breakage

[swampers83]

My bud and i were out wheeling and he has one tough setup. Dana 60 front and a 14boltFF in the rear both detroit locked and 5.13 geared. Anyways, i thought his drivetrain was bulletproof. However, while climbing a hill (not too big but fairly steep) his front axle shaft broke right in half!! on a dana 60? Also he only had 35" BFG all terrains w/ no tread left. I guess my question is that even if you have a big axle can it become weak if it is old? THANKS!

chevy-like a rock

 

[Executioner]

No
Unlike human bones that get old/weaker with age, axles remain there strenth over the usefull life.
unless you over stress them.

 

[6.2Blazer]

Did the actual shaft break, or was it the u-joint that broke?

Concerning metal parts getting weak over time, yes they can and yes they do. Any time a part is contantly undergoing varying torque loads you will experience fatigue of that part over time and it will eventually break. The harsher the torque loads are, the quicker the material fatigues and will fail. In other words, if you contantly run the %^&% out of a truck you can break anything, a heavy duty part might just take a few more tries. If you run the truck easy, it might take 100 years to fatigue an axle shaft to break, if you run it really, really hard...it might take two days.

Executioner, since I know you will ask this, if you want facts go buy a "strength of materials" book or a machinery design handbook.

P.S. - you did get me on the Gov-Lok/additive topic.

 

[Burt4x4]

Haha LOL 6.2

Rock ON!

72 K5

Led Zeppelin
http://burt4x4.coloradok5.com

 

['73 K5]

Executioner...I think you're the only guy on CK5 that takes joy in correcting people. Chill out. There is a difference between educating someone and making them feel stupid.

'73 K5
Chevy good...Ford bad

 

[titanic]

Not all 60 axle shafts are the same-early years had a shaft that was just slightly larger than a 44's. I've seen front housing that had so much mud and water packed inside that the shafts were rusted down with deep pits and I know that had to weaken them somewhat.

 

[HarryH3]

I've seen several axles break on what would seem to be "easy" trails. It seems that you can twist or crack an axle shaft on a really hard run and it might take a little more abuse before it finally breaks. The crack could have been there for months.

A friend with a 500 ci, fuel injected Scout broke an axle while idling up a nice easy section of rocks. It had taken LOTS of abuse from that engine on previous runs.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com