Just wondering what everyones opinion is on building one of these bad boys and would you feel the need to stuff the axle with ChroMo shafts?

sure, why not. I broke a Chromoly 30 spline D60 rear shaft just screwing around in my drive way

one thing I noticed.... why not run equal length shafts on each side? One part number to remember and only one spare to carry

also we will need alot more info to figure if it needs alloy shafts or not... what rig (well TJ obviously) drivetrain, tire size, spline count....

if it was 35 spline and 39" or smaller tires I don't think CrMo 4340 or some shit like that is necassary, you allready got alot of strength just out of shear size no need for bling material as well.

one thing I noticed.... why not run equal length shafts on each side? One part number to remember and only one spare to carry

also we will need alot more info to figure if it needs alloy shafts or not... what rig (well TJ obviously) drivetrain, tire size, spline count....

if it was 35 spline and 39" or smaller tires I don't think CrMo 4340 or some shit like that is necassary, you allready got alot of strength just out of shear size no need for bling material as well.

The shafts are different sizes because on the TJ style, the output is offset. With regard to using one size, this can be done since building a Rear axle to shaft length would allow you to do it. You would just have a different total width either smaller or larger depending on which axle length you chose.
You really wouldn't need to carry a spare since the axles are 4140 Chromo and they carrry a 10 Year warranty. Any tire size, horsepower, or application.

The axles are 35 spline with 2 bolt patterns. 5 on 4.5 and 5 on 5.5". They could also be used on a D44 using the 35 spline ARB. Why use them? I myself have wasted stock shafts in my CRD 60. Peace of mind is how I see it.
Good questions.

you would still want to carry a spare just in case you break a shaft on the trail. The spare doesn't have to be chomo though

you have the shaft sizes only 1/4" different, you would only have to change the offset of the pinion by 1/8" to get them to be the same, and I highly doubt that would cause any drivetrain problems.

of coures as a spare you could carry the shorter shaft, and even with 1/4" less spline engagement it would still work fairly well in the long side as a spare. I know many people do this with the XJ D44 rears which have very slightly different length shafts.

What's the cost of the axle? What power, gearing and tire choices are you going for? What type of terrain will this rig see?

These are the questions I'd ask before saying yeah or neah on any axle choice.

And I'm with BrettM -- if it's custom built, I'd have the axle built with a single sized shaft.

What's the cost of the axle? What power, gearing and tire choices are you going for? What type of terrain will this rig see?

These are the questions I'd ask before saying yeah or neah on any axle choice.

And I'm with BrettM -- if it's custom built, I'd have the axle built with a single sized shaft.

My understanding is someone intersted might be able to get a set of these shafts for under 300 bones............

Roundeye might be the guy to ask......cause a little birde told me :)

Horsepower, tires..............what's the diff with a 10 Year Warr........... :confused:


Try and break em............ I will be soon.

The shafts are different sizes because on the TJ style, the output is offset. With regard to using one size, this can be done since building a Rear axle to shaft length would allow you to do it. You would just have a different total width either smaller or larger depending on which axle length you chose.
You really wouldn't need to carry a spare since the axles are 4140 Chromo and they carrry a 10 Year warranty. Any tire size, horsepower, or application.

The axles are 35 spline with 2 bolt patterns. 5 on 4.5 and 5 on 5.5". They could also be used on a D44 using the 35 spline ARB. Why use them? I myself have wasted stock shafts in my CRD 60. Peace of mind is how I see it.
Good questions.

you have a yellow star you could of just pimped this axle with out trying to make the post look like a tech question to began with.....

I run the strange s/t series 35 spline shafts in my tj, never broken one. If your going to the trouble of building a 60 for a tj put some decent axle shafts in it.

you have a yellow star you could of just pimped this axle with out trying to make the post look like a tech question to began with.....

In Roundeye's defense, he's new to selling and marketing drivetrain components. He's determined to learn as much as possible (trust me, I've answered a bunch of questions). I think he genuinely wanted input, rather than just pimping these shafts.

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A buddy managed to bend the flange and twist the splines on a D44 ALLOY USA shaft in 3 days or use(37" mtrs, 4.0l, 4.88's). A 10-year warrantee is sweet, but what does it mean when you break shafts soo quickly.

Just wondering what everyones opinion is on building one of these bad boys and would you feel the need to stuff the axle with ChroMo shafts?

Since you asked......

I'm running a 35 spline, semi-floating D60.
It's a factory Hemi-Charger axle, and is pretty similar to what your showing.

When it came time to get shafts (switched from factory 1.5" 23sp to 1.5" 35sp to run a Detroit), I considered Strange HyTuff's, but instead went with regular induction hardened 1541 (aftermarket, with a thicker 'shell' of hardening).

In a full floating rear axle, or a ft axle, where there's no vehicle weight on the shafts, I'd choose 4140/4340 or HyTuff, in a heartbeat.

But in a semi-floating street/trail driven axle, subject to side/lateral loads, impacts, and the occational jump ;) I felt safer with the weaker, but more resilliant to "other than twisting" loads 1541.

Old school racers claimed HyTuff through-hardened axles were unmatched at handling twisting loads, but were lacking in lateral ductility, and load carrying ability.
Any idea if this holds true for 4140/4340's?

