sperkins

Not my car, but I felt compelled to share due to the safety concern.
This axle was a remanufactured A1 cardone purchased at a large local auto parts supplier. The boots are floppy rubber and overall a pretty loose fit.
Anyway, the pics below highlight what happened earlier this month at Rd Atl. Apparently the inner rubber boot expanded enough at speed (+/- 145mph) to grab the brake hard line and wrap it around the shaft.
Amazingly, the line did not break.

BTW - the SS clamp had come loose the day before hence the zip tie.

AU N EGL

Wholly Crap batman

0Bobby @ LG Motorsports

The Hard stock boots are the only ones that hold up to high speed and long races. Glad nothing catastrophic happened!

Gray Ghost GS

Damn! That's scary. Glad the problem was found without drama.

sperkins

Agreed. That being said, we're looking for a stock replacement.
You guys have any for sale? C5Z

gmccreary

It was my car and I'm happy it didn't break. OEM from now on.

DOUG @ ECS

Any chance the lines were not properly stowed in place? Broken clips etc?

drivinhard

I can't for the life of me figure out how it wrapped the way it did in the pics. if it wrapped like that , it should unwrap, and I can't see anyway it would unwrap based on where the ends of the line are. greg's driving has no physical limits

sperkins

Negative. The hard line was replaced due to rust last year (by me) so I know it was routed and secured properly. The axle had one other track weekend on it at CMP, but speeds are not as high there.

I heard another racer say that weekend that he has had the same problem on his car (Sentra) with the boots expanding. He said his cure was to place a tooth pick or wooden match under the clamp between the boot and the shaft to allow the boot to vent.

Falcon

Someone a while back said to fit zip ties in the creases of the pleats of the boot to restrict their expansion.

RaleighSS

Mechanically I can not understand how this would be possible... Seems as if the shaft would not have enough grip to wind the brake line but rather wear in through where it was rubbing ... and if it was the boot it seems as if the boot would rip before pulling the line around the shaft ... Very funky but somehow that booger got wrapped around there and darn glad ya found it before a catastrophic failure. Thanks for the post gonna stick with OEM stuff in this area :-)

0Randy@DRM

I have x-rays from a broken CV joint crash (Ice racing).
Inspect, replace and good luck!!!

Randy

sothpaw2

Randy,

You're referring to the axle--how do you recommend inspecting it? What do you look for in something that is worn out? What's the failure mechanism?

Thanks,

Andy

travisnd

Blew my mind when you showed me that at the track. Won't mess with aftermarket boots on axles.

BERETTA

Yikes Thanks for posting

fatbillybob

I have posted before about my 100% failure of aftermarket reman axles. I had no idea they could be dangerous too! This is a real problem that seems to be a problem for every Vette owner. I had to pay 300 bucks for a shiny new GM unit but it works perfectly.

yooper

Have DSS aftermarket axles on a CTSV with one side throwing some grease. Did quick inspection after reading this and two different boots.

Soft rubber on the side throwing grease and harder rubber on the dry side. Thanks for the tip!

longdaddy

wow.

another proof that you can never put too many zip ties on the race car.

sleeper02Z06

In early 2008 after I rebuilt the car from the imfamous Pocono wreck I had this exact same thing happen to me. Nobody believed me and said I must have used the wrong axle, argued what I did wrong, etc. The thread turned into a big pissing match and was deleted. Hopefully more people will listen to this advice now that it has happened to yet another person. These rebuilt soft boot axles may be good for daily drivers but they should NOT be used on track. It only took one test session at Summit Point for me, running about 80%. Not only did the inner boot grab the brake line exactly how this one did but my outer boot swelled enough to cut itself on the lower shock mount and made a royal mess on top of that. They are not stiff enough to maintain their integrity. Thanks again for posting the pics.

Joe

brkntrxn

Scott/Greg,

In the Cobra world, guys use the small red straw that comes with a can of WD40 to vent the boots. Insert it between the boot and axle and then zip tie the boot.

I am just glad the brake line held, since Greg was behind Morris who was behind me. LOL. Nothing like a three Vette pileup at 10A.

-Kevin