I am dying to know how many people have actually broken an axle shaft on the trail and how many just fall the the hype one must replace perfectly good shafts with RCV, ten factory, etc because they read it on the internet this must be done?
I still have stock shafts from 2007 in my Rubicon and it is not a trailer queen or mall crawler yet I receive more crap both on the forums and at the trial head for my so called 'stock' dana 44s.
I've seen a decent amount of worn joints and a break while out wheeling with stock axle shafts. I've also seen in a local shop a pile of JK rear shafts that were either broken or twisted. I'm sure it just depends on how and where you wheel. Like I have a leaking tube seal so I took it upon myself to upgrade to a nitro shaft and when I bought my proRock 44 I did TEN Factories because why not. They are beefy
You are correct, wheeling style and use of the right foot has a lot to do with it. If I break something, then I consider the upgrade but also the fallout...i.e. what is going to happen to the adjacent part?
That's exactly why I chose the Ten Factory over the RCV. Besides being cheaper I can replace a broken u joint or snapped shaft. I can't do gears. With RCV it's generally the R&P that takes the blunt of it. Especially with 1350 drive shaft. As you said. It's all about the adjacent part (weakest link)
I got RCV's to replace my "that u-joint isn't built anymore", front shafts. They were the only thing in stock, in the area and they were $200 more than factory shafts. OH, it was Labor Day weekend as well.
I've owned my Jeep since 2014 and have broken a total of 3 shafts including this one. All were driver side, the first 2 broke due to the caps falling out while driving. That destroyed the stub and ball joint. My latest one happened last Sunday. Here's the shaft I broke. Tire got wedged in a little under cut and when I tried to reverse it blew up. Easy on the pedal and not bouncing as I was not on a obstacle.
I'm running 315/70/17 tires and I like to and have run some pretty tough trails here in Az. Now let's say I move to a set of chromoly shafts. Does that now create a new weak point in my drivetrain?
Probably your driveshafts if they are still stock. Then it also depends on your axles, what gears you're running and probably some other variables that I'm not considering. I'm sure someone else will chime in
RCV's were a Christmas present one year, it would have been a shame to leave them in the box. I have twisted the splines on my ten factory rear driver shaft though.
Drive lines are Oem and Gear rattio is 5:38s. Im easy on the pedal and I play in the rocks. I've seen some guys here locally blowing up ring and pinions on stock jeeps with 33s. Driving style is a big factor.
Broken front RCV - passenger side Rubi D44, JKU with 37" Nitto's @ 10psi.
Stripped the splines at the bell/wheel end of the long axle shaft where it enters the CV.
Something had to give...I was reversing uphill at close to full lock, out of a rock pile and didn't realize my rear driver shock mount was hard against a big pointy rock
I waasn't bouncing, just progressively adding a bit more throttle each time waiting for the rear tire to climb. Never happened!
I'm guessing the front passenger tire had plenty of traction
RCV were awesome and sent me a new one and a rebuild kit within a few days!!
Got it installed and wheeled it a little down at King of the Hammers without incident.
2007 JKU 6 speed D30/D44 with 4.88s running a 325/80R16 tire, measures in at 36.25 inches at 28 psi with the full weight of the jeep on it. Aussie Locker up front Detroit locker in the rear, running stock D30 shafts, trussed, gusseted, sleeved D30 with riddler covers and have not broke anything. ten factory chromoly rear shafts only put in only because it was time to do rear bearings. 86,000 miles total, about 65,000 of which have had this setup, It has been on trails in AZ, CA, TX, NM, CO, MI, and IN. I am not by any means a speed demon and go extremely easy on the skinny pedal under the belief that I am driving a ticking time bomb, yet it has yet to explode.....
I'm a cautious wheeler, light skinny peddle and use finesse when bumping not a throttle jockey. Wheeling 37's on built stock axles with 5.13 gears. So far I never broke anything in my driveline with stock or Ten factory or RCV shafts. I did bend the Ten Factory flanges.
I recently upgraded to the RCV 300m rear shafts because Fusion told me to lol. I drive my rig 500+ miles with wife and 2 kids to take wheeling/camping trips and don't want to deal with broken parts and being stranded. Luggage and gear for 4 people eats up a lot of storage so carrying extra shafts is a pain.
After fusion recommended 300m rear shafts I started reading up. There's a story on a couple forums about Bobby Long testing a 300m axle shaft in a machine he built to test drive lines to failure. The long 300m shaft twisted 12x360 degree rotations without failure and returned to within 5 degrees of true. 300m is slightly springy this reduces shock load into the gears on wheel spinning bumps. It's not break proof but it is a shock absorber for your gears a little extra protection doesn't hurt. It's expensive my rear RCV's cost more than my chromoly front RCV's. But I wanted the best I could get for my set up.
For what it's worth here's a couple pics of a Ten Factory rear shaft I pulled on the left and the RCV 300m rear shaft on the right. There's a couple differences in their designs besides the material you can plainly see in person the RCV is stronger. The spline area doesn't have the neck down where it transitions to the shaft which is where you typically see chromoly break. And the shaft is fatter for almost all its length before the spline area...
Stock Rubi D44 rear shaft, stock 4.10 gears, 35" Nitto Mud Grapplers, 5.7L Hemi.
Snapped the driver's side rear shaft at the splines inside the diff clean in two climbing up a dry waterfall, a little too much skinny pedal plus bounced on a ledge = snap. Still made it up the waterfall. Didn't even realize it had snapped until I shifted out of 4WD and the Heep wouldn't move. It now serves as a paperweight on my desk.
Replaced with Alloy USA chromoly's. Been wheeling with them for 5 years, no breakage.
I know a member on here that broke his Dana 30 axle shaft last year at Easter Jeep Safari. I can't remember which after market shaft he was running but it was a chromoly shaft. Of course having a 430 hp LS3 motor under the hood and running 5.13 gears probably helped break the axle shaft. He's just sent me a picture of a pair of Prorock 60's he just got.
I've been running a Dana 30 with standard axle shafts for over 20 years on three different Jeeps and yet to break one. But I'm cautious about using the gas peddle and prefer using gearing (4 to1 t-case).
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