles for my 128i. The boxes were in really bad shape, and lost some parts along the way. But they worked well enough to get the car on the road. I chalked it up to their low prices, to me a discount service shouldn't be held to the same standards as a BMW parts department. Fun fact, the E82 has different length rear axles. I had no idea!

Speaking of discount retailers, I've also had many similar experiences with ECS & RockAuto.
I just received some nice cheap front rotors for my E82. I pulled them from a sealed RockAuto box, still in the manufacturer's packaging, and found that were clearly used.
I've also gotten absolutely ancient rubber parts on clearance. Once I bought some genuine Ate brake hoses on clearance. Turns out they were new/old stock, and older than the original '80s brakes hoses on the car.
All these parts weren't really worth returning. I'll still go back, they've been very useful suppliers for me.

FWIW I suspect RockAuto is not primarily in the auto parts business...sure, they obviously clear out old warehouses, but it seems like they're a central clearinghouse with good branding. They're quite good with packing tape and magnets. As long I carefully combine shipping, it's usually worth the cost.

[sixerguy]

First I would say that FCPeuro's service and support has been excellent - truly excellent. Also, they are by no means a discounter - their parts are almost always 20-30% more expensive than purchasing from a dealer, but their customer support, website quality, and lifetime return policy make them really compelling and now that they are shipping from Arizona for west coast shoppers, most shipments do arrive within the promised 3 day (+1 day lead) time frame.

I just received my 3rd replacement GKN axle and it too was completely seized on one side. Its clearly a defective batch and I'd be super curious to cut the boot open and have a look at why exactly these are failing.

I was tempted to try out another aftermarket cv axle assembly but instead went ahead and bought a set of GKN boot repair kits and will rebuild the other axle on the e28 as soon as they arrive. Hopefully the rebuilt part is still viable.

I posted up a quick explainer video on youtube to demonstrate the defective GKN parts: https://youtu.be/f5Xak6utFa8?si=7XEFBd3GsFE_3pOB

[RSheiman]

I watched your video. The "seized side" is suppose to be that way and connects to the diff! They look perfect to me! Only one side has a true CV joint.

[sixerguy]

Sorry Rsheiman, no, that is not correct. These CV axles can be installed in either direction on either side of the vehicle. If any more confirmation was required that they are supposed to articulate equally on both ends, the original ones that were removed from the vehicle behave that way, as did the ones off my e24 when I had them off to rebuild the rear end.

[RSheiman]

O Geeze, senior moment. I just changed the front axles in our X3 and they are fixed at one end.

[sixerguy]

Yeah, no worries. I just did the right side front axle on my e53 X5 last year and happen to have the take-off part to look at. Both CV joints rotate freely - e.g. the portion where there are rubber boots rotate smoothly in all directions. On this part there is a short shaft that connects between the two boots and a long shaft that mates with the front differential. I can't remember examining the right side front axle - I think I may have had difficultly pulling it from the car and decided to just leave it in place.

What year is your X3? I'm curious to research that part to see if maybe the part you installed was a dud, like the ones I received. I can't imagine the engineering is so different as to allow only one side of the axle to flex on any vehicle with independent suspension.

Anyway, I got one side of the e28's axle rebuilt the other night with new GKN boots - what a gross, messy job! Not too diffficult, but soooo much grease everywhere.