OEM Halfshafts Only!

Screw-Rice

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So I will be ordering another factory halfshaft, for the other side of the car. If you caught my thread where I had halfshaft issues, you'll see I replaced both...mainly peace of mind. I'm not running the clips on either, due to my t-lok. Jackass I bought the unit from said it came out of a IRS Cobra, nope, was a solid axle 98. My fault for not double checking.

One is a OEM unit I bought from eBay (guy has a lot of them left), and the other was from Checker (O'Reiley's). Well the part store unit is junk, and I will never buy another one from them.

Few days ago, I was on the highway and my "check traction control", and ABS light popped on. Weird, brakes are fine, car is fine. Well noticed at 85mph a strange vibration noise. Finally got home, and under the car. The Checker shaft had vibrated a couple inches out, and wasn't getting picked up by the speed sensor. Used a prybar and popped it in, no big deal.

Today, I jumped off the highway and got the message again. Still had a couple hours of work left so didn't worry about it. Took off from a light, and heard a pop.

Coasted into a lot(wouldn't accelerate, just rev), and got under it. It popped out about 3", so it wasn't engaging the gears. No tools on me, so had to call a wrecker. Got it towed home and went back to work.

Fearing the worse (fried halfshaft/wrecked diff), got it up in the air. After a little wiggling it slid right in, and works fine. When my Ford one shows up, this one will be getting pulled and returned. Neither halfshaft is more than a month old.

Looking at the two under the car, the OEM is slightly different. Between the speedo gear, and first CV boot, it is about 3/4" shorter than the parts store one. This is where the slop is coming from, the OEM hasn't budged at all the entire time.

So in conclusion, part store halfshaft suck, and it's better to just wait a few more days for an OEM to show up. Only reason I got a parts store one, was I was impatient at the time.

Oh, and had the rent a cop at the lot I was in try to get lippy with me. When my car is busted and I'm in a bad mood...not a good time to give me stupid suggestions. :lol:
 
The circlips are what hold the axle in as you know. This is why some people machine the side gears for them, others I've read don't but I don't see how they don't end up with this same exact problem your having...
 
I thought you had a LSD in there?
I do. Issue is, the one I have wasn't from an IRS Cobra, so it doesn't have the groove for the circlips on the end of the halfshafts. They are supposed to compress when you pry on the halfshafts, theses don't so I run without. Had to open the diff and pop the clip off last time.

Icarus- The factory shaft is slightly different in size from the parts store crap one I have. The OEM one hasn't budged at all. This includes hard acceleration and high speeds.
 
Against the titles suggestion I have no problems with my second set of raxles, and I'm sure there are other high end race purpose half shafts that are fine also if you have the cash, but there are many things I wont by from a generic parts store for a good reason. I'm also not really convinced that it's that axles fault that you have nothing to retain it to the carrier.
 
That wasnt my point rice. If you have a Trac Lok then after a second of the non-shafted side spins the clutches should have heated up enough to lock the diff and allow the car to move.
The fact that it didnt leads me to believe the t-loc clutches are shot or you didnt put FM in the pumpkin.
 
That wasnt my point rice. If you have a Trac Lok then after a second of the non-shafted side spins the clutches should have heated up enough to lock the diff and allow the car to move.
The fact that it didnt leads me to believe the t-loc clutches are shot or you didnt put FM in the pumpkin.

that's not exactly how the clutches work. the force outward from the spider gears applies most of the clamping force for the clutches. the preload spring can help start that, but the trac lok will run without the preload spring at all.
so if the other shaft is gone, you have basically no preload and the clutches won't lock.
 
that's not exactly how the clutches work. the force outward from the spider gears applies most of the clamping force for the clutches. the preload spring can help start that, but the trac lok will run without the preload spring at all.
so if the other shaft is gone, you have basically no preload and the clutches won't lock.
Your post partially makes poor sense.

Yes the spring holds pressure to help hold the clutches together and to "load" them. The shaft should have nothing to do with the clutches being loaded though.

The way the setup works is the clutches slip, they make heat, activate the FM and then they grab against each other. With no wheel to turn then they would slip, heat up and partially lock. They should lock enough to turn the other wheel when loaded. As far as the diff is concerned it should be just like if one tire is spinning.

