I guess that's what it's called. Nitto's+ Spec Stage 3 plate w/ Stage IV disc equals broken stuff. I think the part was defective, a u-joint should have went first. The best 60' I cut was a 1.999. This bites.




Here is the knuckle, hopefully I can smooth out the places the cog on the axle bit in to.

 

1.999 and THAT happneed??!?! Something is fishy there for sure. The u-joint definitely should of gone first, it is like a fuse.

 

That's what I thought. That section has never been touched by I, so I don't know what the deal is. I had bought 2 u-joints before I tore it down because I was sure that was what the problem is. The car wouldn't move obviously was I wrong in the first place for thinking that was a u-joint? Will the car move somewhat with a broke u-joint.

I broke this on a horrible burnout, 15psi, and launching at around 3000-3500. I didn't side step-it on the launch. I don't know what's up but it's :bs .

 

Depends on how bad you break it. If you just mess up a couple of needle bearings in them, they'll pop and make clacking noises as you drive. I drove home 1.5 hours with a broken u-joint from the track once. I got lucky. If you shear one off, you could risk that halfshaft whipping around destroying other suspension parts, a quarterpanel, or more. So it all depends. :)

 

They always say the weakest link breaks. In my case with drag radials, I blew the clutch. SO I replaced the clutch, later did U-joints and hubs/bearings and went back to street tires, my 60' times were nearly identical as with the DR's.
Not it could be that the clutch was ready to go anyway, being the 3rd owner, I had no idea how much abuse the car had gone through, but chances are the previous owners were just as hard on it as I am.
With the six speed car being the daily driver, I decided to make the tires the weakest link, they are easier(and sometimes cheaper) to replace especially if you are far from home.
So I bought another car for the track and have the best of both worlds.

 

I'm going back to street tires as well. The Nitto's weren't yielding much gain and I rather wear out tires than rear-end, clutches, tranny's, and other suspension parts.

 

Hey, i got one of those too :cry

i think mine started with the ujoint tho...then 1/2 shaft, then the spindle (axel) and then the bearing, but can't really tell the sequence, so feel fortunate that you only broke THAT. My spindle broke just like yours...same spot and angle. Mine went during a launch and i usually go low 1.6x shorts, but i'll bet yours might have cracked during the burnout, cause 2 sec shorts shouldn't have broken that. I replaced mine with a hardened unit from Tom's Diff. Good luck on the repairs.

BTW, which side is that from. Mine was drivers side


[Modified by ralph, 9:47 AM 4/15/2002]

 

Midnight.
Bummer about the axle. But in all liklehood, the failure was a long time in coming. Typically, a failure in a solid axle owes to defect that was there from day one.
It could have a been a casting inclusion of some contaminate going back to the ingot from which the part was rolled and or stamped, the machining technique used to make the part, or a thousand other things along the way. Replace it and assume it'll never break again. Go in peace my son. Cire96

 

Looks familiar. I broke one of the Hardened ones from Tom's with the Stage 3 Spec and ET Streets about 5 weeks ago (no nitrous either). Sent it back to Tom's as they "said" they have never had one break. I have not heard back from them though. What sucks is that it takes the wheel bearing with it when they fail.



These are definately a weak link in the system. I was running 1.9 60' time the first run, then broke it on the second run when I upped the clutch dump RPM to 4400. I thought I broke the rear end as the car simply quits moving and the noise it pretty bad from inside the car.

FWIW, these break a LOT! The guy I bought my motor from had a handful of these things from when he ran at the track. Pretty much everyone I know that has a pretty quick setup has broken these axles once or more.


[Modified by Vette92, 2:38 PM 4/15/2002]

 

This post reminded me that I had to call Tom's to find out what the status of the spindle was. They have sent out a new one to me so they do waranty the hardened spindles. I have been running one stock one for the past 5 weeks. One track day in there too where I ran on Nittos with off idle launches to save parts.

Cheers.

 

Is that a full warranty, I have a hardened inner axles and outer,, I hope I don't sheer them ever,, guess it won't be a problem with a stock engine -- hopefully

 

Just cost me the price of shipping the old one back to him.

 

i thought only u 6 speeders broke these parts.......but i have an auto. I dont wanna go thru that again...PLEASE!!!

 

I flinch everytime launching my 6M 396. Vette 92 has usually been my safety net with his trailer but he did not make it to Hallsville yesterday. 180 Miles into rural East Texas is not the place to break a half shaft. :D

 

I was at the drivelines-only shop today. I asked about this situation. He said the u-joints are not the weak link. (stock spicers). I dunno. He said the shaft would definitely go first. Recommended I go to an upgraded item. He would like to see me get a Mark Williams piece. Going back tomorrow to pick up my drive shaft. I'll ask more opinions.


[Modified by 89 Paul in cal, 7:11 PM 4/15/2002]

 

I went to the dealer today to get the parts. The axle was $228 and the hub with the spindle was $415. :U I went home thinking I could find a better deal. Until I went to the dealer I wasn't sure exactly how the axle fit into the hub until I saw the diagram. At home I was aggrivated and punched out what was left of the old axle. Then I realized the hub was alright and I could reuse it. :cheers: I went back and bought the axle and now the car moves. :cheers: The only problem is that the cog chewed up the ABS sensor, and now my ABS initially doesn't work correctly and then after I drive for a few minutes my Service ASR, Serivice ABS, and ASR light comes on and the car drives fine. Does anyone have any ideas on how much the sensor costs?

Chris, how much were the hardened units? I would have went with those, but I needed my car now, but I'm still curious about the costs.

Even though I've drag raced every car I've owned I'm probably done with this one aside from a few trips down on street tires. I'm a poor college kid, and I can't break stuff like this all the time considering it's my only means of transportation. I have a cam, and my friend is doing my heads, but I'm not sure if I'm going to go that route. My car has 49K miles and I need it to last 100-125K. The cam is a CC305 on a 112 LSA, what would your guys opinion be as far as motor longevity with that cam?

After pulling the knuckle, halfshaft, etc, I saw how easily the rear comes out now, so I'm considering pulling it and sending it off for gears. Am I correct in thinking that after the halfshaft, knuckle and bottom swingarm is off that the only other bolts holding the rear in is the large top bolt on the batwing and the bolts connecting the driveshaft?

When I disconnected the knuckle I unbolted the bottom swingarm at the knuckle not the center section. I never touched the camber bolt and I had scribed it so I know it hasn't moved, but my alignment seems to be off. Maybe it's all in my head, but I'm not sure.

To answer another question, I broke the driver's side axle.

 

FWIW, I've broken five of these unit in the past 2 years. I truely believe that these yokes (stocK) in my case was breaking due to my clutch. I'm using the twin street Mcleod unit & it doesn't slip so the first weak link is yokes. I've also busted during my last run a ring gear & one tooth off of two posi unit gear teeth at the same time. I like the twin street because it seems to never wear out. I dont know the spec's of some of the clutches your using, but my past experieces has shown me that with a 6 SPD, good gripping clutch & ET- Street = parts breakage (yokes & differential parts).
I ordered from Tom's also $150.00 each plus shipping. Talking to Tom had me believe that the past 4 times I bought yokes from the dealer, I got ripped off. I've talked to some of the racers in my area that run Vette's (IHRA/NHRA) & they swear buy the parts he sells them.


[Modified by ENJ, 12:18 AM 4/16/2002]

 

I did the exact same thing last June, I tried using an ET Street with a SPEC Stage 4, I also bought a set of hardened spindles/axles from Toms, have only had the car on Nitto's since but I have seen many 1.65-1.70 60' times with no problems.

 

I got a replacement wheel bearing from Pep Boys for $140 or so. I think I paid about $160 for each for the spindles from Tom's.

As for the wheel sensor, I left mine alone. It did take it out too, but I already have a bad one in the front so until I replace the front bearing (wheel sensor is a part of the front ones) I will leave then both bad and just remove my lights. I can drive without ABS/ASR just fine. ;) Those sensors are not cheap by any means for new ones.

Chris

 

I broke a drive spindle on my 90 as well... Wanna know what cause it to break (cuz in reality they're fairly strong)? Bad wheel bearing!!! Make sure your bearings are in good shape; when they start going bad they generate a tremendous amount of heat and essentially anneal the drive spindle. You're lucky, mine took out the knuckle and the ABS sensor!!
*FWIW- We're currently tooling up to build some Chromoly half-shafts and driveshafts for C4's. These shafts will be cryogenically treated. We'll also be cryo treating the drive axles (diff side) and the drive spindles, the bearing caps, ring and pinions, etc. in the rearends. We're also experimenting with studding the caps and adding a preload stud to the rear cover to prevent deflection. My main goal is to improve the D36 with the stronger D44 coming as an afterthought. I've currently got the 36 out of my wife's 85 and am R&Ding it right now. The 44 will follow very shortly afterwards (in fact the 44 will come out of my car and we'll abuse the 36 on my stick car with slicks to see how it will hold up). We're currently looking at 60-90 days before we have products ready to go... Sorry for the advertisement but I though some on here might wanna know!!
-Jeb Burnett