Technical READ NOTE PLease! Broken axle shaft Right side and tonight the Left side broke.

View attachment 3293199 View attachment 3293199 View attachment 3293201 Hi all,
I hope you guys will read this.
NOTE!!!!!!
The axle shaft in the vise is the Right side which is the first one to break. It has been out in the weather until today when I took it in and took the pictures.
Also the next picture is the hub end of the axle which also has some rust on it from sitting outside in the weather.
Sorry for the confusion.
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I need some help,
A few weeks ago I broke the Right rear axle shaft on my 1946 Ford Kustom with a 1971 Nova 10 bolt rear axle.
My fault...... I killed the engine and this car being new to me while coasting down the road I was attempting to find neutral and re start the engine. Well I shifted it in to Park! BOOM axle shaft broke....4 hours and two rookies tow truck drivers and then a great guy from another company got me home.

Tonight I broke the Right axle shaft!! Not my fault!!
I was turning Left and lightly hit the gas and another BOOM, axle broke and down to riding on the U Bolts. Having skirts saved the axle shaft and tire from rolling down the road.

What is going on with the Left axle shaft breaking??

Don

 

Ill guess it broke at the same time as the other
The trans parrking pin is Not going to break An axle either
Have a look in there

 

I think it may have started when the right broke but didn't completely break.

Sent from my A520L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Is it a posi? I'm actually surprised it didn't blow up the parking paul in the transmission. A posi would have put the same strain on both axles, just like side stepping the clutch.

 

Good thing is that it didn't eat up the fender. or cause other damage. Part of that axle is somewhat discolored and then there is that gob of metal in the upper left corner of the photo. I'm not sure how long you had that rear and if you changed bearings in it when you put it in but there's a chance that someone burned up a bearing on that side at sometime in it's life and didn't chew up the axle enough to have to replace it appearance wise.

It may just be that you stressed it when you broke the other one and today it decided to crap out too.
At least you posted a high rez high quality photo that someone with more knowledge about broken axles might be able to tell more after they save it and expand the photo.

 

I was thinking that also. Probably should have replaced both shafts when the Right broke.

 

I have drivin it many miles after replacing the Right axle shaft.

 

Not a Posi.

 

Engine swap a banger....sure fire cure.

 

Thanks, yeah the fender skirts kept the axle shaft and tire from really leaving the car and causing real damage or injury.
Lucky thing is happened on a slow Left turn and not on the highway.

 

Ron Brown, I do not understand!!

 

He means, swap in a four cylinder flattie, and you won't worry about breaking axles.

Cosmo

 

Yeah I changed the bearing and seal and somewhat cleaned out the tube with de greaser and a long piece of conduit and some rags.
De greased and wiped out the gears and residue.

 

I get it.
Yeah it has a high compression 1968 Corvette 327 with a Tri Power but I do not 'get on it" like I am a teenager with Dad's car.

 

Way back in the mid 70's I stuck a Camaro axle under my 48 that came with a stripped Camaro and on the way home from the shop I made a 90 degree left hand turn onto the street I lived on and the axle walked out of the housing and the tire was half way outside the fender. Jacked the truck up, shoved the whole thing back in the axle and drove the mile home where I ran it in the garage and pulled the cover. The C clip was laying in the bottom of the housing and someone before me had had it apart and didn't put the clip back in. I stuck a new seal in it and drove it about 50K before I took it out.

 

You were very lucky indeed. It was probably hammered before you got it, You just helped it along. Once all cleaned out it should be good to go with two new axles. Make sure you get the bearings cleaned out good so bits won't score up the bearing surface.

 

What ever you decide to do get rid of that "C" clip axle type or put on disc brakes. When an axle breaks there is no way for it to stay in. You were lucky.

 

Good advice, I am really uncomfortable with this set up now. I was very lucky, twice!!
Taking the cover off this morning to see what is inside that looks suspicious.
I rotated the drive shaft and everything is smooth and turning OK.

 

I had a friend, a street rod builder tell me a similar story. He was behind his friend and saw the rear tire walking out. He got him to stop and they jacked it up also and pushed the tire and axle shaft back in and drove it many miles home.

 

he is being facetious. Too much power and twisting off axles. This ( )would have been appropriate on his post.

I am going to fathom a guess that the axles were already twisted and you stressed them with your panic stop. Luckily you had weak axles and they broke instead of the parking pawl. When you fuck up the weakest link always breaks.

my conjecture is that you bought a car that that was seriously abused or that the rear end was seriously abused before it ever found a home in that car. The old mare was rode hard and put up wet.

I would do two things, one is replace the axles and make sure that the housing is straight.

 

I posted some new pictures of the first axle shaft that broke this morning. The axle in the vise is the Right side and the first to break. It is RUSTY from sitting outside in the weather. Just took it in today from the pictures.

Good advice, I am really uncomfortable with this set up now. I was very lucky, twice!!

Taking the cover off this morning to see what is inside that looks suspicious.
I rotated the drive shaft and everything is smooth and turning OK.

 

So I was thinking of replacing both axle shafts even though the Right one only has 100 miles on it.

I need to get the cover off and study this more.

 

Normally if the housing is off it will be a bugger to slide the axle in. I would probably be inclined go back in with new or different clips the ones that were on those axles are pretty seriously stressed. I am not normally a parts replacer, but, for me it would be cheap piece of mind. Or if I wanted to spend money I could use a clip remover kit.

I would also take a pretty serious look at the cross shaft. Make sure that it is not galled or bent.

 

What is the "cross shaft"? Do you mean the Drive Shaft? Propeller shaft?
I am searching for information on that "clip remover kit" Found this,
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/ccrp...or-an-excellent-axle-upgrade-cutting-axle-end
Pretty involved.
I think there are other options for that C Clip eliminator but this option looks great.

 

When you install the new axel see if it goes in with ease, if you must beat it in I say the housing is bent.
I'll agree with Beaner I'd say the rear was junk to start with.

 

Why is the axle in the vice photo dry and rusty? Did it come out that way?

 

The cross shaft is the steel shaft that has the other two spider gears in the differential on it, the ones that are not splined to the axle shaft ends. When you remove the axles you have to remove the cross shaft so that you can push the axles in just a bit to remove the C clips from the axle.

 

Check number 39

 

Had that happen as well on an old C10. Look out the passenger side mirror and the tire was outside the fender! Shove it back in and keep going.

Looking at the top photos it the broken axle is part way into the bearing but the outer part still has over an inch of axle. Maybe the axle was already riding out before it broke.

 

The new picture of the broke one, by the rust in the break it was broke long before you had a problem.