Evade catastrophic failure. Had Complete Failure instead

[douglas vincent]

MY front left axel had been clicking as of late, then I rallycrossed it. It started clicking a little more but I wasn't worried as i had ordered a new axel a few days ago.

Well, nothing like losing the axel while traveling quickly on the freeway. Luckily it just jerked the steering around real bad for awhile as I turned around and dropped my brother off. The jerking would come and go but it was manageable until I got back to the shop.

Or so I thought. I dropped my brother at his house, went around a corner, heard a nasty crunching clicking noise, drove another block, turned another corner to get back on a straight stretch I could drive slow on (I am about 7 miles from my shop at this point). At this point the steering is jerking so bad I can barely hold the steering wheel straight to I turn another corner and pull over and feel to see if the wheel is going to fall off. Nope, everthing is still tight.

Turn back onto the straight away and at this point there is another noise and then just constant clicking but I can steer.

I make it back to the shop and 15 minutes later I have the axel out of the car. In two pieces. There are no ball bearings, the chase (?) is broken into quite a few pieces and needless to say, the boot is a tad bit torn up.

Well, time to yank the axel out of my new car and swap it in! I guess I will get a jump on rebuilding that engine now.

[douglas vincent]

Well, 45 minutes later, I pulled my axel out, pulled an axel out of my wifes 1990 sedan which is awaiting a clutch, and stuck it back into my wagon. On the road again!

[elkaboom]

Ahh, fair maiden necessity(sp?), the mother of invention. Glad to hear you're up and running again. This is the sc, nitrous machine, right?

[douglas vincent]

Yep, its running 7-8 psi now with no problems!

[G-reg]

I had always wondered how well the Viscous Diff worked…..Didn’t really need to find out like this

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... highlight=

[vrg3]

That's the constant velocity joint in the axle, not the viscous coupling in either differential.

[G-reg]

Um, Yea. But when the front left pops all the front power goes through that open diff to the now flailing axle. So to keep the car moving the center diff had to keep power to the rear. If I was reeeely easy on the gas the car would go just fine, the axle spinning in it's little ice cave. If I gave it too much gas you could feel the limited slip....well slip and the axle would accelerate and the car, well would not.

[vrg3]

Oh... yeah, sorry, I see what you were saying.

Yeah, the weakness of the center diff is something ciper loved to point out.