Metronet

I am having a "vibration under load" issue, mainly when going uphills. Car is a 2001 Allroad. It's very similar to what's been discussed in this thread:

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/aud...-load-2813487/


For those of you who have more experience replacing them on an Allroad, what brands do you recommend. e.g.: Raxles, JHM, ECSTunings etc...?

Also, how difficult is this job? Does it require removal of the control arm? Any one had any luck just by turning the steering wheel? I've read from other forums that it can be done with C5 2.7T by turning the steering wheel. Does this also apply to the Allroad?

Any help is much appreciated and Thanks in advanced!

SloopJohnB@mac.com

I don't recommend replacing the entire axle, that's a shop preference but you never know what you're going to get in the mail/UPS.
Remove the axle assembly and inspect it for cupped driver(s) on the inner tripod joint. That is generally the issue for vibration under acceleration. Outer Rzeppa joint usually makes noise with wheels cramped when turning.
Usually all it requires is removal of the pinch bolt and dropping/moving out a little the bearing carrier. It DOES require a BF wrench to both loosen the axle bolt and tighten it back up again…I use a 4' piece of pipe on a ¾" drive breaker bar with a ¾"-½" adapter to work the 17?mm hex wrench. Can use a ½" torque wrench to get initial torque and then the big pipe/breaker bar assembly with an angle tighten gauge.

Kneale Brownson

I've replaced Allroad front axles without removing anything except the axle bolts. Raxles will supply the bit you need for the inner bolts.

Metronet

Thanks guys, much appreciated for the advice from the Tech Gurus

Raxles are certainly nice and it looks like for an Allroad it will cost $219.95 for one side plus shipping.

Should I replace both sides or passenger side rarely go bad?

G0to60

I too have gone with Raxles and on any of my cars I always replace the entire axle when the CV starts to go. It's just too much of a mess and hassle for me to deal with replacing the CV.

I only replace my PS axle when it went south and I haven't had any issues. I did inspect the DS axle to make sure it was fine before I finished with everything.

You also don't need to remove any of the control arms. Only the inner and outer axle bolts and you should replace these with new ones. I don't think the inners are as crucial but the big outer bolt, I believe, is a stretch bolt. Someone chime in if I'm off base.

adobian

I had a local shop did mine and they screwed up really bad. They were supposed to change the axles and front brake pads. A young guy banged on the bolt really hard several times at the top on the spindle, to remove it. He broke the top of the bolt. So they removed the spindle and brought to a machine shop to remove the remainder of the bolt. They ended up buying another used spindle to finish the job. It runs well, but the air supension is now stuck in manual mode. I now have 3 lights on, ABS light, Supension Light, and a circular arrow with a triangle inside which I dont know what its for. Does anyone know what is going on here ???

G0to60

To adobian, it looks like that shop broke the pinch bolt. It's a common problem for that bolt to break but they didn't even need to remove it in the first place. As far as your problems, look at the lower control arms to see if the suspension level sensor is clipped into the right place. They may have unhooked and not put it back. This would cause your suspension light light to be on. The other two lights (ABS and ESP (circular arrow with triangle)) may or may not be related. Check the ABS connector where they did the work. They may not have plugged the ABS sensor back in. Good luck and don't go back to that shop.

adobian

Thanks for for this. I brought the.car back today and they said bring it back in the afternoon.they will borrow a scanner and reset/reprogram the computer to turn off the lights for me. Are they pulling my legs?

adobian

Damaged ABS tone ring or incorrect axle or they forgot to transfer the tone ring to the new axle

Metronet

I've decided to go with Raxles since I can't seem to find the 34x104 inner CV joints anywhere. ETKA shows 4E0498103 (same part# as the one from a A4 1.8T, really???) but it's too expensive from the dealership!!!

Thanks for the advice guys.