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Snapped axle shaft tonight... Can I drive it?

A

Archdukeferdinand

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Boone, NC
:guitar:

So I got snow stuck and snapped my drivers side shaft at the ears and stub shaft ears.

Question: Can I drive it without the front shaft in as long as I've got the stub shaft still in? And does anyone have a 97 (big joints) HP30 drivers front shaft and stub shaft for sale?

All unstuck and sitting outside the shop now, sorry for no pics.
 
Dont drive it. It may cost you more in the long run
 
yes you can still drive it as long as you have the stub shaft in and torqued down.Might want to stuff a rage in the tube to keep grime out.
 
Wil Badger said:
yes you can still drive it as long as you have the stub shaft in and torqued down..
Click to expand...
X2
It will be FINE as long as it's torqued, and the ears aren't bent and hitting the inner "C"/knuckle (this can seperate the balljoints).
Wil Badger said:
Might want to stuff a rage in the tube to keep grime out
Click to expand...
You might have some rage from this happening, but a rag would probably work better :laugh:
 
Thanks for the replies, I couldn't see why it'd cause a problem as long as I still had the stub torqued and keep it in 2 wheel. I always thought my cheap advance u-joints would be the weak point, guess not.

Lucky as hell that it didn't bash out my balljoints as it was 6 degrees outside, 50 mph winds, snowmaking in progress and none of the heavy equipment that could have recovered that thing -1 wheel would fire up.

We'll see what happens, its not 2wd weather right now so it can sit at the shop. Will the snow clear before I find a replacement?


We are discounting something here, supsa may be planning something to make it cost me more in the long run for disobeying him.
 
I would pull the other inner shaft too, I wouldn't want the front diff spinning the fluid out of the open tube and making a much bigger mess.

then stuff a rag in both sides and keep the t-case in 2wd.


I've been running like this for about 9 months now. ;)
 
Drivers side, so typical. Almost never the pass side. I see a chrome molly inner and outer in your future...

Will's on the ball. If you remove the inner shaft and leave that old one bolted up to the hub, tht's the ticket. The Stub shaft holds the hub together, and without it it separates.
Get a rag and stuff it in the vacant axle tube.

I have traveled 3 hours (95% interstate) on a broken shaft with a front locker. All the ears were smooth by the time I got it off the trail, and I was too lazy to pull the hub. Drove it home, and it tore up the seal pretty bad. - I don't recomend it, it's just something I did once -

You don't have to do anything with the pass side shaft. If open, the missing drivers side shaft will act as a disconnect. If locked, it will do it's same ol, same ol.
 
Archdukeferdinand said:
Thanks for the replies, I couldn't see why it'd cause a problem as long as I still had the stub torqued and keep it in 2 wheel. I always thought my cheap advance u-joints would be the weak point, guess not.

Lucky as hell that it didn't bash out my balljoints as it was 6 degrees outside, 50 mph winds, snowmaking in progress and none of the heavy equipment that could have recovered that thing -1 wheel would fire up.

We'll see what happens, its not 2wd weather right now so it can sit at the shop. Will the snow clear before I find a replacement?


We are discounting something here, supsa may be planning something to make it cost me more in the long run for disobeying him.
Click to expand...

I have to ask...were you wheeling on Sugar Mountain??? ......:roflmao: Just curious since you said "snowmaking in progress"...lol.
 
BruceB83 said:
I have to ask...were you wheeling on Sugar Mountain??? ......:roflmao: Just curious since you said "snowmaking in progress"...lol.
Click to expand...


Close guess, Hawksnest. Had some serious natural AND we were making. A bit of night snowwheeling is implied when there are drifts over the hood of my 5" on 33s. We closed our golf course 2 years ago so there's 100+ acres of land that's just sitting while we battle the town over our expansion.

It was the first time I'd gotten to air the tires way down and what they did since I got the bfg 33 mts, and I was impressed.
 
Oh ok...never been there. How are the slopes compared to the others in the area? So by the way you're talking, I'm assuming you or your family owns it??? That's cool...we were actually planning on going skiing this weekend as of a couple weeks ago but we figured the weather would be sucky for skiing so we never booked/planned anything...and now look...it will be a nice Saturday for skiing. Son of a B....

About the axles...if you get in a bind and really need some, you'd have to pay shipping but I might be able to come up with some for you this weekend. I'm actually not too far from you so it should only take a day to get there. Keep me posted...
 
lowrange2 said:
:( Same here... goin on 2 months. It's sad.
Click to expand...

X2 for me also. The DS yoke broke apart on mine after installing new u-joints in November. I ordered Alloy USA shafts and they took one full month to get to me.:cry: I removed BOTH inner shafts to drive around in 2WD. We've only had 121" of snow so far this year.:smsoap: snow!

I drained most of the lube out of the diff and stuffed multiple plastic grocery bags in the tubes to keep the dirt out. This past Monday I installed new seals and carrier bearings along with the new shafts. It turns out the broken DS shaft beat the crap out of the DS carrier bearing.

Fran
 
Driving without an axle shaft on one side will cause spider gear wear....

D30 spiders are weak new.

I wouldn't drive on it more then a few months. But by that time you should have it fixed so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

We turned into a gas station about a year back, and the spider gears exploded into the ring and pinion. I just got the new axle in this morning. It was totally shot from running with no spider gears for a year.

I figured it would kill it but I didn't care because it needed ball joints and a complete rebuild anyway. Took me a year to get a parts truck!

Basically what I am posting is, you will be ok to drive it for a little while, but
it would be best to take the other shaft out if it will take you a while to replace it.
 
BruceB83 said:
Oh ok...never been there. How are the slopes compared to the others in the area? So by the way you're talking, I'm assuming you or your family owns it???
Click to expand...

Heh, nah I don't own it nor am I related to the owners (thankfully). I've just worked there for 4 years year round so I don't get hassled about stuff like this.

The terrain may well be the best in the area, but things like lack of aggression in snowmaking, an aging infrastructure and lack of leadership in the terrain park area frequently leave something to be desired. Pretty much a coin toss, we're cheaper and almost always less crowded than sugar and we keep on top of our grooming better than they do. But there's a reason sugar gets so crowded, they run a good mountain, they've got more vertical,more area, and deeper pockets which allows them to take the financial risk of making snow in more marginal or windy conditions (snowmaking is VERY expensive. We have to put down a $40k payment to bremco just fire up for the first time of the season).

As for the axles, I found a couple in town and it is all good though I really appreciate the offer. I made a trip down to alpharetta a couple of years ago to get some wheels, it really isn't that far to GA from here.
 
Wil Badger said:
You care to explain your thought process on this one?
Click to expand...


It's pretty straightforward. The tires turn the axles, the axles are splined into the side gears, and the spiders connect the 2 side gears.

When both axles are moving in the same direction at the same speed, this rotation is relayed to the ring gear. The absence of one shaft means that suddenly the spiders, which only usually see rotation in cornering are suddenly rotating full time. The trouble is 2 fold. The spiders do not ride on bearings and the gears are fairly coarse. With the spiders no longer transferring that rotational energy to the ring gear one is likely to remain out of the oil bath until it siezes and begins to rotate the carrier again.

Voila, burnt spiders (and side gears and possibly carrier).

get it now?
 
I grasp what your saying but really you are not going to burn up the spider itself.You are going to cause excessive wear on the actual shim behind the spider gear.
 
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