I know people break u-joints fairly often, but has anyone ever broken the shaft itself (with the u-joint remaining intact or not)? I read about chro-moly shafts and what not, but I'm just wondering how often the shaft itself actually breaks.
It depends on what tire size you have the bigger the tire the more likely it is to break and if you have a automatic locker that puts stress on the axleshaft as well from it locking and unlocking. Allthough I personally have never broken a shaft (only seen them break). I replaced mine with warn shafts.
Yes, plenty of times. I used to break disconnect inners all the time, right at the carrier. This was with 297 in the axles. These axles are particularly prone, becasue of the short, stiff section of shaft that doesn't have any torsional flex to take up shock loads. It's even stiffer than the short side shaft
I saw MJDan break a disco shaft right at the carrier with full C-Clipped 260's!
If your caps are full-circle clipped, or you are using CTM's, then the short side will likely break at the splines in the diff. Again, a lack of torsional twist issue.
The long side is anyones guess. I've seen ears torn off of the shaft, as well as a break right at the spline.
