When old is better than new

I needed to find something to keep me busy this weekend. Two weeks ago on the ride, the Buell puked all the oil out of the other front fork and dumped that onto the front brakes, so now it doesn't handle or stop very well and I didn't really want to go for a ride.

I took the Ford to go vote and shop and decided that I'd rotate the tires when I got home to put to best ones on the front and the somewhat oddly worn ones on the back for a while.

While doing that, I adjusted the rear brakes a little more to firm up the pedal. I also did a general inspection of all the work I did in replacing the entire steering system last month. All of that looks great, but I re-noticed that I had a bad CV boot on the left front axle and all of the CV joint lubricant had dropped out on to the lower A-arm. The axle was not making any noises but it was obviously contaminated and low on lube for some time, so I figured let's see what a replacement boot costs.

A replacement boot for this truck is about $25 and the entire axle must be disassembled to replace it. If anyone has ever taken a CV joint apart, you know how much fun that is.

Then I remembered that the entire upper A-arms were only about $10 more than the single ball joint when I replaced them so I looked up the entire axle price. $53 with a $10 core charge.

Off to Autozone I went. The counter nerd couldn't find the remanufactured axle their computer said was in stock, but said he could have one there by 1430. I figured, well, if we have to order it anyway, get me the new axle as it was only $15 more than the repop and I wouldn't have to bother with the core.

In the interim, I disassembled the left front end and removed the axle. It come out with surprising ease given that it is the original piece. The splines were clean and other than having to find a 12-point 12mm socket and buy a 35mm socket there were no issues found.

I went back to Autozone to pick up the axle and it had just arrived. It looked good. I got it home and began the installation.

The first thing I noticed was that the splines were a tick loose. Not bad, but not as snug as the one I had just removed. Then the bolt circle where it attaches to the center section was just tweaked enough that I ended up cross threading one of the bolts. Then after I got it in place it wouldn't turn at full suspension droop. It would work if I put some weight on the suspension but the section that attaches to the center section did not have enough articulation at full droop and it would lock up.

So after cursing that thoroughly, I pulled it out, and headed back to the parts store. I got a different counterman this time and as he was working the return he looked around in the back and found the supposedly missing repopped axle. I swapped them at the store and headed back home to try it again.

The remanufactured axle splines were smooth, but very stiff going in. The hole pattern at the center section was perfect and the unit works perfectly no matter where the suspension is in its allowed travel.

So I torqued and lock-tighted five of the six little bolts that attach the axle to the center section, remounted the sway bar attachment, reinstalled the tire, let the truck down and torqued the axle nut to 225 lbft. Locked that with the castle cap and cotter pin and we're good to go.

All's left today is to determine what thread these little bolts are and buy a tap so I can fix the threads I bodged up while attempting to install the new axle.

So after all that here's the Top-Tip. "Remanufactured" means - These pieces have already proven themselves in the application you're needing to repair and they have been brought up to like or better than new condition. They also have the same warranty as the "new" parts. "New" means - These parts have never been tested, the castings are made in China by slave labor that really doesn't give a fig about following the prints and they're probably going to fit poorly and malfunction immediately upon installation.

So, yes, sometimes old is better than new.