Tell your broken axle stories

[JAy]

The drive shaft e-brake won't work if your wheels aren't connected to your diff anymore.

[jp-]

The drive shaft e-brake won't work if your wheels aren't connected to your diff anymore.

DUH, hello! It's been one of those days...sorry

[Tim Smith]

The drive shaft e-brake won't work if your wheels aren't connected to your diff anymore.

You are right there but JP might know more about my truck than he leads on. My ebrake hasn't worked properly in years.

[yorker]

you mean you travel around with a big rock to put under your tires too?

[Tim Smith]

you mean you travel around with a big rock to put under your tires too?

You too, eh?

Looks like you and I just shifted gear on the forum. Hooray, now I'm in forth.

It apears you've got a 5 speed though. Hmph, show off!

[yorker]

You too, eh?

Looks like you and I just shifted gear on the forum. Hooray, now I'm in forth.

It apears you've got a 5 speed though. Hmph, show off!

5th gear?! I don't drive anythig with a 5 speed!

My brake has been toast for a while- the backing plate got all screwed up last summer when I got high centered on a rock while fording a stream- Ike Goss really needs to make up some under body protection for the tranny/ transfer case...

[scott]

I had PD for about two months. Driving her inspired Jeff to get the QM back on the road. Our first trip together in a pair of '64 IIa SWB hit the big dirt hill on the south side of nine-mile hill west of Albuquerque. Did some impressive climbing for a couple of old trucks but after the adrenalin rush that follows a successful run came that little voice saying try that one over there. Taking a diagonal run up a steepy that instead of a two track had 18" ruts about every four feet. These ruts caused PD to sort of teeter going up. left rear left the ground and with the accelerator fully depressed, the right rear buried and when the left returned to terra firm the might of those 72 screaming horse transferred to the buried right rear and bang!. Axle didn't break but did twist a bit. The spider gears however exploded into more pieces than we could count. Now I have a front wheel drive series that I can't get out of low range and the 10 mile trip home was done at a top speed of 20 mph. I now have new 10 splines and a Detroit TRUTRAK. When the money isn't so rare I'll move the TRUTRAK to the front and put a Detroit Locker w/ 24 splined axles on the rear.

[TeriAnn]

Font axles:

#1 snapped when going through deep snow.
#2 Pulled front axles to replce broken front R&P gears & discovered a twisted front axle which I replaced before it broke.

I currently have 24 spline front axles & stronger 4.75:1 R&P gears.


Rear axles:

#1 while dragging a chicken shed up a hill (4WD)
#2 dry level pavement making a left turn from a stop sign. (2WD)
#3 coming out of a rocky stream crossing (4WD)
#4 dry pavement making a turn (2WD)
#5 drive pavement making a turn from a stop (2WD)
#6 climbing a hill of loose stuff when a tyre suddenly found good traction (4WD)
#7 climbing a steep dirt driveway in my own back yard (2WD)

After #7 I swapped in a Salisbury and have not broken a rear axle in the last decade.

[LaneRover]

So far I have only broken a rear axle. I did it in 2wd turning into the alley behind my apartment in Ocean Beach part of San Diego. Luckily there was enough of a lip between the alley and the road so I didn't have to roll all the way back into the road to lock the front axle.

Brent

[printjunky]

Loud clunk

At UMaine, and I had no reverse at the time (this was about '95 in my 2nd Ser. III), so I had to park in the distant lots along the Stillwater, so I'd be assured of being able to pull through and be facing out of the spot, and have a good exit.

I was showing the Rover off to a cute microbiology major (she wasn't that impressed) and upon takeoff, on the flat, dry pavement, got the dreaded loud clunk. Put the hubs in and drove off. The behind-the-barn-find Rover came with a ton of spares including a couple of spare shafts. Changed it within a few days, after class in that same parking lot, if I remember correctly.

Got the girl to take the lead in a play I was directing, but that's it.

[I Leak Oil]

I've taken out twisted axles before but never broke one. Went down past Hartford CT for a trail run a few years back. Upon entering the trail from the road I put it in lowrange, started to move out and heard a faint metalic "ping". Thought it was just a stone or stick kicked up underneath somewhere. Kept going but was getting frustrated because even the smallest ditches were presenting me problems. I remember one of the guys standing on the side of the trail saying "this guy is gonna break something" because I kept having to give the thing so much gas to get anywhere. So I'm thinking to myself that this guy doesn't know jack....About an hour later I come to a set of cross axle gullies that go up a slight hill, just about to the top and all of a sudden I lose all forward momentum and the engine starts racing....I go nowhere! Had to unlock the front hubs because the front end was locked solid. So the guy that owns Classic 4X4 tows me out of the woods with his RRC and I call a tow truck from the local DPW parking lot. I have AAA premium which covers 100 miles of towing per shot. It's 99 miles back to my house!
Well it was busted spider gears in the rear diff. and missing ring gear teeth in the front diff. This is the ONLY time in 14 years I haven't been able to drive my truck home under it's own power.
This was when I was much less experienced to know what that "ping" was. Today when I hear that type of sound I chalk it up to paranoia but tell my wife and friends it's "experience".
Jason T.

[pvkd]

I sent an original Land Rover axle out for composition analysis and destructive testing a year or two ago. I wrote something up about it on this board I thought but can't find it. Anyway, as said, these shafts are pretty decent, all things considered. The weakness comes from being a relatively hard shaft with the combination of a small diameter. Failures occur from work hardening and in the end all original Land Rover shafts will succomb to this. They're a good shaft, and good enough for people with small tires that don't off-road too much. Even so, the shafts should be changed every 20k-30k miles and a spare set should be carried along.

With bigger tires or moderate to heavy off-road use you're best off to upgrade to something stronger. Here's what I use:

Do you have any experience whit the robustness of a Salisbury in the rear and standand Rover in the front on a 109? I have a locker in the Salisbury but I am tempted to ut one in the front too.

What alternatives do you recomend for the front?

Thanks,


Paul

[Alaska Mike]

Check Mercedesrover's website for upgraded axle shafts. Combined with a coiler or Toyota (e-locker) 3rd member, it's a pretty beefy upgrade for the vast majority of Rover owners.

[CliftonRover]

I was in a mud pit and was stuck mildly in our stock 88 with 265/75 BFG all terrains. I was using the "drag a shoe" method to get my self free. This involves being in fist or second gear low range, just above idle, and you tap the break lightly and quickly. you will feel the steering wheel kick a little, this is the power being kicked back and forth from either wheel on the front axle. this works well if you are off camber, with wheels that have little weight on them. I then heard a small clunk and snapped a front axle.
At the time I was only 15 so I hurried back to the barn to get a truck to tow it out and then replace the axle before my father got home. th job was not finished in time but because I was doing the work it wasn't a big deal.
I decided that it must have been that axles time to go because it broke really easily. Later in our 109 with a 200 tdi I decided that the standard brakes weren't good enough and that if I accelerated hard i could snap an axle, so I fitted a set of discovery axle housings. these are a huge improvement, they took a little fab work but it was worth it.

[Momo]

TeriAnn, if you read the fine print in the owner's manual, it says specifically:

"Under no circumstances should hillclimb manouevers be attempted whilst dragging feed troughs, poultry coops or skiffs loaded with drunken Pipers. These practices may result in premature axle failure and will void your factory warranty".