Twisted rear axle shaft

[landtank]

I should have clarified, mine is twisted off completely in the diff with just enough sticking out that I cant pull the third. It is too stuck to knock out from the other side. I broke/bent everything I tried with.

I thought of this as well. I think once everyone sees the rework done it will be clear what it is I'm doing and how it will alleviate the problem of getting the pieces out of the diff.

It's not going to stop the twisting or shearing just make the repair a straight forward axle swap.

At least that is the idea.

 

[Nay]

I thought of this as well. I think once everyone sees the rework done it will be clear what it is I'm doing and how it will alleviate the problem of getting the pieces out of the diff.

It's not going to stop the twisting or shearing just make the repair a straight forward axle swap.

At least that is the idea.

Roll with it - I'm buyer #1 if it plays out.

 

[landtank]

Roll with it - I'm buyer #1 if it plays out.

I'll follow through with this.

I think a modified stock shaft will actually be the better choice but who knows what carnage will yield.

 

[Nay]

I'll follow through with this.

I think a modified stock shaft will actually be the better choice but who knows what carnage will yield.

I have an extra set of those, too

Will be interested to see how you test ?

 

[sleeoffroad]

The bottom line is if the axles are twisting they are to small for the application. Wooden block under the throttle, smaller tires or don't let it bind up or hop. Sooner or later you are going to brake one. So if this is happening to you, start carrying spares. Also from experience, yes changing a full floater axle shaft is easy, but only when it is in one piece. Getting the broken piece out, well that sucks.

Dana 60's with 40 spline shafts will be a good upgrade

I would venture a guess that the stock shaft is going to fail before the chromoly one.

 

[GXO]

I will chime in as the authority here as I have twisted the splines (and cleanly broken) a rear axle in the 80 series with a factory e-locker.

FACT: If you wheel these trucks with 35" tires or larger with a factory rear locker on factory or poly performance axles, you are on borrowed time. They will twist. It will break. The e-locker design is not made to take that sort of loading.

Here is what it looks like when you break...PS rear was on a ledge, DS was grabbing for traction...it let go:



In that case I had to drive home in FWD and had the rear housing cut, cut the inner axle, remove the third, setup and install a new non-elocker third with an Aussie locker, and upgraded to new Poly Performance axles. I have been in the same situation and worse since and no issue.

You can rationlize it all you like, but $1000-1500 now to upgrade if you wheel hard is cheaper and easier than $2000-2500 in repairs and upgrades after the fact (or if you fix the same faulty design if you wheel hard).

 

[landtank]

I suspect what happened to Rick was that he twisted the shaft in the locker position and then when it unlocked, the actuator jammed the collar onto the splines.

the actuator is a spring loaded device. No way that tension jammed the collar on the splines with the force that was needed to unjam it.

Read my post above as I'm sure that is how it happened.

 

[Nay]

I will chime in as the authority here as I have twisted the splines (and cleanly broken) a rear axle in the 80 series with a factory e-locker.

FACT: If you wheel these trucks with 35" tires or larger with a factory rear locker on factory or poly performance axles, you are on borrowed time. They will twist. It will break. The e-locker design is not made to take that sort of loading.

Here is what it looks like when you break...PS rear was on a ledge, DS was grabbing for traction...it let go:



In that case I had to drive home in FWD and had the rear housing cut, cut the inner axle, remove the third, setup and install a new non-elocker third with an Aussie locker, and upgraded to new Poly Performance axles. I have been in the same situation and worse since and no issue.

You can rationlize it all you like, but $1000-1500 now to upgrade if you wheel hard is cheaper and easier than $2000-2500 in repairs and upgrades after the fact (or if you fix the same faulty design if you wheel hard).

That situation is also dropping the hammer on a steep climb in loose conditions. The "go go go" cheer from the audience really tells the story here as the front end bounces and the rear, now taking 100% of the weight, grabs traction and implodes.

You need a lot more axle strength to wheel in those conditions than to crawl on grippy granite or slickrock (to a point of difficulty suited for the average wheeler in the average 80 on 35's). Now it is still sage advice to upgrade. Frankly, if I could write the check, I'd run a couple of ProRock 60's on my 80.

