I have the telltale knock-knocking at my RF outer joint. This will be my 1st replacement of either axle, and its been awhile since I have had a car without equal-length halfshafts. So my question is if one side tends to go bad more often than the other? I mean right vs. left, since the inners very rarely have probs. I ask, since I remember Chrysler doing tricks to their Daytona TurboZ cars to make equal-length half-shafts back in the late 80s due to unequal torque displacement. So if unequal-lenght half-shafts distribute torque unevenly, then theoretically there could be more abuse on one side than the other, so replacing the more abused axle more often makes sense.

 

Accord CV axles are very good and usually only fail due to failed boots. I drove a 90EX w/ 270K miles and original CV joints and boots. I now have a 94EX w/ 220K and original CV joints. I would only replace what is broken.

Finding a good quality CV axle can be a challenge. I have read of many failures in CV axles from AZ, ORiellys, Pep-boys, et al. I try to keep an eye on my CV joint boots and replace the boots when the crack to save the CV joints.

BTW, Autozone has a nice tool (see below link) which will press the CV axle shaft end from the wheel hub. Sometimes the axles are tough to release due to corrosion.
http://www.autozone.com/in_our_store...e_axle_fwd.htm

good luck

 

i agree with texashonda, only replace the bad one. I advise not to get one from AZ either, i got both from there because they failed at nearly the same time (boot split) and ive taken them back 2 times so far (driver side is needing one again now too) and ive only owned the vehicle for 60k. Sure it comes with a life time warranty but i dont think it's worth the time.

 

Your concern about distributed torque wearing out one axle more than the other, I believe that the transmission/diff only uses one drive axle for torque, its not posi-traction.

 

so it only sends power to one drive wheel? that doenst make any sense. posi-traction is just an LSD...sends power to both sides, but limits the power to a side that may be slipping.

i would replace only whats broken.

 

It doesn't work like that.

The differential allows the wheels to go different speeds (as you drive around a curve) while still applying the same torque to each wheel. That's true for ALL cars. FWD, RWD, whatever. Always.

Unequal-length driveshafts simply create a SMALL SUBTLE difference when the suspension is deflected. Say accelerating while steering sharply. Or a momentary response as one wheel goes over a bump or pothole.

 

How many tires spin when you do a burn out in the dirt or on the blacktop?

 

That's not because only one axleis used for driving the car. It's because the traction at both tires is never absolutely perfectly equal.

Once one wheelbegins spinning, an open diff doesn't limit the free spinning of that one side.

 

The length of the shaftwill not effect the amount of torque to the wheel, unless you provide enough torque to snap it or the shaft is so long that weight has an effect. Neither of which is going to happen.

Just replace the bad one.