Broken rear axle - advice needed - picture included (1 Viewer)
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Living in the Past
SILVER Star
Was the ARB locked when it broke? What does the passenger's side inner axle look look? With that twist appears the tire was bound up and the diff moved forward while the tire didn't. Splined section twisted then snapped.
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ARB was locked. Tire was bound up. Just didn't seem like I had enough power on to twist it but that seems most likely. Do have a new engine with 470 HP and 420 pounds of torque. Might need to adjust my skinny pedal habits. Haven't pulled the other side yet. Doing that tomorrow.
reddingcruiser
Practicing for retirement
Nicely done. Is it an otherwise stock 40 axle?
reddingcruiser
Practicing for retirement
reddingcruiser
Practicing for retirement
Nope, pretty common place to snap. Do you have an automatic, or manual transmission? Orion or similar with 4:1 low? A/T, 4:1, big tires, and lots of HP and torque, require careful use of the skinny pedal when you have stock 40 axles.
whitey45
SILVER Star
Used to run a bbc, 130:1 crawl, 40” boggers for 10 years in the rocks and never broke an axle!.... but it was a locked 14 bolt! Ended up towing a lot of broken trucks!
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You were wheeling with the rear end locked and a bigger motor and you broke a stock shaft... what was the question again?
Anyone planning a round the world trip through rugged terrain should swap to either the 35 spline 60's front and rear or the 14bolt rear and a 60 front. More than twice the axle strength and they have 300m replacements available if you want truly nearly unbreakable. The Cruiser axle are strong on par with Ford 9", Dana 44 heavies and even 30 spline Dana 60s but don't nearly hold a candle to the 35 spline 60 or 14 bolt GM
I'd be surprised if the ARB busted. They use a 300m cross shaft. We ran 35 spline Dane 60s in our 40 the last two years or ARCA and broke a few of those stock shafts. That stopped when CTM started building 300m Dana axles and outer stubs. Shannon Campbell destroyed a few Detroit Lockers in the events but I don't recall any ARB carnage except maybe in smaller diffs, 8" and under. I've gone through 5 or 6 floater and two semi float cruiser shafts a few front shafts and more Birfields than I can remember in 40s, 55's and 60s in my daily drivers. I've never damaged an ARB in one of those events. Most of the diff internals are made of much better materials than axle shafts.
For that kind of power its probably time for a 14 bolt. Axle shafts do weaken over time just like leaf springs, torsion bars, coil springs etc. But maybe you mostly broke it b4 and then finished it off when you were climbing a easier obstacle.
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FWIW, all the 9.5 arb's I have had broke. Either cross shaft, spider gears, air leaks, case breaks. They also worked great for lots of years with no failures. Not saying anything neg about ARB, just that they do break. Lots of people are expressing frustration with ARB's, in fact some of the cruiser guys are going different routes due to the arb problems.
