Broken axle shaft

Lonewolf

Lonewolf

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 4, 2019
Messages
297
Location
Pittsburg, CA
So I wish I had a story about being out somewhere like Moab or Rubicon and breaking a axleshaft doing something stupid. But I don’t so here it is . After regearing and installing true tracs I knew I would need chromoly shafts to stand up to 35s so I ordered a set of 4340 chromoly shafts from Quadratec. I received them last week and got right to installing them on Saturday, I replaced the seals and bearing while everything was out and had it reassembled by Saturday night and gave the silicone a day to dry and filled it up on Sunday and everything seemed fine. Today I made it 4 miles to a gas station and while turning in I heard a light pop and then I had no power. I thought my transmission went out but upon inspection everything worked just no power making it to the wheels, after I got it home I found out pretty fast the axle shaft sheared right at the start of splines so obviously it was a faulty shaft?
I’m going to call in the morning but I don’t even know if I would trust another set hopefully they will return them and I will go with a different brand. These were the crown automotive ones. It took me 3 hours to pound in the broken piece with a 8 pound sledge to remove the c clip because the splines were so trash
A1CA0872-0FF6-456D-9646-0F821B59C918.jpeg
B9E412AB-1212-4C87-BA5A-E9960AC39242.jpeg
E59DA1EA-5170-4FBA-8648-D5E89E3FEA59.jpeg


Has anyone seen this before or is it just a fluke
 
Damn that looks bad.

Is it a stock dana 35? Or did you upgrade it to a super 35 whith the gear swap?
 
The super 35 uses 30 spline axels. Well the onea i have looked at as options for my own build.

Im assuming those are standard size dana 35 axles made out of cromoly
 
I'm surprised with as much info as their is out there that anyone still buys two things, Dana 35 shafts made from 4340 or shit from Crown and to clarify, Crown doesn't make anything. They look for sources from those who make things and try to get them cheaper. There may be worse materials to make Dana 35 shafts from but I don't know what they are. The best you will get and should get are made from 1541H.
 
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Fouledplugs said:
So is it a stock shaft or not? In your origianl post you mention that its 4340 and manufactured by Crown auto that you purchased from Quadratec..???

Got a link?
Click to expand...
Yea it was a 4340 shaft from crown auto
https://www.quadratec.com/products/52403_200_07.htm
mrblaine said:
I'm surprised with as much info as their is out there that anyone still buys two things, Dana 35 shafts made from 4340 or shit from Crown and to clarify, Crown doesn't make anything. They look for sources from those who make things and try to get them cheaper. There may be worse materials to make Dana 35 shafts from but I don't know what they are. The best you will get and should get are made from 1541H.
Click to expand...

Yes I learned a lesson on that one, I saw a post on here saying to get a 4340 shaft I didn’t realize there was something better . And to add insult to injury the other axles OD I think was slightly bigger and now the drum is stuck, it spins rotational free but will not slide off and is stuck to the shaft
 
mrblaine said:
I'm surprised with as much info as their is out there that anyone still buys two things, Dana 35 shafts made from 4340 or shit from Crown and to clarify, Crown doesn't make anything. They look for sources from those who make things and try to get them cheaper. There may be worse materials to make Dana 35 shafts from but I don't know what they are. The best you will get and should get are made from 1541H.
Click to expand...

Little side track, Revolution axles (USA made) for a TJ rear dana 44 are made from 4340 (https://www.revolutiongear.com/prod...and_lj_rubicon_and_non_wdisc_brakes_30_spline). There are people on this forum who carry a lot of weight that recommend getting Revolution axles but this post from you is the opposite based on material that axles are made from. Are the Revolution axles junk like the Crown (must be based on 4340 vs 1541H)?
 
smithcaz said:
Little side track, Revolution axles (USA made) for a TJ rear dana 44 are made from 4340 (https://www.revolutiongear.com/prod...and_lj_rubicon_and_non_wdisc_brakes_30_spline). There are people on this forum who carry a lot of weight that recommend getting Revolution axles but this post from you is the opposite based on material that axles are made from. Are the Revolution axles junk like the Crown (must be based on 4340 vs 1541H)?
Click to expand...
A little information will clarify your misunderstanding of the issue. 4340 is is a very good choice for an upgraded stronger axle shaft for axles like the Dana 44 and Dana 30 whose bearings don't ride directly on the axle shafts. The 4340 heat treatment is ideal for them as you don't have to worry about the surface of the steel being hard enough to withstand the bearings riding directly (which means there is no inner bearing race) on the axle shaft's surface.

