Axle issues / annoyance

[Opie]

Been tracking the car for 4 years, over 200 days on track so far and recently I've been melting the left side axle grease at every event.

First time this ever happened was at the 2 year mark, was a hot, summer event at Road Atlanta. Didn't think much of it and replaced the axle. Now, 2 years later same thing happened last month at Sebring (hot, summer event). This time I replaced the axle, wrapped the exhaust, installed a DEI heat blanket and the Cusco Axle boot heat shield. Went to Daytona this weekend and melted the grease out of that new axle again.

So I have a few questions....
1) Earlier this year I went from a standard stainless steel exhaust to a Tomei Titanium exhaust...does titanium release more heat than a stainless steel exhaust? Think this is making the problem worse?

2) I have all the supplies needed to rebuild/repack/reboot these last 2 axles with a higher temp CVJ grease (Redline CV-2), should I install a breather straw when I do this?

2a) Please explain how the breather straw works...it seems the grease would just come out the straw and cause the same problem....is this really a viable solution? See pic

3)Anything else people can suggest from experience on a solution to this?

It's more annoying than anything, I have several spare axles and have no problem rebuilding them...but would like to reduce the frequency...

[Opie]

Originally Posted by BlkTrax

Went thru something similar with my '02 WRX, Kept blowing front outer boots.

At the time had the Soft Neoprene Rubber outers, basically after getting the brakes hot and speeds over 110 the boots were expanding from centrifugal force and cutting themselves on the strut mount to the knuckles (Feal 441's).

Swapped axles to the OEM style Hard plastic outer axle boots , shaved the bottom strut mounts a touch, and added brake cooling ducting. Never had the Problem again.

You may be able to solve the issue if you can get less heat transfer from the rotors into the axle, and/or duct air to cool the Diff area. Consider, heat is only transferring straight up when standing still, the exhaust route in front of that inner Boot is still basically Hair Dryer blasting that inner boot at speed.

Difference is my issue is the rear left side inner boot only....outer boot (near the brakes) are fine. I can actually touch it after this occurs, and while the outer boot is warm...it doesn't liquify the grease and distort the boot like the inner, the liquefied grease will burn you if you touch it after a session...so I don't think it's a rear brake or bearing issue since it only affects the inner boot.

For reference, the right side (passenger) axle is still the original one an has no issues....left side (drivers) is on the 3rd OEM axle...

[NoHaveMSG]

I'd install a breather. The grease should fling to the outside of the boot and not push out the straw. I know rice_classic runs a breather and heat shield.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...&postcount=111

[racingfool]

Originally Posted by Opie

Cusco Axle boot heat shield.

This? I don't see it.

[Opie]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

I'd install a breather. The grease should fling to the outside of the boot and not push out the straw. I know rice_classic runs a breather and heat shield.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...&postcount=111

I guess I will try that and see what happens!

Originally Posted by racingfool

This? I don't see it.

Yes, it arrived and was installed after the pic was taken.

[rice_classic]

Can I confirm what I think I’m reading?

200 track days in 4 years or 50 per year and you’re changing an axle once every 2 years or 100 track days? If that’s the case, that’s really good, we should all be so lucky because 100 track days on an axle is a level of reliability I think damn near anybody could get behind.

Breather hose - very little of any thing comes out besides hot air and that’s why it’s there solely to keep the boot from ballooning.

Grease - if you’re not running “the good grease” then solve for that but after a year of track days just pull the boot back check the grease and add more if needed or remove and refresh.

The diff fluid is part of the heat equation. Metal conducts heat quite well so if your diff fluid is 250f then so is your axle grease plus whatever other heat is introduced to it or that it generated itself. You can install a greddy doff cover to reduce diff temps and as a byproduct less temp will be transferred into the cv.

[rice_classic]

Just an fyi - I have switched away from using brass breather tubes to just using the red sticks that come with wd40/brakleen cans (cut them in half).

[Opie]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

Can I confirm what I think I’m reading?

200 track days in 4 years or 50 per year and you’re changing an axle once every 2 years or 100 track days? If that’s the case, that’s really good, we should all be so lucky because 100 track days on an axle is a level of reliability I think damn near anybody could get behind.

Breather hose - very little of any thing comes out besides hot air and that’s why it’s there solely to keep the boot from ballooning.

Grease - if you’re not running “the good grease” then solve for that but after a year of track days just pull the boot back check the grease and add more if needed or remove and refresh.

The diff fluid is part of the heat equation. Metal conducts heat quite well so if your diff fluid is 250f then so is your axle grease plus whatever other heat is introduced to it or that it generated itself. You can install a greddy doff cover to reduce diff temps and as a byproduct less temp will be transferred into the cv.