In the white Mark the sway bar caused one tire to be off the ground many times when pulling into a steep driveway at an angle. The car would momentarly stop, tire would fee wheel for a split second and then I could feel the TL lock up and the car would surge forward and then a second after that I could feel and hear the other tire make contact again.
 
Friction modifier does not work like that
It helps the clutches to keep from binding (chatter)
And freezing together creating a spool
and the car would not move cause it assumes
That the car is in a corner that's what a t-lock does
They are designed to break free when the amount
Of torque reaches a pre determined difference between the
Two rear wheels
 
Also the clutches are probably worn cause he should have in
a straight line been able to move by easing into the throttle
 
Friction modifier does not work like that
It helps the clutches to keep from binding (chatter)
And freezing together creating a spool
and the car would not move cause it assumes
That the car is in a corner that's what a t-lock does
They are designed to break free when the amount
Of torque reaches a pre determined difference between the
Two rear wheels
Isnt the Ford TL a kinda viscous LSD? I know a straight clutch type uses a slightly different lock up but my understanding is the Ford unit will not lock without FM fluid in it. If so then it is a viscous system and what I had noticed in my last car would be an indicator of that.

"The viscous type is generally simpler because it relies on hydrodynamic friction from fluids with high viscosity. Silicone-based oils are often used. Here, a cylindrical chamber of fluid filled with a stack of perforated discs rotates with the normal motion of the output shafts. The inside surface of the chamber is coupled to one of the driveshafts, and the outside coupled to the differential carrier. Half of the discs are connected to the inner, the other half to the outer, alternating inner/outer in the stack. Differential motion forces the interleaved discs to move through the fluid against each other. In some viscous couplings when speed is maintained the fluid will accumulate heat due to friction. This heat will cause the fluid to expand, and expand the coupler causing the discs to be pulled together resulting in a non-viscous plate to plate friction and a dramatic drop in speed difference. This is known as the hump phenomenon and it allows the side of the coupler to gently lock. In contrast to the mechanical type, the limiting action is much softer and more proportional to the slip, and so is easier to cope with for the average driver. New Process Gear used a viscous coupling of the Ferguson style in several of their transfer cases including those used in the AMC Eagle.

Viscous LSDs are less efficient than mechanical types, that is, they "lose" some power. In particular, any sustained load which overheats the silicone results in sudden permanent loss of the differential effect.[4] They do have the virtue of failing gracefully, reverting to semi-open differential behaviour. Typically a visco-differential that has covered 60,000 miles (97,000 km) or more will be functioning largely as an open differential;[citation needed] this is a known weakness of the original Mazda MX-5 (a.k.a. Miata) sports car. The silicone oil is factory sealed in a separate chamber from the gear oil surrounding the rest of the differential. This is not serviceable and when the differential's behaviour deteriorates, the VLSD centre is replaced."
 
Just an FYI, a lot of synthetics have FM already in them.


I may be completly wrong, its happened before :p, but I can only go off what I have read and observed. I am no rear end guru and have very little experience working on them so I could be complety not understanding the words.
 
I don't remember if mine had fm in it (probably does)
But as I stated fm is to keep you from having chatter
Problems witch can lead to bad things
 
Damn, you guys have been debating all day. :lol:

I had this diff built, so I know it is a t-lok and it was rebuilt prior to install. Raxles are a little different than parts store ones, too bad you can't get them anymore.

The circlips would help hold them in, but they shouldn't move enough to back out to the point of not engaging the gears. I'm definitely not the first to run without and typically it is issue free. If the parts store one was slightly shorter (like the OEM on the other side), it wouldn't have been an issue. That side (passenger) takes most the abuse. So if one were to fail as a result, it would/should have been that one.

I'm running Royal Purple diff fluid, and FM. This was recommended by my installer. I'll follow the suggestion of the guy who is a Ford tech, and has built a few 10 sec Mustangs.

Funny thing is, I have really been considering for a while stepping down to a 3.55 or even stock 3.27 gear. So Might be swapping diffs anyway...if I decide to keep the car. Can't shake that GT500 itch.
 
I don't remember if mine had fm in it (probably does)
But as I stated fm is to keep you from having chatter
Problems witch can lead to bad things

This^

Guy who installed mine did a det of 4.10's on a new 2011 GT. Kid was too cheap to buy FM, and came back a few days later. Chattering was getting progressively worse. Bought a bottle of FM, and it resolved the issue. Could have been a very expensive lesson.
 

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