The Dana 35's outer bearings ride directly on the axle shaft's surface, there is no race on the shaft for the bearings to ride on. The rotating bearings themselves are rolling directly on the surface of the shaft which means the shaft's outer surface needs to be made differently with a different heat treatment and alloy to stand up to the bearings. Upgraded shafts for the Dana 35 need to be made from 1541H which gives the shaft a hard enough surface it can stand up to the bearings.

This happened to a Dana 35 axle shaft with the wrong heat treatment...

Dana 35 bearing worn shaft.png


On top of the OP's shafts being cheaply made as Crown tends to sell, they were 4340... which only sounds great to those Dana 35 owners who don't know any better.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
A little information will clarify your misunderstanding of the issue. 4340 is is a very good choice for an upgraded stronger axle shaft for axles like the Dana 44 and Dana 30 whose bearings don't ride directly on the axle shafts. The 4340 heat treatment is ideal for them as you don't have to worry about the surface of the steel being hard enough to withstand the bearings riding directly (which means there is no inner bearing race) on the axle shaft's surface.

The Dana 35's outer bearings ride directly on the axle shaft's surface, there is no race on the shaft for the bearings to ride on. The rotating bearings themselves are rolling directly on the surface of the shaft which means the shaft's outer surface needs to be made differently with a different heat treatment and alloy to stand up to the bearings. Upgraded shafts for the Dana 35 need to be made from 1541H which gives the shaft a hard enough surface it can stand up to the bearings.

This happened to a Dana 35 axle shaft with the wrong heat treatment...

View attachment 92405

On top of the OP's shafts being cheaply made as Crown tends to sell, they were 4340... which only sounds great to those Dana 35 owners who don't know any better.
Click to expand...

I actually followed your guidance from this thread , but i should have realized alot can change in a few years
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/dana-35-beefing-up.8258/
but im waiting on quadratec to let me know if they will let me return them and i will order the grizzly shafts in 1541H.

does anyone have any ideas on how to get the stuck drum off the other side?
 
Jerry Bransford said:
A little information will clarify your misunderstanding of the issue. 4340 is is a very good choice for an upgraded stronger axle shaft for axles like the Dana 44 and Dana 30 whose bearings don't ride directly on the axle shafts. The 4340 heat treatment is ideal for them as you don't have to worry about the surface of the steel being hard enough to withstand the bearings riding directly (which means there is no inner bearing race) on the axle shaft's surface.

The Dana 35's outer bearings ride directly on the axle shaft's surface, there is no race on the shaft for the bearings to ride on. The rotating bearings themselves are rolling directly on the surface of the shaft which means the shaft's outer surface needs to be made differently with a different heat treatment and alloy to stand up to the bearings. Upgraded shafts for the Dana 35 need to be made from 1541H which gives the shaft a hard enough surface it can stand up to the bearings.

This happened to a Dana 35 axle shaft with the wrong heat treatment...

View attachment 92405

On top of the OP's shafts being cheaply made as Crown tends to sell, they were 4340... which only sounds great to those Dana 35 owners who don't know any better.
Click to expand...
Yikes, I am guessing that is a Revolution 4340 Dana 35 shaft?
 
mrblaine said:
Why would you even go there when the OP clearly states that he bought them from Quadratec and they are the ones from Crown Automotive and supposedly made from 4340? Why?
Click to expand...
I wasn't quoting the OP. Was curious who made that axle shaft that he supplied a picture of. Looks like his camera quality. Thought it might be his and he could speak to it.
 
Fouledplugs said:
I wasn't quoting the OP. Was curious who made that axle shaft that he supplied a picture of. Looks like his camera quality. Thought it might be his and he could speak to it.
Click to expand...
Even worse since there is no reasonable assumption to be made that Revolution has ever done anything like that.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
Revolution wouldn't be dumb enough to use 4340 for a Dana 35 axle shaft. They use 1541h for Dana 35 shafts.
Click to expand...

And yet up to about a year or so ago you were recomending 27 spline 4140 and 4340 shafts for use in Dana 35’s in numerous threads on all the forums.

I regret that I was “dumb enough” to heed that advice.
 
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dla said:
And yet up to about a year or so ago you were recomending 27 spline 4140 and 4340 shafts for use in Dana 35’s in numerous threads on all the forums.

I regret that I was “dumb enough” to heed that advice.
Click to expand...
4140/4340 would be suitable for a Dana 35 shaft if there was also a c-clip eliminator being installed with the shafts which would change the outer bearing type to one with an inner race. I don't know if there are still c-clip eliminator kits available for the Dana 35.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
4140/4340 would be suitable for a Dana 35 shaft if there was also a c-clip eliminator being installed with the shafts which would change the outer bearing type to one with an inner race. I don't know if there are still c-clip eliminator kits available for the Dana 35.
Click to expand...
Were they around up to a about a year ago?
 
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