My rear end seems to be messed up...

[s13_ono]

So
I've broken my wheel studs off of the right rear twice now, and broken my left axle twice. All of this has happened within the last two months or so and i haven't even been driving stupid at the times that all of this stuff breaks.....

I am currently waiting to replace the axle for a second time because it seems that there is some kind of lurking variable here. I dont want to go through the hassle of replacing it just for it to break again. If anyone has had experience with this or has any idea why this keeps happening, let me know. By the way its a 89 sohc s13 with a welded diff. but before you rag on the diff, I have been constantly checking the bolts between the outputs from the diff and the drive shaft. there was never any sign that anything bad was going to happen.

Im totally confused as to why this keeps happening. Please help!
Thanks Zilvia

[SUPERSTAR]

where does the axle break at?

[shinobis13hb]

how long have you had the car? i had a similar problom with the studds.. and i had steelies..
best thing i did was replace my rear hubs i got new ones and i got new studds(after market)

[s13_ono]

The axle broke at the diff side. The flange that connects to the diff broke off. I've had the car for a little over a year now. and replaced the hub last time w another stock one.

[devnull]

Any noise or vibration at highway speeds?

[s13_ono]

no noises or vibration. just unexpected failure

[racepar1]

How much hp and how low are you?

[BustedS13]

i have broken a ton of wheel studs. autozone/advance ones. i've gone through about a dozen, front and rear.
how do you torque your lugs? i just use an impact until it clicks. i think i'm going to get a torque stick for our specs, and see if i keep snapping these bastards.

[racepar1]

i have broken a ton of wheel studs. autozone/advance ones. i've gone through about a dozen, front and rear.
how do you torque your lugs? i just use an impact until it clicks. i think i'm going to get a torque stick for our specs, and see if i keep snapping these bastards.

Or you could buy a torque wrench and actually torque the lugs properly. :smash:

[nieko]

hahahhah 72 ft lbs right?

LOL

and to answer your question for the OP.

he has a stock SOHC so power is not the answer...

hes pretty slammed, but so am i and ive never had these problems.

its kind of weird where it breaks.

You know how the axle connects to the diff, the axle has like a cone that slips into the diff(only way i could describe..) well the cone piece that slides in that whole piece like seperates from the axle and falls off...

its weird as hell

[BustedS13]

Or you could buy a torque wrench and actually torque the lugs properly. :smash:

yeah right, that'd take forever. i'm a man of speed

[s13_ono]

So yeah.... replaced the axle and diff because the output shaft on the diff was all messed up....... i think the first time it broke was a matter of not checking those axle bolts and having a welded diff. after that incident the output shaft was a tiny bit bent on one of the flanges. Im guessing this little imperfection + welded diff + slammed = fail. As for the stud on the other side, I have no clue. I dont really care about replacing them. Its just the fact that they may break at a really inconvenient time, causing me to fly off an interchange in a fiery explosion of death.

Sooo...... as of now, my cars ok. *knock on wood* Thanks for the input guys
:werd: