Breaking Rear Drive Sharfts

[r34unit]

yo
I was driving my mates r34 gtt today it has 330 kw blah blah, with a heavy duty clutch and standard drive train.
As i hit boost in second gear it broke the passenger side rear drive shaft. This is the second time its happen on the same side. The drive shaft has lasted two months tops since its been rebuilt.
as any one else had this problem ? does he maybe have a problem with his diff causing it to break on the same side ?

thanks in advance ?

[89CAL]

Did the shaft snap or one of the CV's fail?

[r34unit]

Did the shaft snap or one of the CV's fail?

the first time he smashed the cv joint now he snaped drive the shaft !

[r34unit]

are r34 non turbo drive shafts the same as r34 turbo ones ? or do r33 shafts fit r34 ?

[GTR_JOEY]

Sounds like it may be an alignment issue.

Is everything bolted together properly back there? Ie diff, arms, subframe?

[vetter2769]

sounds like something is slightly misaligned, you've gotta think about any changes that have been made to that area of the car recently.

[GTSBoy]

Non-turbo shafts are not the same as turbo shafts. R33 should be the same.

[89CAL]

Yeah I grabbed an NA shaft thinking it would work because the CV's had the same bolt pattern but they are thinner. GTR ones are thicker but have the 2x3 bolt pattern.

Something along those lines anyway

[GTSBoy]

No, GTR are outright 6 bolt, plus stronger everything.

NA should be 2x3 6 bolters, like S chassis cars, with the weakest CVs. R32/3/4 turbos should be 5 bolt with the "medium" strength CVs.

[iruvyouskyrine]

Any stronger aftermarket 5 bolt shafts available that won't cost a boatload of cash? Not that hard to swap driveshafts out just annoying.

[r34unit]

y

[Hadouken]

The 34 gtt drive shafts seem to hold up fine for other people pushing the same or more power than your mate. Something else must be the cause

[scotty nm35]

Just because it snapped coming on boost doesn't mean that's what killed it, the damage was done (not long) before the failure looking at the pics.

How hard does he drive it? Would take a massive shock loading to snap that shaft...

[Trex]

Tein make some don't they?

[89CAL]

No, GTR are outright 6 bolt, plus stronger everything.

NA should be 2x3 6 bolters, like S chassis cars, with the weakest CVs. R32/3/4 turbos should be 5 bolt with the "medium" strength CVs.

I must be going crazy, Could have sworn when I was looking at driveshafts when I snapped mine the GTR ones were 3x2 but a quick search now it seems that they are 6x1. Going senile at age 25 it seems..... :S haha

When I snapped mine I figured it was from excessive axle tramp (the initial fracture) and a hard launch one day finished it off. It was a very similar failure to yours. This was on 195rwkw with 19" wheels and 265 wide rear tyres. I now have near 300rwkw and 18" wheels with 265 tyres and Havent had a driveshaft problem since the first one. Mind you I dont go dropping my clutch and doing skids

[GTRPSI]

Any pot holes or rough road when it happened?

Saw a gearbox break recently due to this, going onto power, car got slightly light and back down again over the roughness killing the box.

Never had a issue on the flat in the past.

As could axel tramp.

[r34unit]

just confirming, will r33 turbo drive shafts fit r34 gtt ?

[Quicky134]

On 1/19/2015 at 3:30 PM, r34unit said:

just confirming, will r33 turbo drive shafts fit r34 gtt ?

Hey, did you end up finding an answer?

[GTSBoy]

OH FFS!  https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/451743-breaking-rear-drive-sharfts/?do=findComment&comment=7443897

 

[ERO54N]

On 12/15/2014 at 5:55 PM, r34unit said:

y

Nice pics, very interesting break. I'm no expert but it looks like metal fatigue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_(material)#/media/File:Tender_fatigued_axle.JPG

If the replaced driveshaft was a used part a contributing factor could be that the unit was repeatedly loaded beyond its intended limit during its lifetime aswell. Similar to when you bend a paper clip at the same point until it eventually snaps.

Dark, corroded void near surface looks like it may also be a manufacturing defect but that's just assumption, could be just oil stain.

As to why coincidently passenger drive shaft failure may be to do with how the differential is transferring load, similar to how an open differential spins one tyre under certain conditions.

May only be far fetched and theoretical but hope this contributes to the discussion.