[black_panther]

My knowledge regarding a car's technical stuff is very limited, therefore correct me if I have written something incorrect.

My Maruti 800 (2005 May) is making a kat-kat noise while driving straight. I took the car for general service to the local service station.

They found that the front right axle is damaged. They have given me two options.

First is to replace the axle with a genuine maruti replacement with a MRP of Rs 2100 approximately with 6 months warranty.

Second is to repair the damaged parts for Rs 850 approximately with a warranty of 6 months.

I use the car mostly for city driving, with limited highway driving within 100 km from the city. The average annual driving comes to around 6-7k km and wish to keep the vehicle for some more years.

Kindly suggest.

[libranof1987]

Front axle damaged within 6 years?!

Was the car involved in an accident ever?

For starters, get the wheel alignment and balancing done.

If the issue persists, take a 2nd opinion.

[anjan_c2007]

Better replace the axle or rather both the axles. Use Maruti Genuine Parts only from a reputed dealer. These axles are quite prone to wear and tear. I had to replace both the axles and each cost me Rs 1300/- about ten years ago.The problem was driving on lots of potholed roads and losing attention while negotiating speed breakers at times-the thud with which the whole car is tossed up and then down abiding by Newton's Law!
Repair is a risky proposition as the whole dynamics of the car centers around the front suspension (Mc McPherson Struts),the two drive shafts and the balance rod that keeps the axles in their right positions and the steering tie rods.
There is no use compromising your safety for the price differential.

[black_panther]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Front axle damaged within 6 years?!

Was the car involved in an accident ever?

For starters, get the wheel alignment and balancing done.

If the issue persists, take a 2nd opinion.

The car was never involved in a major accident.

However, with a bit of googling I came to know that this has been a common problem with maruti car owners, and maruti had to replace several of these under warranty.

The car has gone through a lot of potholed roads, but was driven with care except for unaviodable circumstances.

The axle looks good from outside except for a crack on the "belo". What I understood for the service personnel is that ball bearings within the axle are damaged and thus the axle might be repaired.

However, the owner of the garage who is known to me, advised to replace the part.

[deep_bang]

Well. We had a Maruti 800 a few years back, and did have a lot of issues with the axles (or drive shafts as it is called by the book). For some reason, which i think is a design issue, the 800's axles are prone to failure very fast compared to other cars. So, i am not surprised at all.

To repair or replace: I have not heard of anyone repair the drive shaft - so, i would wait for other members to chip in - and their experiences in repairing drive shafts.

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by black_panther

My knowledge regarding a car's technical stuff is very limited, therefore correct me if I have written something incorrect.

My Maruti 800 (2005 May) is making a kat-kat noise while driving straight. I took the car for general service to the local service station.

They found that the front right axle is damaged. They have given me two options.

First is to replace the axle with a genuine maruti replacement with a MRP of Rs 2100 approximately with 6 months warranty.

Second is to repair the damaged parts for Rs 850 approximately with a warranty of 6 months.

I use the car mostly for city driving, with limited highway driving within 100 km from the city. The average annual driving comes to around 6-7k km and wish to keep the vehicle for some more years.

Kindly suggest.

Are you sure the problem is with the Axle? Get a second opinion from another garage.

Its better to get the axle replaced with MGP. Insist on this.

Repair of axles can turn out to be very dangerous and costly.

I clicked this picture of this cab. He told me that the axle/lower arm was repaired less than 2 months ago.
Now do you still want to repair the axle on your car?

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Better replace the axle or rather both the axles. Use Maruti Genuine Parts only from a reputed dealer. These axles are quite prone to wear and tear. I had to replace both the axles and each cost me Rs 1300/- about ten years ago.The problem was driving on lots of potholed roads and losing attention while negotiating speed breakers at times-the thud with which the whole car is tossed up and then down abiding by Newton's Law!
Repair is a risky proposition as the whole dynamics of the car centers around the front suspension (Mc McPherson Struts),the two drive shafts and the balance rod that keeps the axles in their right positions and the steering tie rods.
There is no use compromising your safety for the price differential.

Anjan ji even the axle boots if they are torn then they must be replaced immediately ,otherwise dust will damage it more and more.
Repairs of CV joints is very popular every where and this is cheaper and reliable as far as I know.

[black_panther]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

Are you sure the problem is with the Axle? Get a second opinion from another garage.

Its better to get the axle replaced with MGP. Insist on this.

Repair of axles can turn out to be very dangerous and costly.

I clicked this picture of this cab. He told me that the axle/lower arm was repaired less than 2 months ago.
Now do you still want to repair the axle on your car?

Not after seeing the picture. The car is mostly self driven and I don't want to compromise on safety.

[deep_bang]

@Captain Slow: I think black_panther's problem is with the drive shafts. Typically, mechanics call this as axle, but what this refers to is the the connecting part between the axle and the wheel, so as to be able to transfer the power to the wheels, and still allowing them to be steered to the right or left. THis is what is covered in a rubber covering, and what typically happens, is that this rubber starts to tear, and causes dirt to get into the shaft - spoiling it.

In the photo you have shows, it looks like the lower arm is broken. IMHO, this is totally different from the drive shaft. However, i agree with you about going the MGP way. Piece of mind if nothing else!

EDIT: "Axle boot" is the word for the rubber covering i mentioned above. Thanks @Iqbal.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by black_panther

My knowledge regarding a car's technical stuff is very limited, therefore correct me if I have written something incorrect.My Maruti 800 (2005 May) is making a kat-kat noise while driving straight. I took the car for general service to the local service station.They found that the front right axle is damaged. They have given me two options.

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Better replace the axle or rather both the axles. Use Maruti Genuine Parts only from a reputed dealer.
Repair is a risky proposition as the whole dynamics of the car centers around the front suspension
There is no use compromising your safety for the price differential.

Better and the right option is to replace with MGP. The extra amount you pay will definitely be paid back. Mr Anjan is right to suggest the replacement.
Even replacing the faulty one would suffice for the time.
Usually it is the Left one that fails earlier, because the left wheel goes through out of the edge of the road often.

[black_panther]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Better and the right option is to replace with MGP. The extra amount you pay will definitely be paid back. Mr Anjan is right to suggest the replacement.
Even replacing the faulty one would suffice for the time.
Usually it is the Left one that fails earlier, because the left wheel goes through out of the edge of the road often.

I decided to go with the MGP replacement.
I did not know the importance of the axle or drive shaft before, therefore considering the repair option.

Thanks all of you for the timely help.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

To repair or replace: I have not heard of anyone repair the drive shaft - so, i would wait for other members to chip in - and their experiences in repairing drive shafts.

This means that bearing/joint ends of the axle or drive shaft assembly are available in the spare part market which would be fixed and the shaft could be used again with uncertain future.
There is also an option of going for cheap full assemblies which may cost roughly Rs 1000 to 1200.
But OE spares are a lot better and trustworthy.
Rupture of the rubber boot facilitates dirt and mud (more so during monsoons) to get into, resulting in premature failure of the drive shaft assembly.

Originally Posted by black_panther

I decided to go with the MGP replacement.

Wise decision, go ahead.

[SirAlec]

neglected torn rubber boot is the biggest cause of drive shaft failure.

You can read the details here.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ntainance.html

Maruti source parts from two companies, 1. delphi (recently) 2. GKN.

Its best to go for MGP as quality of rubber boot is very good in these.

[dhanushs]

SirAlec is very correct!.

Drive shaft boot tear or wear and the dirt entering in, is one of primary reasons of CV joint failure. Otherwise, I have seen 800's running 1lac + kms on original drive shaft.

My suggestion would be to replace it. NOT repair it.