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Me and a couple of friends were just messing around with our cars. Doing burnouts, racing, donuts, spinning tires, drifting, and other things like that. We were in a closed parking lot where nobody could enter and no vehicles could come in, so nobody was in danger of getting hurt. Only us if we somehow crashed into each other. My friend who has an 03′ Eclipse was attempting to spin wheels when all of a sudden his axle snapped and his car couldn’t move. We thought his transmission blew up and we had to call a tow truck. The axle (which he is still trying to replace) had such a clean cut which amazed me. It looked like somebody cut it and it didn’t happen from what he was doing. So my question is what would cause such a clean cut? Heat? Too much torque for it handle?
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If you look closely at where it broke you can see where the shaft necks down to provide a groove for the CV boot to sit in. It is a natural stress point, so in my opinion there was just too much strain for the shaft to handle and it broke at the weakest point. I think that maybe your friend had the wheel turned and then hit the gas.
Really…the car wasn’t built to withstand that kind treatment but it looks to me like the metal had a defect in it. You can actually see rust around the break. Who knows, maybe it was done in manufacturing knowing it would be a weak spot.
I’m sure there are many disgruntled employees working in parts manufacturing.
Its kind of appalling how manufacturing companies, of any kind be it automotive or not, purposely produce faulty products that they intend for you to take to the dealer to have fixed, usually just after a warranty runs out. Brake pads are the best example
Yeah….Just like I’ve seen objects inside car doors that cause a rattle for some tech to find. I found a note inside a door once that said F*^k you asshole. That made my day.
I believe he was power braking yes. I agree with you guys on being partly the Manufacturers fault, but at the same time, just like wysetech said. The axle wasn’t prepared for all that. The axle still wont come out. Any suggestions for removing an axle?
BFH to remove the axle. =) are you sure he was brake torquing the front wheel drive automobile? 😛 IMHO i believe the shaft broke from abuse. If he has power mods and didn’t strengthen anything else, depending on the power more failures are to come. Interesting thread, thank u for posting
Pat
Well we finally removed the axle and the new one is already back on it. The car is finally back on the road after almost 2 weeks. 🙂 I agree the shaft broke from abuse and yes he does have quite a bit of performance mods on his car. Since its almost winter, hes going to put his car in a garage and build it over the winter. He’s going to be working more on the suspension so the car can handle the power. So now it won’t happen again. 🙂
Glad you got it sorted, thanks for keeping us up to date. To your original question. The reason is that the axle is made from hardened steel. Hardened steel is very strong but brittle. Under certain conditions it will break. With a FWD vehicle, if you have traction, and power, the weakest link is the axle. What you describe is a common problem with modified FWD vehicles.
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