any one else have failures?

I might be wrong, but there is still no real clarification as to what the root cause is for the axles to break, is there (i.e. lowering the car, too much power, too much grip, etc.).

All of what you said minus too much power and add aggressive launching.

Bob from drift office posted pictures from another slammed 86 that snapped an axle or two on facebook. He said it's pretty much certain that the geometry of a suspension that's lowered way too far causing the failures. He could offer a whole lot more specifics than I could though.

Not trying to thread jack, have been looking for a but so i figure this is the best place to ask.

I'm looking at lowering the car, but after reading this, im trying to figure out how low before axle geometry is skewed and putting excess stress on the axles? I see PSM has the diff risers.

If you raise or lower the suspension, you run the risk of causing excess strain on the cv joints on the axles. Diff risers may help, but I don't know. After I swapped axles with another used FR-s axle all seems fine.

Please read all posts that have listed why their axles have failed (including mine). Then take into consideration that you run the risk of breaking axles if you decide to lower, so save some extra dough for axles or a lot of dough for DriveShaftShop axles, and lower away! :burnrubber:

Yeah i've been reading through here and seeing what/when/how peoples axles are breaking.

By chance @markmatley, How much lower are you? Stock wheels/tires?

At the time of breakage, I was actually about an inch higher than stock. Stock height (from Toyota headquarters) is about 7" I believe from the center of the rear subframe bolt that connects to the lower control arm to the ground. Mine at the time was ~8". This was done just for looks, low in the front, and only a tad bit higher than stock in the rear. Also at that time, I had stock wheels and tires.

As of replacing my axle, I am dropped down to .5" lower than stock in the rear, with a wheel and tire set that matches the height of the stock wheel and tire set. I am only 10mm's wider than stock. No noise or grinding, just tire rub when I hit these horrendous potholes on Oahu.

Hope that helps.

I seem to get a loud clicking noise from inside the car down toward the rear of the transmission tunnel (altho cant be sure), whatever though the noise is definitely toward the rear of the car. I only seem to get this clicking sound after I've been driving 5 mins, it's never there straight away. It's definitely not trim related like a rattle or anything and seems to get gradually louder during "spirited" driving and then seems to disappear if I switch off and come back to the car an hour later. Sound like a CV joint?

Just went under the car today. Inner cv boot on the passenger side torn. Now will I need to change out the whole axle or just the boot? My car is lowered rear finger gap. Thanks in advance.

I plan on dropping my FR-S in the future, and I'm definitely interested in this topic. On my previous car (Altima Coupe), I had axle problems as well once it got low enough on coils. After going through a few sets of axles... I gave my axles to this guy http://www.gatorracingaxles.com and they held up really good, and all he did was upgrade the boots and grease.

My friend said frs/brz are really weak once lowered. So I might get upgraded axle just to be safe. Taking mine to the dealer tomorrow to get the ripped boot a check. So hopefully something gets replaced under warranty.

http://www.driveshaftshop.com/import...-in-rear-axles

All of my issues have been passenger side.

I'm pretty low though and drift the car. MAX risers getting installed soon. Upgraded axles alone aren't enough. They're still going to be at an extreme angle and get premature wear. Risers are the better option as they'll help eliminate the issue. If you never want to worry again, do both.

Doing just the DSS axle upgrade won't be enough though if you're lowered a good few inches. We have a couple pages about this topic in the drifting thread under the track section.

You'd rather break the ring/pinion?

This is what I was getting. Eventually it will settle down on an rpm range. Mine was ticking at 1k to 2.5k and would go away at higher rpm's. Eventually this will lead to a break at the CV joint at the diff.

Funny you mention this...my friend just told me about them for his FWD. I emailed them to see if they work with RWD axles.

Hahaha! I don't think he wants that. And I don't quite follow your post? Would he break the ring/pinion if he drove it a bit to the dealership to get the CV boot checked out?

I am starting to wonder if it is honestly just a hit/miss on whether you will end up with a broken axle once you start dropping the car and/or adding more power. One of the forum members has been tracking his lowered car, with additional power and has not had any issues: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...03#post1686903

Hope I did not jinx him :\

Anyone got a part number for the axle? Definitely am going to pick one up and include it in the autoX kit. Seems like a "not if, but when" issue.

ebay...about $125..left and rights are the same

Bill

With my car being lowered and FI, I feel like this is a matter of time for me. When the axel goes, does it tend to take anything with it? Does it give any warning that it's about to snap? Has anyone had their axel break without noticing a creaking/clicking sound before hand?

so do we have any fixing solution yet? aftermarket axle like DSS would help?

