I had my 07 Fit Sport in to the dealer for some service work, and was alerted that I have an axle shaft that is rusting under the rubber damper. I am told that it has not reached crisis yet, so I have some time.

I have found a couple of threads where owners have suffered broken axle shafts. But my question is different: Is it possible to do anything to slow/stop the rusting process. More specifically, does the damper really need to stay on the axle?

Also, when it comes time to replace that axle shaft, is this a DIY job for someone with moderate DIY skills? Or if not, how much do most shops charge for the job?

 

The shaft on the passenger side has splined end which goes inside of the center shaft( supported by a pillow bearing. This connection often fails due to the rust . The surface rust on the shaft itself is not typically casing failure; however it looks ugly (like a rusting exhaust components or rims. Home depot sells rust reformer (phosphoric acid ) that converts rust into the porous black coating (sort of primer) which can be painted later. This is what I've done to my wheel rims (using budget black gloss paint)

 

Yes, keep the damper (rubber doughnut) on the axle, it is there for a purpose.

Paint/rustproof the visible rust on the axle shaft if it bothers you. No catastrophic failure will result, in my experience...

 

Naptown, huh?
I'm in the rust belt, as you are. Those axles can and do break in half due to rust under the rubber damper, as described.

IMO it's best to replace the pair of axles BEFORE you get stranded and need a tow truck.


The damper does not NEED to be in place, the aftermarket units I have seen do not have them.
Surface rust is not the issue, it's the corrosion that has occurred under that rubber damper that has eaten into the shaft and compromised its integrity. The shaft can eventually fracture at that point of corrosion. (it will twist apart one day when you try to accelerate)

A customer had his daughters 07 Fit towed in twice in the last 2 years, once for each axle breaking. That car was at over 250k when I replaced the second broken axle. I did not replace the first one, but I sure would have recommended both at that time.



Aftermarket axles are much cheaper than factory. Dangerzone looks like about 190 for the pair of axles.
Honda will want over 1300 for the pair of new factory axles. (they are not on Hondas remanufactured parts list)
Not including labor.


My GFs 07 Fit has about 210k on it, and I'm going to stuff in a set of aftermarket axles in a couple weeks.....before they break. She's moved a couple hours away for work and I can't be there if the car breaks so I'm trying to take care of stuff before it happens.

 

Huge help, ezone, so thanks for that. I talked to the shop foreman at my dealer and he says that they are seeing this problem most commonly in Accords from the early 00s right now. My Fit is about as old as they come here in the US, but is average (or a bit under in miles). It seems that those with breaking shafts are more in the 150-200K mile range, so I have a little time.

When the Honda dealer is quoting you prices with OEM Honda parts and a much lower rate with NAPA parts, you know that the Honda part is crazy expensive. Even with dealer labor rates, the difference is over $1k. Their rate of about $800 for both sides and NAPA new parts sounds on the high side, but dealers usually are.

 

Over the years I have seen many different axle failures on many different cars, and the ones that break the shaft in half have always broken under the rubber damper.

I can't say that mileage has as much to do with breakage as time does, and of course the use of salt and other corrosives on our roads in the rust belt.

Yes factory new axles are stupid expensive.
The cheapest aftermarket prices I saw were from Advance Auto Parts at 50 each, they are reman, and they don't mention if for manual or auto trans. Those might be TOO cheap for me.

Yes dealer prices can be higher than others, but that's not always the case. I have seen receipts for things like $800 per axle brake jobs from chain stores done on cars that aren't old enough to need all the crap they replace. We (the dealership I work for) do brake jobs all day long for a third of that price, yet people bitch about the dealer being a rip off....SMH

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I do this for a living, so almost everything is DIY for me on my own cars. Axles aren't difficult IMO other than having to pop ball joints apart and crawl under the car if you don't have a hoist.

On my GFs car, I'm also going to replace the left axle seal on the trans when I replace the axles. Factory seal there, they are cheap IMO.

 

So, at 209,000 the left half-shaft broke and yesterday, at 211,000 the right one broke. The good news is the both are reasonably easy to replace and are about $50 each. There's a youtube video for the left shaft. None for the right shaft, but the process is mostly similar, except instead of sliding it out of the transmission, there is a midbearing that it slides into/out of. And the right, at least, can be changed with only removal of the 2 - 19mm bolts and unclipping the ABS sensor wire at 2 locations. Even simpler than shown in the videos for the left.

 

Update: Early January 2017 the left shaft snapped. As my Mrs. was driving the car, as luck would (not) have it. I thought I had more time but, uh, no. A good independent shop did the replacement of both sides for under $400 and I am back on the road. Thanks again for the info here.

 

What tools are needed for replacing the driveshaft? Does something need to be done to ball joints to replace the driveshaft?