So I broke my axle
 

Driver side is completely snapped in half. I can see it rotating like a broken tree branch in gear.

How hard of a job is it? I have a compressor and decent amount of tools, but no special stuff for press fit parts. I'd rather save myself the labor $$ from a local shop, but if I have to spend 10 hours doing it a couple hundred might be worth it.

BTW I was being a jackass and floored it with the wheel turned in a parking lot trying to show off, so I got what I deserved on a car with 160k miles (and still original clutch)..........

Only thing special you might need that the adverage joe might not have kicking around in their tool box would be a big socket for you axle nut and a ball joint separator fork and maybe a small pry bar to pop the axle. Those are easy to get though.
You should be able to change it in a hour without a problem if you are a tool friendly person.

Just don't accidentally turn your tie rods at all and you should be able to slap it back together without a alignment.

The hardest part was seperating the ball joint, but a big ass hammer does the job. Shouldnt take too long to do if you know how to a use a wrench.

^yup. ive snapped enough that i do em in like 20min. nothing tricky or hard about it

Well I think I'm juyst gonna take it to Belle Tire (its a local tire/susp place, pretty reputable).

I dont have any real time to work on it until the weekend and I dont feel like driving my Cobra if it rains.

They want $190 for parts/labor, so thats only like $100 in labor and its guaranteed. I'll make sure to snap a pic of the carnage, its pretty impressive. :tomato:

Have them replace your lower ball joints while they are doing the axles. Shouldn't cost you any more in labor.

It might have gone during normal driving...

I snapped the drivers side 3 months ago, and just snapped the passenger side this week.

Happened when I was grabbing 2nd gear... usually get a nice chirp.

There's a rubber isolator on the axles, and rust starts behind there. That rust makes that part of the axle the weakest link.

I think we'll see more of this now that the CL 6spds are older especailly from cars that are in states that use salt in winter.

What I don't understand is why the car won't move when one axle is broken. Must be something with the HLSD, but I would have thought you'd be able to drive on one axle.

edit: Yep, here's a link w/ pic for another axle snapped at the isolator:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...t=snapped+axle

Yeah it definitely was thinner and fatigued in that spot. I'll bet it would have out-lasted the car though if I wouldnt have tried to do a burnout.

im affraid that my axles will break so i will change it soon 105k is a good time... i will try ones from advance auto parts i heard they have balancer like oem

Axle replacement isn't hard to do at all...A person with tool/mechanical aptitude should only take about 30 minutes. With 160k, the hardest part is going to be popping that sucker out.

The axles from Advance are fine for every day usage...Now if you track your car on the regular and are heavily modded, thats a different story...

but i dont think that advance auto parts will be worse than OEM

go with the advanced ones. i have some track time on mine and no clicks

Joe, same thing happened to me at the drag strip. You can order some axles at rockauto.com the cardones A1 are good and very inexpensive

I ended up dropping it off at Belle Tires (which is a chain of tire/susp/repair shops) and replaced it with lifetime warranty for $225.

I wouldve done it myself but I needed my car for work and didnt have any time to work on it.

I'm a little surpised to see so many people have the same issue, and just as surprised they designed a part so vital that would lead to failure due to corrosion.....

It's funny coming across this thread. I broke my axel about a month ago while I was in Montreal for work. I chirped out at a light trying to get around traffic and it snapped in half. At least it was cheap to fix, when it broke I figured it was the clutch. I was able to put the transmission into any gear without using the clutch.

Here's a pic:

http://home.cogeco.ca/~cube/pics/broken.jpg

I'd be a bit worried about it snapping and taking out the oil filter. Maybe its just the camera angle but that axle looks might close to the filter.

Harv

It is close. When I snapped mine it dented the bottom of the filter.