SPICER 297 shaft BROKE LIKE GLASS!!!

Hey all,
Heres the story,me and my son just replaced the DS front axle in his '90 commanche with a "heavy duty" spicer replacement shaft from RUSTYS.Im sure you all know about these.Anyway last night he goes to pull out of the driveway,its snowing here and he backed into a small snowdrift,but when he pulled forward the new "heavy duty" spicer shaft just exploded like it was made of glass!!! He wasnt even standing on the skinny or anything! Just pulling out like a normal everyday driver,slight throttle and SNAP! His truck only has 31's and an aussie locker up front,even the stock 260 axles could withstand this "abuse" !!! Was just wondering if you guys think this is just a defect and if you think RUSTYS will replace it?Its only been in the truck for about a week! Anyone got any experience with RUSTYS and these shafts?

Thanks,
Bob

hahaha gotta love Rustys. Someone should start a compilation of Rustys horror stories.

Did it break right on a weld?

Good luck getting them to warrantee it, they hate to warrantee anything, but seeing how its only been a week and you weren't even off road they better honor it.

as far as i can tell the ears on the outer stub just kind of went away! the joint is intact,the caps didnt even come off!!!

rustys has nothing to do with it, its a spicer shaft theyre just overcharging you for it.... did you see him break it or is this how he told you it went down, ive seen locked frontends break 297's on pavement

yeah i realize the shaft is not RUSTYS fault,just wanted to know if you guys think he'll replace it.And no i didnt SEE him do it but I HEARD him pulling out of the driveway,that MJs got a glasspack on it so its easy to hear.Stranger still is the fact that the PS front wheel was down to the gravel getting traction(and that side still has the 260 shaft)while the DS wheel was still on snow!

Hey shortxjdoug you said they were just overcharging for it,do you know where to get em cheaper?

RBFab said:

Hey shortxjdoug you said they were just overcharging for it,do you know where to get em cheaper?

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actually i just checked theyve gone down from the 200 i paid for thema few years ago... i stand corrected


... it sounds like a bad forging, honestly i would jut search a JY for a 97+ replacement shaft out of an xj or tj... way cheaper to buy a shaft and just replace the joint

shortxjdoug said:

rustys has nothing to do with it, its a spicer shaft theyre just overcharging you for it.... did you see him break it or is this how he told you it went down, ive seen locked frontends break 297's on pavement

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Exactly, Why would someone blame Rusty's for something they sell not manufacture? Get a junkyard shaft thats in good shape and a 760 u-joint to replace it with. Sounds to me like there was a design flaw with that shaft!

Sound like just a defective item, not just because of the vendor or the manufacurer.

give Rusty's customer service desk a call and talk with them about the defective item you have. Btw, dont BASH/flame them about it, they may give you hard time because you bashed on them.

I've never had a problem with Rusty's. I ordered their tow hooks with brackets a long time ago and he forgot to send the brackets with the hooks. I called them up, got Rusty himself and with no questions asked he overnighted me the brackets. I'd give them a call, see what he says, he ought to warranty it since chances are he sends the defective one back to Spicer and they credit him for it.

I've seen a similar failure on a stock -297 shaft. I was wheeling with a friend. He stopped on an easy section, got out and said,"I just broke a shaft." He wasn't doing anything hard either, and was going down hill when it snapped. I thought it was pretty weird at the time, but he said he's seen it a lot on the Rubicon Wranglers(he's a dealer mechanic)

FlexdXJ said:

...,Sounds to me like there was a design flaw,..

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I think you mean manufacturing flaw.

Modern automotive manufacturing techniques are almost amazing at what they produce, but it's not aerospace quality. They don't magnaflux/X-ray/ultrasound every part off the line. As long as it passes a cursory visual inspection and machines out in spec, it can have pretty much any internal flaw. 'Sounds like you just got (un)lucky.
Good luck on the warranty return. Unless there's a pretty obvious void in the forging at the break, it'll be a tossup weather or not they replace it under "material defect". Otherwise, it'll boil down to "if they want to be nice"

EDIT: Spicer has a pretty good reputation too. Wonder where the forging came from,...

I don't suppose you could post a pic of the broken parts when you get it out, could you?

Well guys I called RUSTYS today and they wanted me to send them a pic of the axle so they could send it to spicer to see if theyd warranty it.So i sent it to em and now I guess I just play the waiting game.Anybody got any experience with SPICER and parts warranties?I swear if I break one more JEEP axle I'm givin up on em! Broke four in the last year,and quite easily too!Maybe I should go back to open diff! (ugh)

No big surprise, Spicer shafts with 297/760 joints break the ears off all the time. Not very often with 31's, but they still break. He was most likely turned sharp when it broke, gave it gas on the snow and got the tires spinning, then hit some gravel and got traction and popped the axle.......it happens that easily sometimes.

Stock Spicer shafts mean you don't give it gas with the wheels turned in 4wd.....period.

Definitely not Rusty's fault, some of you guys need to get a life. Anyone notice that he's still around, and is still growing and doing a good business? He must be doing enough things right, despite all the whiners.

Nah,like I said that side never did find the bottom.The other side did,and the wheels were turned like 5 degrees or something,just barely.

My Rustys lift and double shear track bar are holding up great. So dont bash Rustys. I have seen Rubicon Express stuff break and they are supposed to be top notch in the Jeep world. I work with a company that deals with spicer parts and when we go in there you should see the piles of twisted and mangled metal. Some was abused some wasnt.

Eh, shafts break, sometimes when you least expect it. Had a buddy break one in the snow. You wouldn't think offhand that the slippery white stuff would give enough traction, but it can. Especially when you dig it down a bit and then find traction when trying to back out. I actually broke one the same way a few years back. Didn't help matters that I had 5,000 lbs of my buddy's pickup truck on a strap at the time.

You can't fault Rusty's (or anyone besides Spicer in this case) for this.

Hey guys just wanna be clear,wasnt bashin RUSTYS!

If the center of the u-joint isn't aligned with the ball joints that's what can happen the first time you turn. Almost as if the inner shaft is a smudge too long...

Did you guys happen to compare it to the stuff that came out?

tbburg said:

I think you mean manufacturing flaw.

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Yeah thats the one I was looking for. Not sure why i used design instead! :doh: