Friends, I took my rear axle out to do some maintenance and found the
left axle shaft twisted at the splines. While I have had this happen
with the stock axles, I had hoped that these new axles would have
solved that. You may want to take yours apart and check them out this
winter. I plan on calling Southwick and Moser Engineering (who I
believe made the axle shafts) to see if there is anything that they
can do to prevent this from happening again - perhaps a better steel
alloy or heat treating?. Maybe it is the wider and stickier tires
(Hoosier R3S03, 225-45-15's) that I use in the SCCA that has
contributed to this, but it is still a problem for me. Also to
complicate the issue, this is the side that I got hit on last year. I
got hit in the left tire and it was enough to tear the axle housing
off of the frame where the 4-link attaches, but it was not enough to
damage the wheel. I think that I pulled the axle shaft to inspect it,
but I did not keep a record of it (not very good at recordkeeping
anyway), so now I am not 100% sure. Additionally, I use a Detroit
Locker so things are locked up in the corners. The locker is,
however, not harsh and does not bang in and out.
I will keep you posted if I figure anything out. Joe(B)
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