I am a total wuss with throttle, though, so for now I will keep living on borrowed time

 

[GXO]

I actually believe that the twisting is a loading problem with the collar. In my case I loaded the PS rear, differentiated the DS rear while locked, and the offset forces were too much with the weight of the rig in a wheeling situation.

Rear loading due to incline with crossed up rear = twist.

 

[GXO]

That situation is also dropping the hammer on a steep climb in loose conditions. The "go go go" cheer from the audience really tells the story here as the front end bounces and the rear, now taking 100% of the weight, grabs traction and implodes.

You need a lot more axle strength to wheel in those conditions than to crawl on grippy granite or slickrock (to a point of difficulty suited for the average wheeler in the average 80 on 35's). Now it is still sage advice to upgrade. Frankly, if I could write the check, I'd run a couple of ProRock 60's on my 80.

I am a total wuss with throttle, though, so for now I will keep living on borrowed time

I wasnt flooring it. The TPS sensor was at 45% when it broke. I have done worse

The other way to say this is...if you broke today would you go out and fix it or park it till you could? If you would fix it no matter what there is no reason why you shouldn't upgrade now and save the replaced parts for spares or sell them as new, functional parts to offset your upgrade cost today.

$.02

 

[Nay]

I actually believe that the twisting is a loading problem with the collar. In my case I loaded the PS rear, differentiated the DS rear while locked, and the offset forces were too much with the weight of the rig in a wheeling situation.

Rear loading due to incline with crossed up rear = twist.

It makes sense, unfortunately.

 

[cruiserdan]

(or if you fix the same faulty design if you wheel hard).

Dan I respectfully disagree here.

The design is not "faulty" you (and others) are subjecting the axle to a helluva lot more stress than the original design was intended to take.


Now if you broke one on 275/70/16 tires in Junk's backyard it would be a different matter.




As a footnote Sarah's truck just got back from it's second Rubicon. I am going to pull the RH shaft and look at it just for drill.

 

[GXO]

I will retract my statement about faulty design. My first post was meant to say if you run 35+ tires and wheel hard you are beyond the design specs of the factory locker.

 

[cruiserdan]

Agreed.

 

['74 UA FJ]

Aaaaaaaaaaah Maybe ... YouTube - Landtank @ Guardrail - OMT 2008

Good to see somebody wheeling an 80 with some throttle.


Lol at the camera guy:

"Just be cognizant of OH s***!!!"

 

[landtank]

You can rationlize it all you like, but $1000-1500 now to upgrade if you wheel hard is cheaper and easier than $2000-2500 in repairs and upgrades after the fact (or if you fix the same faulty design if you wheel hard).

Not rationalizing anything. But If I can stop the seizing in the diff and control the location of the breaking point to where it's a simple swap then dumping a boat load of cash and time in a locker swap is a complete waste as far as I'm concerned.

We are looking at solutions differently. You want a part swap solution and I'm looking at a design solution. Different solutions with different costs initially and long term.

Since my solution hasn't been done yet or tested we still don't know it's value or viability.

I really don't understand all the negativity in trying something different.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Could also be the holier than thou attitude with which Rick presents almost every idea he has...

Just sayin.

 

[concretejungle]

I really don't understand all the negativity in trying something different.

i was kind of wondering the same thing.... however, i think it's more of an issue that others have looked at it, scratched their head and can only figure out one fix, swap out for an ARB. So most are saying it aint' possible.

 

[nat88toy]

i was kind of wondering the same thing.... however, i think it's more of an issue that others have looked at it, scratched their head and can only figure out one fix, swap out for an ARB. So most are saying it aint' possible.

well it cant be done, there is no possible solution to the problem .... just giving Rick some fuel for solving this, he feeds on this

 

[nicholas]

Could also be the holier than thou attitude with which Rick presents almost every idea he has...

Just sayin.

He has designed some pretty amazing cruiser-specific products. I don't know where you get this "holier than thou" from, but if he thinks he can design something that solves this rear locker problem, why should we attempt to hold him back with negative comments?