[Judas]

Do axles, after say 250,000 hard miles, wear out on the end (outside) bearing faces?

[Judas]

Do axles, after say 250,000 hard miles, wear out on the end (outside) bearing faces?

[Z Code 400]

Judas,

At some point, you will see structural failure of parts, but it is quite difficult to predict.

With GM 'raceless' axles in general, the part that usually 'wears out' is the bearing surface, while the actual structural integrity of the axle remains unchanged.

However, beware of axles that have deep wear grooves in this area since it is possible the axle could break at this location.

As far as wear in terms of actual miles of use, I cannot say for sure. I have seen axles with over 175,000 miles that still looked good and severe wear after only 80,000 miles on a similar vehicle.

When we were drag racing our 1966 Fairlaine 427, we used to paint a stripe down the axles and exchange them when we could see 1/2 turn of 'twist' along the shaft itself.

Each time we broke an axle (Ford 9") we broke them right through the splines. We also split a few spider gears around the axles, which served to ruin the axle splines as the broken gear rotated.

On my partners 1970 Chevelle, which had a LS7 and a 4 Speed, we continually broke 12 bolt axles (with 28" x 10" Slicks)at the flange, just outboard of the axle bearing.

The other failure we experienced on the 12 bolt was pulling the axle cross-shaft (pin) through the carrier itself.

We ultimately converted to the Dana 60 in both cars which eliminated all these problems.

I don't see anything wrong with the 'Axle Saver Bearings' currently on the market for a street car, provided the stock axle isn't cut through too much, but new axles should always be used as a safety precaution when you can afford it.

I used Axle Saver Bearings on my 1972 Vega which had a 7.5" 10 bolt with 3.23:1 gears. It was powered by a 10.00:1 302 Chevrolet and backed by a Borg-Warner T-50 5 Speed Gearbox.

They seemed to hold up very well to drag strip abuse in that application. They have more rollers than a stock bearing which should increase load carrying capacity somewhat.

I hope this information is helpful...Robert

[BVR421]

My 1979 Fleetwood daily driver wore out the axles on its 12bolt at about 150,000, had to have two new axles as the old ones were so worn new seals and bearings both would just spin on the axle
this happened just as I wanted to spend $$ on my Pontiac rear axle. Oh well

[Judas]

Thanks for the detail info guys! Nice stories too. I took my 69 GTO axle for rebuild and the guy said that the bearing surfaces had worn down. I had never heard of such a thing, so I wanted to be sure it wasnt some sort of fish story. I guess I should replace them as on top the wear, the axles have probably had a fairly hard life. The rear is 4.11 and the previous owner and his son talked about all the hard burnouts and launches.

Whats a source of good axles for a fair price?

[Schurkey]

The local "old man at the salvage yard" Fred-Sanford-kinda-guy used to claim that GM axles were "Made in Viet Nam", in reference to the crappy steel alloy and crappy bearing-rides-on-the-axle-shaft design nonsense that GM was so fond of. Like every other salvage yard on earth, he long ago sold out his entire stock of Chevy 12-bolt axle shafts, and the 10-bolt varieties are getting scarce.

Summit and Jegs would have new aftermarket axle shafts, as usual the aftermarket has figured out ways to fix the screw-ups GM produced. Even if you keep the original style bearings, the aftermarket axle shafts are made of better material, better heat treat, etc, and should provide longer life than a new GM axle shaft.

[mike nixon]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Judas:

Whats a source of good axles for a fair price? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

moser engineering . check them out, if you buy from them tell them nixon's auto sent you.

www.moserengineering.com

i think that's it anyway.

they're local to me and i've had them make various axles. good quality stuff reasonable prices, good turn around time. better for local shops that carry them in.

this is their busy season so if you're in a hurry be prepaired to wait.

i also know they supply axles to a lot of other builders so ask when you price who makes the product.

mike

[Bruce1223]

I second Mike's recommendation of Moser Engineering. I got new axles for my '67 firebird from them and was happy with them. I think they cost a little over $200 a piece.

Bruce

[J_JAMNIK]

I also bought some Mosier axels. The splines fit a little too snug for me(required big hammer to install), but worked fine.