Have you had to replace any axles?
 

My car is down for its yearly thorough inspection after lots of track time. I have the rear axles out just to take a look to see if they are trashed since I had a bit of noise coming from the rear of the car and that is a known failure point. There are no cracks in the cages but there is some noticable wear on the cages. I am debating whether or not I should just bite the bullet and order a set of DSS axles now while it is all apart.

I am wondering how many track guys have had to replace their axles. If its very few I will likely hold off for now but if it seems pretty common (always hard to tell from the reports on the forum) then I will probably go ahead and do it. I plan to have forced induction on the car next year but don't plan to go above 300whp.

Thoughts?

Mine was replaced at 33000 miles.

-alex

Quite a few of us drift guys have blown axles on stock power levels.

Granted we're drifting and some of us are pretty low, but just to give you an idea.

I planned on eventually upgrading as used axles are like $200 each and brand new one from Toyota/Subaru is like $400. Might as well just bite the bullet and spend the $900 on DSS ones and not worry about it again imo.

I asked this in another thread but didn't get an answer. Are the axles symetric, meaning one part number?

It's fairly common, even on NA cars, particularly ones that are lowered.

PM us to get a set of DSS axles.

why are the axle blowing up on lowered car ? what is the symptom ? do they break in two pieces ?

When the car is lowered the geometry of the suspension changes and it puts a lot of pressure on the CV joints. The main failure point is the cage inside the joint. Here is another thread discussing it: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49511

Not yet. Stock ride height, stock power. Probably around 600 clutch dumps/launches over the past 12 months. Crossing my fingers they don't break.

How much can you lower before breaking axles becomes a potential issue?

Mine didn't blow up, but it started to make clicking noises after a weekend on the ACS Roval.
I had it replaced before the Laguna Seca event.

There's some weak points in the stock drivetrain, axles and rear diff seems to be two of them.

-alex

I have had both of my axles replaced before 30,000 miles.
100% stock, no drifting or "burn outs", not lowered.

Has there been any consensus on how far you can lower the rear without screwing up the axles? I seem to remember reading no more than 1 inch somewhere, but not totally sure.

I don't think there was ever a consensus on a particular height causing the problem, other than the extremely lowered stance and drift cars. People lowered 1-1.5" have tracked their car with no issues. Others lowered less than 1" have blown axles. I personally think anything lower than 1.5" is pushing your luck.

I replaced one of mine but not due to any breakage. Did not have one of my stainless brake lines routed properly and it rubbed through and tore the boot on it. Wanted the car back up quick so got a low miles oem one from a wrecked brz. Working great so far. Someone said they were paying $200 for used axles? I paid $50 shipped for the one I got...

I autox my car and its prob about 1.5" lower than stock. Ive got clicking noises coming from one axle. I got an extra from a wrecked car for like $50 shipped off ebay that is ready to go if I have one go out.



Yes. If you try to find the part number for the axles there is only one. Meaning they have to be symmetric.

Depending on the noise it could just be a worn out axle nut. Is it only on accel/decel or does it happen at other times? If it's the former I say spend $5 and try putting on a new axle nut, that fixed my clicking noise. iirc it popped up around 40k miles, I fully expect to have to replace them again before I hit 100k.

The -1.5" lower than stock part is causing your problem. Keep running this car hard that low and you will pop an axle.

I was running -1.6 rear -1.4 front and lost my drivers rear axle. $100 fix, no problem
Switched to -1.4 rear - 1.2 front and lost another drivers rear axle (more violently this time.) $100 to fix as well as my ring and pinion got hosed in the process and various seals ($1200 later, I'm back on the road)

Now at -1.2 rear and 1.0 front and have been happy as a clam running hard for 10k miles. Unless adding differential spacers, I would not again run this car lower than -1.2 hard for any amount of time.

Kinda mostly true, see my above post.

The DSS axles will also blow if ran too low as well. It's not so much a matter of materials or WHP rating, its a matter of design. Running very low (more than -1.2 ish) stresses the cage inside the CV outside of its' operating parameters. That's also why people have reported popping DSS rated axles on this car. Adding diff risers is the only thing that's effectively worked consistently for anyone with a car running very low. Parts Shop Max makes and installs these out of San Diego. I'm sure there is a local shop near anyone that could also install them given PSM's great DIY for it.

Already replaced the axle nut when I did ARP studs, it wasn't the cause. I've got the spare axle ready to go, not worried about it.

I know it will fail eventually and have parts ready to go when it does. The 1.5 is also a guesstimate. About to change to a set of AST 5200's so the height could change soon.

True, used axles are cheap to buy ($50 to $150).

Point is, when the axle pops, it can damage other parts attached to it (wheel hubs and parts in your differential.) In my case, the second time I lost an axle it also took my ring & pinion (final drive.) Total cost on that was $1400.

Reading that really freaked me out. I'm currently lowered -1.5" in the back and I'm thinking I might raise it back up 1/4" to be safe.

Coming from an S2000 where the forum gurus have recommended tightening the rear axle nut beyond the factory spec, I wonder if tightening the rear axle nuts will alleviate the issue?

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-un...sb-diy-929843/

Recommended. When I raised mine back up to its' current height, I thought it would bother me. Turns out I can't even see the the height anymore and I appreciate that the suspension has just that much more travel.

That's usually the first thing people do on this board (tighten the axle nuts). This happens when they hear 'clicking' at low speeds. Still if they stay lowered beyond the point I mentioned and drive hard the angle on the axles go snap.

Daemano - thanks for the insight. Where can I find information on how much to tighten the rear axle nuts and to what spec? The BRZ is now my track car and I'm in the process of learning to drive it. I still have my S2000 and use that primarily for autocross.

At this time I have no plans of lowering the BRZ. Want to run it in stock class in the Northeast 86 Cup. Over the winter I'll start thinking about adding a bit of camber.

What are your measurements at the pinch welds? I think my rear fenders are uneven, so that might give me a better idea where to set it.

Got the spec from the factory service manual located here (big download, but a must for any owner.)

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8374

Haven't measured it from the welds because that's generally less accurate (and also because it's hard to find perfectly level ground outside of a shop).

It's been a while since I've take a measurement from the center of the hub to the fender, but I suppose I could do that this weekend to see if the car has sagged at all. I'll do that and post here.

Were you able to get those measurements? Looks like my rear hub to fender measurement is 13.5" currently. I think that's about 1.25" lower than stock.

Thanks for the reminder!

I'm currently at 13.25" in the rear hub to fender. Think that's in the safe zone?