RTH busted driver side CV axle

[TLC2013]

Hope you have uneventful drive home.

Was this driver error or hardware error? How high is you lift?

Thanks, slow and steady under 55mph. Got home and will investigate more in the morning.

Lift is minimal, under 2". Its the 45mm tough dog suspension. Totally driver error. Should have picked a different line after spinning the front wheels as much I did. Hard headed and a hard lesson learned.

 

[bloc]

Glad you got home safely.

The next logical question.. does RCV or someone else make a better part to replace it with? I imagine it’s the exact same as a tundra shaft but shorter...

 

[afgman786]

Most likely the failure was in the diff-end CV cup, and didn't harm the shaft going into the diff itself. Even if you somehow split the whole cup, I suspect it would crack open and leave the shaft itself intact. Possibly mess with the diff seal surface.. but things shouldn't get into the diff.

A solid axle is a different story, since the part of the axle that breaks is usually within the same housing as the diff itself. Everything can mix up.


OP's strategy of leave the axle in place and remove the driveshaft is the best method for most of these issues.. it lets the broken CV only take on the role of keeping all it's parts in place. It no longer has to transmit any torque to the wheel, so you should be able to drive.. understanding it might make minor problems within the CV worse, but realistically they will likely just have to buy an axle anyway.

If the shaft itself had broken things get more complicated, since it would likely want to flop around everywhere. That would require removing the shaft and leaving both cups in place, or finding some way to sleeve it to keep everything close to center. Driving at high speeds with this problem would make me much more nervous.

Thanks for sharing the knowledge. Figured he didn't need to since those of you with the knowledge didn't tell him to. But also saw it as a good question to get more tech out of it, and a better understanding of IFS failures.

 

[bloc]

But also saw it as a good question to get more tech out of it, and a better understanding of IFS failures.

Exactly!

 

[TeCKis300]

That will be one for the story books. I echo and thank you for sharing. Even though the trip didn't go as you planned, I give you props for being prepared and working through the situation. Successfully. Good notes and I'm keeping them for future reference.

May I ask if your steering was straight ahead or did you have much steering lock dialed in? Were the UCAs aligned to move the tire forward much?

 

[RTaylor]

Great job with the recovery and evacuation home.

I’ve been reading Toyota 4x4 boards for 20 years. Just about every broken front CV is a result of the same thing: too much wheel spin and bouncing. When the wheel catches traction, the axle gives. Must be how the engineers wanted it. But it’s a reminder for us to go easy on the skinny pedal.

The other common theme of these stories is to replace only with OEM axles. The cheaper generic ones tend to break much more often.

 

[kcjaz]

This is a great thread on several levels. First of all, just the fact that a guy with a broken down rig on a trail can post a request for help and get great advice in real time is pretty cool. Second is the knowledge folks can get from just reading this.

For my own personal knowledge quest, I'd like to confirm my understanding of one of the statments @bloc made:

With the front shaft out there will be no binding if driven at high speeds with CDL engaged. If it is disengaged and driven very far, again with the front shaft out, kiss that center diff and possibly the whole transfer case goodbye.

This seems exactly correct to me becuase the purpose of a cener diff is to allow the front and rear axiles to rotate at different speeds. So with the front drive shaft disconnected, and the CDL locked, you essentially have a rear wheel drive vehecle. If you were to unlock the CDL, you would not be able to go anywhere because the open CDL would send power/torque to the front. It would be like having your front wheels in the air with no traction. Do I have this right? Maybe the center diff would get a little power to the rear wheels because I think there is a ferguson viscous coupling inside that limits the slip.

The part about damaging the center diff and transfer makes sense to me becase with the CDL unlocked and front drive shaft removed, you'd be sending most of the power to the front and just spinning it up. Its going to get hot as the power isn't going anywhere and just turning to heat.

Am I in the ballpark here?

 

[TLC2013]

That will be one for the story books. I echo and thank you for sharing. Even though the trip didn't go as you planned, I give you props for being prepared and working through the situation. Successfully. Good notes and I'm keeping them for future reference.

May I ask if your steering was straight ahead or did you have much steering lock dialed in? Were the UCAs aligned to move the tire forward much?

i don’t recall if the wheel was straight or locked when the break occurred. I was definitely moving the wheel back and forth to try and gain some traction. I have nitro gear UCAs. Alignment numbers were good, caster in the low 3 degrees and camber and toe all within spec. Can’t remember their exact numbers.

You can never be too prepared. I usually bring the essentials, and Try to pack light. Glad I grabbed a full socket set and tools for this trip.

 

[TLC2013]

Shout out to everyone here. This forum is top notch and its’ Members are genuinely good people willing to assist their fellow man in need. Rock stars! Can’t thank @benc and @indycole enough.

here are a couple good shots before things went to hell.

 

[bloc]

This is a great thread on several levels. First of all, just the fact that a guy with a broken down rig on a trail can post a request for help and get great advice in real time is pretty cool. Second is the knowledge folks can get from just reading this.

For my own personal knowledge quest, I'd like to confirm my understanding of one of the statments @bloc made:



This seems exactly correct to me becuase the purpose of a cener diff is to allow the front and rear axiles to rotate at different speeds. So with the front drive shaft disconnected, and the CDL locked, you essentially have a rear wheel drive vehecle. If you were to unlock the CDL, you would not be able to go anywhere because the open CDL would send power/torque to the front. It would be like having your front wheels in the air with no traction. Do I have this right? Maybe the center diff would get a little power to the rear wheels because I think there is a ferguson viscous coupling inside that limits the slip.

The part about damaging the center diff and transfer makes sense to me becase with the CDL unlocked and front drive shaft removed, you'd be sending most of the power to the front and just spinning it up. Its going to get hot as the power isn't going anywhere and just turning to heat.

Am I in the ballpark here?

It’s even worse than that. Our center diff is limited slip, a “Torsen type C” if I remember correctly. It is designed to send a greater than 50% of power to the rear axle, for a bunch of reasons. At some point in the past I found a white paper on why toyota selected this, having to do with the rear bias helping avoid loss of traction when turning on wet roads in the first place. You can feel the limited slip element when following my procedure for front drive shaft greasing where the transmission is in neutral and one tire is in the air. Spin that tire and there is definite fluid-like resistance, but ultimately it will turn.

Either way, that limited slip would be very unhappy if the front shaft was removed and you attempted to move the vehicle with the CDL disengaged. Yes, heat. Lots of it. Most likely eventually leading to grenading the center diff and possible chunks wiping out the whole case. The good thing is I’m pretty sure you’d know quickly it wasn’t happy, as yeah it’s limited slip but I suspect the truck just wouldn’t move much.

 

[bloc]

White paper, technically about a different case, the VF4 series, but the bits about the reasons for a torsen center diff should apply to ours as well.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1e59/16df64c80cd903bdaf6f68d8b1bf93e8b033.pdf