Cheap Axle Alternative
07-02-2012, 02:24 PM
#94
Race Car
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TEXAS
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I used a tube with rod ends. Random mounting points. I think there is an old pic in here somewhere of mine. A few others have done it will just some metal and drilled out holes in a bar to mount to the frame and trans. A little searching should find some pics on here.
07-11-2012, 12:50 PM
#95
Race Car
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet. I havnt read the whole thread......
I broke a gnk axle a couple weeks ago at the strip. It was barely used, probably 1000 miles and 15 passes.
So... Rather than exchange it for another of the same I ordered 3 of the vanagan axles. I even ended up with a credit left over.
So onto my point. I measured the cages on both and the vanagan axles are .060 thicker (width) at the weakest point. The thickness on the height is the same. I havnt measured the ball bearings yet. The shaft itself doesn't look to be thinner, the only difference I can tell is paint thickness.
For now I'll have them as backups, unless I get time to swap them today, but I'm sure I'll be putting them to the test soon.
I should be able to get the car into the 1.6-1.7 sixty foot range, which will really test them out.
Thanks for the info and the thread. If nothing else the replacements are now less than a third of the cost!!!!
I broke a gnk axle a couple weeks ago at the strip. It was barely used, probably 1000 miles and 15 passes.
So... Rather than exchange it for another of the same I ordered 3 of the vanagan axles. I even ended up with a credit left over.
So onto my point. I measured the cages on both and the vanagan axles are .060 thicker (width) at the weakest point. The thickness on the height is the same. I havnt measured the ball bearings yet. The shaft itself doesn't look to be thinner, the only difference I can tell is paint thickness.
For now I'll have them as backups, unless I get time to swap them today, but I'm sure I'll be putting them to the test soon.
I should be able to get the car into the 1.6-1.7 sixty foot range, which will really test them out.
Thanks for the info and the thread. If nothing else the replacements are now less than a third of the cost!!!!
07-11-2012, 01:36 PM
#97
Three Wheelin'
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: formerly RI, then MO, now CA
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So the axle still failed with an auxiliary transaxle mount? Did the axle fail in the same way others have, ie: didn't break in an uncommon location?
Last edited by fortysixandtwo; 07-11-2012 at 01:52 PM.
07-11-2012, 02:04 PM
#98
Race Car
I still think the shaft can move to far laterally and expose the ball bearing too much. I will probably add the delrin buttons to the spares and then see. I'm sure the trans will not be far behind at this point.
07-11-2012, 07:44 PM
#99
Three Wheelin'
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: formerly RI, then MO, now CA
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It safe to say that you're putting more strain on your car's drive train, on a regular basis, than anyone else on this forum. Not that I want you to keep breaking parts, but it would be interesting to see if you continue to break the CV cages and if the failures stop when the vanagan axles are used.
07-11-2012, 11:37 PM
#101
Race Car
Umm, no.... Broke on fourth run.
Broke the shaft right where the small end of the boot connects.
Fortunately I brought a spare and a battery ratchet. Took five minutes to swap out. I'm in the lanes now but I'm launching easy on this pass.
So IMO, the joint is better but the shaft sucks. I may see if I can meld the two together.
Broke the shaft right where the small end of the boot connects.
Fortunately I brought a spare and a battery ratchet. Took five minutes to swap out. I'm in the lanes now but I'm launching easy on this pass.
So IMO, the joint is better but the shaft sucks. I may see if I can meld the two together.
07-12-2012, 04:31 PM
#104
Rennlist Junkie Forever
I've been having axle problems too... a lot.
1) I broke 2 brand new GKN axles assemblies in 13 laps on the track. Both inner CV boots broke and both cages broke.
2) I get custom axles made. They last a few races then the inner boot tore and the inner race extended too far in and popped out. This exact same thing happened with 4 of the custom axles I had made.
Always on the trans side. Never a problem on the wheel side. That's a total of 6.
And I run a solid transmission mount. The trans doesn't more.
You can see the inner race damaged where the axle went into the stub axle on the transmission side too far as it popped out.
It's as if there's nothing stopping the axle from traveling too far.
