Grenaded Tom Woods shaft - Options?

MountaineerMac · Oct 27, 2003

Ok, so I grenaded my Tom Woods rear shaft this past weekend at Tellico, and had to run my front shaft in the rear to get me home. I twisted the splines and broke the ears off the axle end - and the 1310 survived!

That shouldnt happen with stock tcase, stock 4.0, and for the $ the shaft cost. I'm contacting Tom to see what he can do about it, and I'll be sure to reply with what he says, as well as get some pics up asap.
How durable is the front shaft if run in the rear? I can obviously pick one up for next to nothing and run it front/rear. Or order one from Jess at High Angle? Or check with the local ds shop and see what resplining and a new yoke will cost me I guess... Thanks!!

XJEEPER · Oct 27, 2003

Tom stands behind the product he sells. Give him a shot to make it good. Note that he also offers a lifetime warranty on his shafts, see his site for details. www.4xshaft.com

I spiraled a HD rear shaft once in Moab and he replaced it, no questions.

BTW, what gears do you run and what size tires are you turning?

sintax · Oct 27, 2003

If you decided not to run Tom's shaft, or if Tom will not replace it for whatever reason. I can HIGHLY recommend Jess from HighAngle. He did a great job on my driveline.

-Scott

MrShoeBoy · Oct 27, 2003

Mac where where you when the shaft exploded and how? This sounds like a good trail story.

I had CCC drivetrain in Charlotte do my rear shaft. The guy who built my driveshaft said that the shaft would survive anything I wanted to run in the Jeep. I cant remember how much but it was around $200 or so.

AARON

rockwerks · Oct 28, 2003

Ive had 2 TW shafts over the years both where average quality and didnt hold up very well, oen was out of balance a tonw when I got it!..Ive had much better luck with Arizona Driveline, they built my last two and the ones for the MJ, a good CV shaft around 200.00 long travel CV shafts 12 to 18" of splines are around 300.00

MountaineerMac · Oct 28, 2003

Aaron,

I blew it up on Lower 2, at the last obstacle. I made the climb, and at the very top, it exploded. It was sort of a long weekend for me breakage wise...1 draglink, 1 front ujoint & D30 shaft, and the rear driveshaft. But hey, it's all part of the game, and still had an awesome time. Lincoln's jeep (woodkrawler) did very well, as always.
I'm running 4.10 gears, 35" MT/Rs, with stock 231 w/ AA HD output, and stock 4.0. Not a combo for blowing up driveshafts in my opinion. I'll talk to Tom, but I know that I didn't opt to pay 20% more to get the 1 time replacement like he offers on his site. I'll see what he says...
Anyone ran 2 front driveshafts with good results?? Still wondering if this setup would survive? Thanks!

MrShoeBoy · Oct 28, 2003

I would say run a front shaft in the rear and when it blows, just replace it with another one from a junk yard as they arnt that expensive. You can spend the money for a custom built one but check the local places first and see how they compare to a "big" name brand like Tom Woods. I only went with a new one because in order to use the spare front shaft I had it would have to be shortened for my length and with all new joints and a CV, it was easier to spend the extra money for a new one. That is odd that the shaft decided to give up at the very end of lower 2. Figred it would have gone out earlyer towarsd the beginning.

AARON

Renegade Jpr · Oct 28, 2003

Time to get a 1 ton shaft from High Angle Drivetrain

Fullsizexj · Oct 28, 2003

Sounds like the axle wrapped and caused the axle end ujoint to bind, something like that will take out any driveshaft

azxjman · Oct 28, 2003

I run a waggy front ds in my rear it is beefier than anything I have seen "custum made"

Gary E · Oct 28, 2003

I am with Fullsize I think your problem was wrap not a weak ds. Especially since the ears broke.

MountaineerMac · Oct 28, 2003

I haven't had trouble w/ axle wrap in the past, but it could be a possibility. However - what would cause the splines to twist except poor quality?

4ward · Oct 28, 2003

Have you guys saying it was axle wrap run lower 2? I bettin' no since you live in the land of "I ain't headin' east". Lower 2 stresses everything on your junk. You don't get to crawl it like the rocks out west. I'm betting that you stressed it on the many many attacks at the several ledges and it was ready to go at any time. At least you didn't have to winch out from the last obstacle. Lower 2 egged out my yoke ears on my High angle shaft. Have you talked to Tom yet? He's had problems from time to time with some junk spline sections. Those 1310 joints are stronger than you think they are.

Sean

XJJPR · Oct 28, 2003

MountaineerMac said:
I haven't had trouble w/ axle wrap in the past, but it could be a possibility. However - what would cause the splines to twist except poor quality?

Too much torque. Too much bind. Too much right foot.

Anything can AND WILL break, period.

We all know how to put our parts thru the ringer when we wheel.

Look at what Stefanie did to stock one, then Jes broke it, the driveshaft, the next trip out:

Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw and has nothing to do with anything else.

Tom uses and makes good parts.

mark
orgs mfg

2offroad · Oct 28, 2003

check with Andy he has a new guy for shafts, he had them make the new shafts for the MJ he's building.

Carpenter · Oct 28, 2003

Mark Hinkley said:
Anything can AND WILL break, period.

Tom uses and makes good parts.

mark
orgs mfg

Ditto that. Unless they've blasted Lower 2 again I know the kind of, hmm hmm "effort" it takes to get over that last rock. Even with a stock 4.0 and stock low range that's alot of stress on the driveline. Give Tom a call and see what he has to say.

Rev Den · Oct 28, 2003

Mark Hinkley said:
Anything can AND WILL break, period.

Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw and has nothing to do with anything else.

mark
orgs mfg

This is something we ALL need to remember.

Rev

MountaineerMac · Oct 28, 2003

I won't deny that I was using the skinny pedal at all

As far as running the front shaft in the rear - who's doing it and how strong is it? I'm going to remove the 2 degree shim that is under my leafs now...Currently I have my pinion angle at - 2 degrees, so - 4 degrees will possibly take up some of the axle wrap. Any opinions?

Carpenter · Oct 28, 2003

MountaineerMac said:
I won't deny that I was using the skinny pedal at all As far as running the front shaft in the rear - who's doing it and how strong is it? I'm going to remove the 2 degree shim that is under my leafs now...Currently I have my pinion angle at - 2 degrees, so - 4 degrees will possibly take up some of the axle wrap. Any opinions?

I carried a front shaft as a rear spare but I would never consider running it as a full time deal. It's just not beefy enough. Have you called Tom yet?

FYI, pinion wrap affects operating pinion angles, not vise versa.

MountaineerMac · Oct 28, 2003

Yep - called Tom, and he said that he did get a bad batch of 150 splines about 3 years ago - if it's not one of those (and it's not likely) I'm out of luck, and the $25 it costs to ship it to him.

I'm likely going to just get it resplined at the local driveshaft shop, and have them beef it up a little. I've got another trip in 2 weeks, so I can't waste time or money when he says it'll be $150 to fix it...that's his estimate if it wasn't that batch of bad splines. Yea, it stinks, but life goes on. I'll do business elsewhere in the future. No big deal.

Grenaded Tom Woods shaft - Options?

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