Since the sheer size of the 35sp 1.5" shafts offered plenty of tensile strength in this application (35-37" tires), even in 'just' 1541, I felt comfortable with my choice.

My opinion, semifloating = go 1541.

What's your opinion?

Do you think side loads/impacts/weight carrying ability are really issues with ChroMo's/4140/4340's, is it more a HyTuff issue, or just BS?




Either way, I'd make both shafts the same length, 1/4" isn't gonna make much difference in pinion offset, but carrying 1 spare vs 2 makes a big difference.

Since you asked......

I'm running a 35 spline, semi-floating D60.
It's a factory Hemi-Charger axle, and is pretty similar to what your showing.

When it came time to get shafts (switched from factory 1.5" 23sp to 1.5" 35sp to run a Detroit), I considered Strange HyTuff's, but instead went with regular induction hardened 1541 (aftermarket, with a thicker 'shell' of hardening).

In a full floating rear axle, or a ft axle, where there's no vehicle weight on the shafts, I'd choose 4140/4340 or HyTuff, in a heartbeat.

But in a semi-floating street/trail driven axle, subject to side/lateral loads, impacts, and the occational jump ;) I felt safer with the weaker, but more resilliant to "other than twisting" loads 1541.

Old school racers claimed HyTuff through-hardened axles were unmatched at handling twisting loads, but were lacking in lateral ductility, and load carrying ability.
Any idea if this holds true for 4140/4340's?

Since the sheer size of the 35sp 1.5" shafts offered plenty of tensile strength in this application (35-37" tires), even in 'just' 1541, I felt comfortable with my choice.

My opinion, semifloating = go 1541.

What's your opinion?

Do you think side loads/impacts/weight carrying ability are really issues with ChroMo's/4140/4340's, is it more a HyTuff issue, or just BS?




Either way, I'd make both shafts the same length, 1/4" isn't gonna make much difference in pinion offset, but carrying 1 spare vs 2 makes a big difference.
My opinion is just an opinion here. I don't think there are specific actual data results out there to prove either situation. I think that rear chromo axles would prove to survive the best in any situation/condition. If in fact there is a weakness in a semifloating situation, you wouldn't be able to carry the weight that would affect it. Remember that these would be in a Jeep with a 4 foot bed and not installed in a tow rig that could carry 2 tons. I call BS but that's my BS opinion. :)
Good questions. Keep em coming!

http://www.fototime.com/%7B5A053FC9-1331-43BF-83D2-FDF1F67DE7F8%7D/picture.JPG
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A buddy managed to bend the flange and twist the splines on a D44 ALLOY USA shaft in 3 days or use(37" mtrs, 4.0l, 4.88's). A 10-year warrantee is sweet, but what does it mean when you break shafts soo quickly.

My thought on that is that it is your friends issue. A 37" tire is too much for a D44 with (assuming) 30 spline axles. I don't care who's it is. I recently twisted the splines on both rear axles in my CJ (37's, scout 44, 4.88's 304, NP435) I did not blame the axle manufacturer. I blamed myself for not buying a 60 rear.

btw. the Jeep had less than 500 miles on it and it had only been in the dirt once at Glamis. I am currently saving up some coin to permanently fix the situation.

IMO, 4140/4340/hytuff (alloy) will be better than induction hardened 1541 any time. Old school racers base alot on old wives tales not on any engineering. Bottom line is a properly heat treated alloy material will take higher stresses than 1541. A semi floating axle sees bending stresses (compression and tensile on the surface) and torsional shear stress (at the surface), a full float shaft only sees torsional shear stress. Why would you want to have more stress on a weaker material?

Dont get me wrong, induction hardened 1541 is an excellent axle materal, it is used because it forges well and induction hardens well. I think some of the misconceptions about 1541 being better than an alloy in semi floating shafts come from the fact that the induction hardening process puts residual compressive stresses on the surface of the axle, this helps the axle take bending loads. It doesn't aproach the strength of an alloy axle, but it definately helps the 1541 along.

Thanks for the replies guys :beer:

It's my understanding that:

1) Through Hardened 4140/4340/etc axles are designed primarily to handle twisting type loads, twisting when necessary, almost like a torsion bar, returning back to their original shape.
It takes a huge amount of force to exceed this ductility, ultimately putting a permanent twist into them, or even breaking them.

2) Even though they offer huge amounts of torsional ductility, they only offer a fraction of this ductility when the load is trying to bend them (weight, or typically for us, shock load, from dropping off a ledge/whatever).

3)IH 1541 is no where near as strong torsionally, but with it's soft inner core offers much more give, when subject to these 'bending loads', and are less likely to fracture from a high shock load, of dropping off something.



Like I said, this has been my understanding, but I haven't done any testing, or even taken so much as a metalurgy class.


It seems like you guys are saying 1) is correct, and maybe even 2), but 4140/4340 is so superior to 1541, that even if 1541 had increased ductility, it would still break before the 4140/4340?

Thanks again :beer:

There's no reason why a 4340/4140/hi-tuff alloy axle wouldn't far exceed the strength and ductility of an induction hardened 1541 axle for a semi float application. All the talk about 1541 being better than an alloy for a semi float is BS. Look at what the major semi float axle manufacturs(moser, currie, strange, etc...) are selling, 1541 axles. This is what they sell and market so they all have reasons to whey their product is better and I dont buy it.