One thing to note was about the cages. On the GKN motorsport axles I ran for years without problems... you can't pull off the cage from the inner race without removing the inner race from the axle. This would automatically limit how far the axle could travel preventing it from popping apart.
On the stock GKN and the custom axles I had made up... this wasn't the case. If you pull the ***** out, the cage will slide right off of the inner race.
I'm going to have some custom cv joints fabricated up that duplicate the GKN motorsport axles as well as tapping the ends of the axles and threading in a bolt to use it as a travel limiter so this problem won't keep happening.
TonyG
1) I broke 2 brand new GKN axles assemblies in 13 laps on the track. Both inner CV boots broke and both cages broke.
2) I get custom axles made. They last a few races then the inner boot tore and the inner race extended too far in and popped out. This exact same thing happened with 4 of the custom axles I had made.
Always on the trans side. Never a problem on the wheel side. That's a total of 6.
And I run a solid transmission mount. The trans doesn't more.
You can see the inner race damaged where the axle went into the stub axle on the transmission side too far as it popped out.
It's as if there's nothing stopping the axle from traveling too far.
One thing to note was about the cages. On the GKN motorsport axles I ran for years without problems... you can't pull off the cage from the inner race without removing the inner race from the axle. This would automatically limit how far the axle could travel preventing it from popping apart.
On the stock GKN and the custom axles I had made up... this wasn't the case. If you pull the ***** out, the cage will slide right off of the inner race.
I'm going to have some custom cv joints fabricated up that duplicate the GKN motorsport axles as well as tapping the ends of the axles and threading in a bolt to use it as a travel limiter so this problem won't keep happening.
TonyG
07-12-2012, 05:05 PM
#105
Race Car
I've been having axle problems too... a lot.
1) I broke 2 brand new GKN axles assemblies in 13 laps on the track. Both inner CV boots broke and both cages broke.
2) I get custom axles made. They last a few races then the inner boot tore and the inner race extended too far in and popped out. This exact same thing happened with 4 of the custom axles I had made.
Always on the trans side. Never a problem on the wheel side. That's a total of 6.
And I run a solid transmission mount. The trans doesn't more.
You can see the inner race damaged where the axle went into the stub axle on the transmission side too far as it popped out.
It's as if there's nothing stopping the axle from traveling too far.
One thing to note was about the cages. On the GKN motorsport axles I ran for years without problems... you can't pull off the cage from the inner race without removing the inner race from the axle. This would automatically limit how far the axle could travel preventing it from popping apart.
On the stock GKN and the custom axles I had made up... this wasn't the case. If you pull the ***** out, the cage will slide right off of the inner race.
I'm going to have some custom cv joints fabricated up that duplicate the GKN motorsport axles as well as tapping the ends of the axles and threading in a bolt to use it as a travel limiter so this problem won't keep happening.
TonyG
1) I broke 2 brand new GKN axles assemblies in 13 laps on the track. Both inner CV boots broke and both cages broke.
2) I get custom axles made. They last a few races then the inner boot tore and the inner race extended too far in and popped out. This exact same thing happened with 4 of the custom axles I had made.
Always on the trans side. Never a problem on the wheel side. That's a total of 6.
And I run a solid transmission mount. The trans doesn't more.
You can see the inner race damaged where the axle went into the stub axle on the transmission side too far as it popped out.
It's as if there's nothing stopping the axle from traveling too far.
One thing to note was about the cages. On the GKN motorsport axles I ran for years without problems... you can't pull off the cage from the inner race without removing the inner race from the axle. This would automatically limit how far the axle could travel preventing it from popping apart.
On the stock GKN and the custom axles I had made up... this wasn't the case. If you pull the ***** out, the cage will slide right off of the inner race.
I'm going to have some custom cv joints fabricated up that duplicate the GKN motorsport axles as well as tapping the ends of the axles and threading in a bolt to use it as a travel limiter so this problem won't keep happening.
TonyG
Tony,
I'm not sure if you read any of what I wrote but I have the same idea as you. I am going to tap the end of the shaft and have a piece of delrin threaded and cut to fit to the end to take up the slack.