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View Full Version : Breaking an dana 35 shaft with discs



trailzj
03-19-2005, 10:36 AM
Hi, I'm Al.

I want to know what will happen if and when I break a rear axle shaft in my dana 35 with disc brakes. I know if I had drums it will slide out cause of the C-clips. With the axle shaft wanting to be forced outwards, will this cause damage to my discs? Or is it a plus that I have discs and I can hobble to a flat area to fix it? What are your experiences?

Thanks, I have been exploring the forum and am really likeing it.

Al

BigDaveZJ
03-19-2005, 11:03 AM
Get rid of the D35 and stop worrying about breaking shafts. The caliper will hold the shaft in place, but then your wheel is also being held in place by the caliper too. That's kinda scary. Get a stronger axle like an 8.8 or 44 and you won't have to worry about snapping shafts as much.

JeepinHank
03-19-2005, 11:11 AM
The caliper bracket will hold the wheel on / axle in.

However, that needs to be qualified....

The caliper bracket will only hold for so long before it shears off - effectively ruining your housing unless you feel like doing some pretty intensive repairs.

Like Dave said, swap in a better axle and forget about it.
(I'd personally recommend a ford 8.8 over the Dana 44, but that's just me.)

Jim311
03-19-2005, 01:06 PM
It's not like you will be traveling very far anyway with a broken shaft. Winch yourself off the obstacle onto a flat place and repair. If you don't, you'll have plenty of chunks of metal from your broken shaft floating around the housing just waiting to find a vital place to jam themselves and fuck something up.

Swamp boy
03-19-2005, 01:14 PM
absotivly.. It might hold the axle on.. But the turning gears with the pieces of shrapnel in there is a very bad Idea...

8.8 :smt003

trailzj
03-19-2005, 02:01 PM
Thanks for the fast replys.


Get rid of the D35 and stop worrying about breaking shafts. The caliper will hold the shaft in place, but then your wheel is also being held in place by the caliper too. That's kinda scary. Get a stronger axle like an 8.8 or 44 and you won't have to worry about snapping shafts as much.

I have plans to get rid of the D35, but not as soon as I would like. I'm not worried about breaking shafts, its not a big deal for me to fix out on the trail. The rest that you wrote is pretty much restateing what I wrote except for the obvious axle swap solution.


It's not like you will be traveling very far anyway with a broken shaft. Winch yourself off the obstacle onto a flat place and repair. If you don't, you'll have plenty of chunks of metal from your broken shaft floating around the housing just waiting to find a vital place to jam themselves and fuck something up.
Thanks Jim311, that will be my plan when it happens.

So every one here that had discs on there D35 swapped it out before they broke it? I know not to drive with a broken axle shaft, I was looking more for what would happen the moment it snaps. Now that I think about it the brakes should have enough play to let the rotor get crooked between the pads. So I think anyway.

Al