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I bought a set of stub axles from a forum member for a good price and I was happy. However, I didn't know that there were some inferior quality stub axles out there. (not blaming the seller at all). These stub axles held up to my 500 hp with 4:11 gears for a couple of months before failure. I have some pics below, take note of the pic with the non Chrome stub axle. Notice the numbers stamped into the middle of the yoke. "this is what you want" says Tracdog.... I hope to have her back on the road tomorrow and give these babies a test. BTW, I am running street tires only on this car and it will spin the dickens outta the tires with little grip. The axle gave out on a 2nd gear shift. Take a look at the other axle and notice the crooked splines on it. it was almost ready to snap as well!
yes sir been there a few times, 2 axles, drive flange and u-joints. Its good that you didn't hurt anything else.....broken IRS parts can cause some serious damage! I believe I had some inferior parts as well and blew through them real fast. I currently have a set of axles from Duntov racing and they have held up pretty good however I am not real hard on the rear as a hole since I have big sticky tires and a 4 speed. I had a drive flange that looked like your axle...basically it was cast junk! it came apart real fast and shattered like glass.
This was a few years back before I knew there was junk out there like this.....education can sometimes be costly
After some help from members here I did find a replacement that I am hoping the last the test of time.
Lonestar makes a GM lic unit. You can tell by the GM Stamp and number on the end of the yoke. I purchased the unit from a local corvette shop that sourced the product from covette america. Now Corvette America has more than 1 supplier of the part, but my local shop requested the lonestar product. When I recieved the unit I was able to verify the GM Stamp and number and the lonestar box. The unit that broke has nothing at all anywhere. My original yoke (the one that didn't break) also has a GM Stamp and number. Its was installed in 1990 and is still good today ( 184k KM and still counting )
Mine broke at the 1/4 track. $300 to tow the car home.
I currently have a set of axles from Duntov racing and they have held up pretty good however I am not real hard on the rear as a hole since I have big sticky tires and a 4 speed.
Don't expect them the last. I had duntov yokes & spindles and both turned out to be junk. Wore 0.050" off the end of the yokes in a few thousand miles. Weren't hardened. Spindles twisted, caught it right before they snapped. Duntov blew me off when I tried contacting them.
Don't expect them the last. I had duntov yokes & spindles and both turned out to be junk. Wore 0.050" off the end of the yokes in a few thousand miles. Weren't hardened. Spindles twisted, caught it right before they snapped. Duntov blew me off when I tried contacting them.
Unfortunately that's very consistent with everything I've heard about Duntov.
The only thing stock on my 70 rear end is the differential case and the hubs. Everything else is extra strength stuff from Tom's Differential. I have what some call his super 10 bolt rear end. An extra strength differential carrier with all strengthen interior parts, with the limited slip function being Tom's "tuned" differntial carrier. All large U-joints and large half axles, and the spindle half axles have larger numbers of splines. Also have Toms offset trailing arms, heim joint strut rods, modified strut rod attachment bracket and several other items. I think it was around $3500 for parts. Traccdog (Mike) put it together. I get the impression it's good for about 700 hp...not sure. For the ultimate in C3 IRS rear ends, it's Tom's 12 bolt differential...it and it's supporting hardware will survive 1000 hp at the drag strip... I believe that's what some of his customers have done.
The stock C3 Corvette IRS will survive 550 hp with early 1970's racing tires and relatively low number differentials...the L88 powered Corvettes had this HP and would run hours on race tracks with pretty much stock rear ends (I think they used bigger U-joints). I think that with 500 hp (the original poster), 4.11:1 differential, and modern drag tires, you're probably at the limit of the stock C3 IRS for a drag strip application.
Last edited by 68/70Vette; 07-07-2015 at 12:10 AM.
I am afraid to put slicks on mine for this reason! with nearly 600 torque and a manual I am sure some day ill find the limits not looking forward to that day
07-06-2015, 11:32 AM
Broken Axle.....ouch!
I had a drive flange that looked like your axle...basically it was cast junk! it came apart real fast and shattered like glass.
