We have not seen many axles break. But here’s one we pulled out this week.
I would have previously said you are most at risk for this problem with an uprated engine and/or higher than normal output from your engine. But this power plant driving this axle was a stock 948. And I would have also said that most if not all axle snaps happen on the right side, which is the dominant drive wheel with Sprite live rear axles.
But this one is the left axle. So what happened? We will never know. Many of our parts and pieces have been swapped from car to car over the years, so perhaps this was a racer’s former right axle, which found a home on the left side of this particular Bugeye. Or maybe someone along the way was particularly hard on the clutch. Regardless, this is a good reminder to be gentle with your old British stuff. Even if you are a performance driver, remember to be gentle when engaging the clutch, or your axle may end up just like this one!
If you never want to have this problem, use an uprated nitrided axle, which we sell in our catalog which you can see at this link. These axles are much harder than stock, and thus stronger and less prone to breakage. The look exactly stock, except for a slightly iridescent color. Two of these babies should pretty much guarantee you won’t end up with the two piece axle shown above. This is what we used in our electric prototype, so we could make our 0-60 runs in under 10 seconds, without fear of shearing an axle.
