Superior vs. Other High-Strength Axles?

Superior Axle & Gear advertises the following re their high-strength axles:

" All our shafts use a cold-formed rolled spline process that produces an
axle spline up to 35% stronger than cut splines! "

Is this a DIFFERENT process than that used by other makers, such as Yukon and Alloy USA?? The Superior axle prices, especially for such sets as the D30, are noticeably higher.... Is it justified and, if so, for what reason(s)? QUALIFIED opinions appreciated.

Thanks!

Splines stripping off isn't a very common failure, so its not really a selling point worth making your decision on.

Superior and Alloy USA shafts seem to be about comparable in strength, but Alloy USA is cheaper with a better warantee, and hands down the best customer service in that industry.

As a machinist and engineer, I can say that rolled splines are stronger than cut splines. The question becomes, if you break an axle, where does it break? Many axles I have seen broken, do infact break at the point where the splines enter the carrier.

Yes, but the splines themselves arent what breaks. I've seen as many superior axles break at the splines as alloy-usa. The point I was making is that while it may be stronger, its not fixing what needs to be fixed. A better compound (4130/4340 vs 1541h) or better hardening will do more for you than cold rolled splines.

What the old guy said...


Typically the aftermarket chromo shafts are the same diameter through their entire length. Unlike most of the OEM stuff where the splined portion is actually larger than the rest of the shaft (effectively). Which is done for stress relief and because the splined portion is weaker than an equal sized shaft. With cut splines and no change in diameter for stress relief you will always see the failure at the splines unless there is other factors coming in to play (like something rubbed the shaft in the middle and made a honkin stress riser).

I'm off topic now. Anyways, rolled splines are a fair amount stronger than cut. And it is where the shafts are at their weak point. But - you have to ask yourself is it really that big of a deal? If you're running a D44 front - then the outer shaft is way weaker than the inner one anyways so it's inconsequential. With a D30 I don't know where the weak point would be, but I personally feel that the R&P is weaker than the axleshafts if you have chromos. At least, that was what I found.


I run yukons in my D44. If they break I will be far more likely to swap axles than to consider running superiors for the small stength increase. Besides, it would jsut be a good excuse to build a 60.

When I rebuilt my front and rear axles I went with Superior axle shafts. They are probably overkill for my driving style, but it was piece of mind for me as it isn't uncommon for me to drive 1K miles on a trip and want to have the best chance of getting back in one piece.

Since my purchase (about 3-4 years ago) I usually pay attention to threads about axle shafts just to see what is the current leaning towards certain manufacturers.

For some the warranty coverage and or length is what earns their purchase decision.

For some it is the fact of better manufacture and strength or at the ver least the perceived fact of it.

There are so many potential vendors. One that stands out more recently from a warranty perspective is Alloy USA. I have seen a couple of posts from people that have broke their shafts and have received waranty replacements without any real hassle.

If I had to do it all over again I would potentially value warranty over everything else, just as long as the quality of the finished product doesn't make it a bad compromise.

Potential axleshaft vendors: AlloyUSA, Dutchman, Moser, Superior, Warn and Yukon. I'm sure there is one or two I have overlooked.