Thanks for the reply rice_burner, my small brain couldn't get around the "all the grease will fly out the tube" thought.

Yes, first (Original OEM) axle lasted 2 years, around 100 days on track. Actually failed at Road Atlanta one day and I didn't have a spare and still ran the greaseless one at Barber the next day. Replaced that one with another spare OEM. It lasted until Sebring last month, total of about 18 months & 70 days on track. So I replaced it again with a "take-off" OEM out of a parts car...this one failed at my next event at Daytona this past weekend.

I have some Redline CV-2, new boots and clamps to repack the one I just took out...just wanted to be sure this should be a "fix", Thanks!

Love your build thread, we have a crew in Florida all with dedicated 86 track cars...just don't campaign them in any series currently.

[Opie]

OK, so interesting follow up to this. Our group keeps a pretty large inventory of spare parts from parts cars we purchase. When I had a previous axle issue I just grabbed a "used" axle off the shelf and installed it. After the replies on this thread I decided to take apart one of the parts car axles before it was ever used on track so I could repack it and add the straw vent....this is what I found.

The Axle grease might as well have been water with a little grease added. I'm sure this one would've lost all its axle lube after a few session. The axle was from a car with approx 60k on it.

If you are tracking...remove the boots, clean and repack these things with a better grease to avoid an issue. I used Redline CV2 grease and suspect the issues I was having will be very less frequent now.

[rice_classic]

I just repacked 3 brand new OEM axles on Monday. The OEM grease (when new) has an almost identical consistency to Redline CV2 but instead of red it is yellow. Grease is functionally oil with thickeners and additives. While the CV2 grease will withstand the abuse and heat better than the OEM grease, keep in mind that it too breaks down and at some point will come out looking like that. You'll still need to service and repack but in doing so you should be able to avoid axle failures! What CV2 gives you is a greater operational threshold regarding heat.

I have 3 greases that I will put in axles, CV2 being the thinnest of them. Other incredible greases to consider: Swepco 101 and Amsoil Polymeric Off Road grease (thickest by a massive margin) - just in case you like to try different things.

[Opie]

It looked like the CV2 had the highest drop point temp. As I was thinking temp was the problem...now I'm beginning to think it was due to using axles with "old" grease.

Also will be try Lucas X-Tra Heavy Duty & Lucas Red "N" Tacky #2 in a few different axles if the future and see how they hold up.

[Autoxer62]

The re-pack job looks pretty straightforward, I assume it's clean out the old grease and replace with new, the part I'm most hesitant on is clamping on the new boots. Suggestions on where to source the boots/clamps? I'm guessing there's a crimper tool I need as well? I looked but couldn't find a how to, is there one on doing the job?

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Autoxer62

The re-pack job looks pretty straightforward, I assume it's clean out the old grease and replace with new, the part I'm most hesitant on is clamping on the new boots. Suggestions on where to source the boots/clamps? I'm guessing there's a crimper tool I need as well? I looked but couldn't find a how to, is there one on doing the job?

I bought a generic crimper and clamps off Amazon. You have to be careful not to get them too tight or they will pop off. The tool less ones work okay if need be. I have had one of the on my car most of the year and it has been fine.


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[Opie]

Originally Posted by Autoxer62

The re-pack job looks pretty straightforward, I assume it's clean out the old grease and replace with new, the part I'm most hesitant on is clamping on the new boots. Suggestions on where to source the boots/clamps? I'm guessing there's a crimper tool I need as well? I looked but couldn't find a how to, is there one on doing the job?

Inner Boot Kit from Subaru (Includes boot, 2 clamps and OEM grease you can throw away); P/N: 28497FE021
Outer Boot Kit from Subaru (Includes boot, 2 clamps and OEM grease you can throw away); P/N: 28496CA000
Toyota has similar kits...but I haven't confirmed what they include
Toyota Inner Boot Kit: SU003-03648
Toyota Outer Boot Kit: SU003-00795

Smaller Clamp Subaru: P/N: 23242GA360
Larger Clamp Subaru (this is a WRX P/N, was told it is the same diameter) P/N: 23424GA400
Inner Boot Subaru: P/N: 28423FE050
Outer Boot Subaru: P/N: 28423FE040

Set of 3 universal boot clamps (2 fit perfectly, Inner or Outer Boot); Dorman 03637

If you are careful, and crafty...you can reuse the original boot clamps...would only recommend reusing them once. Also if the boot isn't physically torn, and is in good shape it can also be reused.