It looks like DSS axles would help for owners aiming for high horsepower and hard launches. Not sure if there are replacement axles for those of us who just want a little more power and the car lowered.

regarding to most reviews, seems like the problem is on the inner CV joint, and DSS redesigned the inner CV using Porsche style. I haven't do much research compare both designs so I have no idea if the Porsche style would be a fix for this problem. Any idea?

Car: FR-S '13
Miles: 27,500
Use: Daily Driver and Drift
Lowered: Yes, about 3"
Power: Tomei 60R and Cat Delete Pipe
Forced Induction: No
Axle broke story: Car was drifted hard for about 12,000 miles, and from then on has been daily driven with occasional hard launches and spirited driving.
Passenger/Driver: Passenger

I am replacing both of them at once for peace of mind and have the diff risers and subframe risers on order. Has anyone installed just one or the other of the risers?

Also did anyone have any damage to their diff when this happened?

What lca's is everyone running? I just don't understand this issue I'm lowered 3+ inches on stock lca's and the axle angle doesn't look bad at all.

I'm running Stance LCA's, and just purchased some Driveshaft Shop axles today. Hopefully they will be here for this weekend and I can slap them in with the oil change and tranny and diff change.

So what happens when you have stronger axels but the force and abuse is still going somewhere. What if you break a driveshaft? Or worse diff/ring/pinion gears?!?

then i upgrade those parts lol.

Hey guys. Need some opinions.. A friend of mine brought me to this thread and I started to pay attention.

So over the weekend I noticed a very faint ticking near the rear driver side while in motion. I have to roll down the window and drive beside a sidewalk or wall (something to bounce the sound back) in order to hear it.

Could this be an early sign of this cv joint/axle issue? I'm lowered approx 1" on coilovers. Stock power + 18x7.5 wheels + sticky tires. Only DD'ing with the occasional redline. No hard launches/clutch drops.

I don't think so. My clicking noise was loud and only noticeable while accelerating from a stop, not cruising at speed.

It's possible but not likely. If you hear a faint ticking while the wheels are turning, and it changes speed with wheel speed (not loading, accel, etc), you probably just have a rock (or nail) stuck in the tire. A dying CV joint would typically make the most noise under load (accel) and deflection (in our case, compressed or lowered suspension; or in a FWD platform when the front wheels are turned), not just spinning freely with the wheel like when coasting or cruising at low throttle.

I've ordered my FRS and after reading all of this it baffles me as to why Toyota or Subaru hasn't done anything about this yet? I know they plan on changing up the suspension for the 2015 model, but why nothing with the axel? From some of these posts, it seems like this problem persists with cars straight off of the lot. I remember test driving an FRS and as sales guy brought the car around I heard some of the ticking, it didn't strike me as a problem. Until I read this thread...

Because the stock setup seems to be reliable, there has yet to be someone completely stock with a broken axle. If you'll notice every single post in this thread is on some form of aftermarket suspension and/or has made significant changes to the power output.

The ticking/clicking may just be a loose axle nut allowing some slop in the assembly, lubricating and torquing the nut should fix the noise.

Okay that makes sense, but even so one goal the developers had in this car was for the consumer to tune and customize it to their liking. IMHO, this seems like a serious limitation suspension wise.

As has been said before and will be said many more times: you have to pay to play.

If it's any consolation there are many cars on aftermarket suspension with no issues, it seems to be more prevalent with cars that have 1" or greater drop and changes from the OEM geometry.

I personally think it could be. Iwould only hear the ticking from the axle when i had some riding with me, thus putting more weight on that side. my noise also only seemed to be audible when i was downshifting or slowing down in gear. not so much when accelerating.

So you want to have your cake and eat it too :bonk:

As others have said, pay to play. If you plan on adding additional power over stock or modifying the suspension, go ahead and pay extra for new axles. I read in another thread, that whatever your budget is for modifying the car, go ahead and double it.

Same here mine was only happening in first from a stop. I was only on a 20mm drop when it happened. But lots of autox launches.

Yeah I mean a guy can dream can't he?

http://askastudent.utoronto.ca/wp-co.../03/getout.gif



:wub:

Thanks for the replies. I guess I was a bit paranoid. Drove around yesterday and noticed the ticking went away. So I'm guessing it was something stuck to the tire which probably got dislodged. I will keep an eye on this thread going forward.