Founded in 2006, TrakMotive has been producing CV axles for longer than most. We’ve seen them at a few trade shows over the years, but honestly haven’t given them a ton of attention. The company doesn’t rely on flashy displays and super slick marketing. Because of that, they’re not very well known in the UTV industry, even though they have a solid distribution chain from retailers like Amazon, 4WheelParts and O’Reilly Auto Parts, along with a host of smaller retailers. TrakMotive seems to stick to what they do best: Manufacturing.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Necessity can also be the mother of trying a new product. Thus, we got introduced first-hand to their products. While we were out pre-running the course for the 2020 King of the Hammers, we ended up breaking a couple of aftermarket axles and were running short on spares. We visited several vendors set up for the race and 4WheelParts were the only ones we found that had what we needed on hand on the dry lakebed. They had brought along with them a good amount of stock of the affordable TrakMotive axles, so we bought what we needed and headed back out to prepare for the race.
TrakMotive makes two different types of CV axles for UTVs. First, they make a budget OEM replacement axle. Even though this axle is designed to be a wallet friendly OE replacement, the axle is still better than factory. It is made from carbon chrome steel and actually is 20% stronger than the original equipment axles that your UTV was equipped with from the factory. The boots are better quality as well, featuring a long lasting and supple neoprene rubber, which are more tear and puncture resistant than factory. The CV cages are polished to minimize friction and reduce wear. The CV cage design, along with their upgraded grease will reduce operating temperatures, which will help further extend life of the axle.
The heavy duty axles from TrakMotive are even stronger, yet still very budget friendly. The HD axles are made of 4340 chromoly steel. This doesn’t apply to just the shaft itself. The housings, along with the race and cage are upgraded to 4340 chromoly as well. The boots are even more tough than their OE upgraded versions. Constructed of thermoplastic elastomer, the TPE boot is significantly more tear and puncture resistant than stock. The upgraded chromoly cage and housings are also polished to reduce friction and wear, while also using the same upgraded grease as their OE replacement axles to keep down the temperatures of the joints. These axles were designed for high speed, full throttle riding and have been shown to be 35% stronger than stock axles.
Our real world experience with these axles has been impressive. We would normally prefer to test in a non-competitive environment, but we were getting ready to take on what is considered to be the hardest offroad race in the world. We subjected the axles to high speed open desert sections, tight cornering, axle travel testing articulation and massive technical rock sections. Never once did the axles let us down. Whatever we threw at them, the TrakMotive axles asked for more. We never experienced an axle failure or an axle dropping out. We were impressed that such a budget axle could handle the rigors of Johnson Valley, CA.
Backed by a one year warranty, TrakMotive stands behind their product and manufacturing processes. We can confidently say that these axles are well worth the money spent. While nothing is unbreakable, they withstood punishing conditions that broke axles from some of their more expensive competition on the market.
Trakmotive manufactures products for most major sport and and utility UTVs on the market, including Polaris, Can-Am, Honda, Yamaha, Arctic Cat and Kawasaki.
