The cage isn’t too bad altogether. Solid piece, other than the ball sockets looking a tad rough. Keep in mind that this is a brand-new, straight-out-of-the box axle.
Alright, so the stars are iffy. Most CV joints I’ve pulled apart have wear that indicate that each ball rides on each side of the race. In most cases, the majority of the wear lands in the middle of the race and eventually creates small notches. In my case, I’m going to rolling the joints much more and will likely run the balls over the low spots and this will be hell on them. All eight races look like this.
The bar spline fitment looks good, although it rocks within the star much more than I would allow. To be fair, my OE green tips are just the same. Apparently not even Subaru can make a tight axle. I did set the star on my big vice and made an attempt to hammer out the bar end. No luck, and I found that the end of the bar is not case-hardened. As some place state, the aftermarket axle manufacturers machine their axles to make them non-serviceable. Trakmotive, that I’m aware of, does not machine a ramp into the bar end splines to allow to circlip to pass over the splines for disassembly. Bastards!
All eight balls looked as round as they should be. Hardness seems to be on par. I took after one with the hammer flat on an adjustable wrench. No dings or dents at all, so they’re hardened like they should be.
The tripod is as a tripod does. Not much to say about it other than it’s just like any other. There was a snap ring holding it and it slips right off the bar. No heat needed.
Lastly, for reference, one of my OE green rear outboards. Bell races are milled completely smooth and the case hardening is more thorough. Mine have the notches from riding in the wee bit of the center than they typically do when used for nothing more that on-road use.
