Which CV joint is the right one

[Tinovolpe]

Maybe someone out there can help me with terminology. My left front CV joint is leaking grease from the boot closest to the wheel. Reading this forum it seems like its better to replace the joint rather than try to put on one of those aftermarket boots. A nice You tube video shows that it doesn't look that difficult to do so I may attempt it. Question is what am I supposed to buy? I have a 2001 SE DOHC VIN# 1FAHP56S11G135734. Im confused as to whether I am buying a CV joint, or a half shaft assembly. Googling both terms seem to show the same images and the terms seem interchangeable. Do I need to know which transmission I have? I'm not sure what I have but it does have a 19 bolt pattern on the pan gasket. . Can anyone educate me on this? My confusion is basically feeding my procrastination to do this job because i don't want to buy the wrong part and find out when I have the car half apart.
Thanks

[shorod]

You want the half shaft assembly which consists of the shaft that connects 2 CV joints, as well as the boots that protect the greased joints.

As for which transmission you have, I'm not sure on that but you should be able to figure it out with the bolt pattern and a photo of the transmission pan in your car. You might also be able to get the detail by entering your vehicle's VIN in to one of the online detailed VIN decoders.

-Rod

[Tinovolpe]

Thanks Rod. Half shaft it is.

Read on line to look at transmission code on my door plate L is for AX4S and X is for AX4N. My nameplate says X so i guess AX4N it is!!

[shorod]

Cool, sounds like you're all set to order some parts!

-Rod

[Tinovolpe]

thanks Rod,

as usual I appreciate your valuable insight.
Part of what threw me is why does a CV joint costs twice the amount of a half shaft axle? The half shaft is like 41 bucks at Rock auto and the CV joint is anywhere between 84-149.00. At any rate I'm good to go. just need the weather to warm up. Thought we were going to have a easy winter up here in the Northeast but that turned around in a hurry.

[shorod]

That probably has to do with quantity discount. Maybe the joints have been sitting on their shelves for years and they're just trying to get what they paid for them as the complete assemblies began to decline in price.

Years ago (15+ years) my dad would replace damaged CV boots on cars. After a few years of that, the halfshaft assembly prices began to drop to the point where if a vehicle had a bad boot it was actually less expensive to install a whole new half shaft assembly than to replace just the boot. The labor to clean the joint, re-grease, de-air, and install the new boot caused the total bill to be higher than the labor and material cost to replace the whole half shaft. For both repairs the halfshaft had to come out of the car.

-Rod