Aftermarket Diff Output Shaft Snapped!

[Chrispy]

A few weeks ago I ducked out in the Plus 2 to run some jobs for the wife. Was only a 10min drive away so a nice easy lunchtime errand.

I went for a gap in the traffic at a roundabout and found myself with no drive called a tow truck and got the car home.

Jacked it up and has a look underneath and noticed I had one standard diff output shaft, and one fancy billet aftermarket shaft.

I thought “great, it will definitely be the standard shaft!”

Ha!


Pulled it out after arguing with the circlip and my all too long slide hammer. It was in pristine condition. No marring or twisting evident.

Finally got the other one out today and sure enough snapped at the end of the spline.

Anyone seen this before? I’m astounded that a billet shaft has let go while a standard one is also in use. Billet one on the left side of the diff, and standard on the right (in a rhd car).

Any clever ideas people? I’m in 2 minds about replacing one shaft or 2...

SnappedShaft

[rgh0]

I have not seen a billet shaft like that before with the triangular end --- looks like its quality was some what doubtful.

cheers
Rohan

[Chrispy]

Yep, I haven't been able to find any info on where it came from. I don't have much history on the car and there are no markings on the shaft.

[vstibbard]

That definitely looks like a local/home made special..... I've got TTR outputs shaft on 26R and used TTR three eared steel diff output shafts and axles on the S1 I finished a few years ago.

Cheers

V

[Famous Frank]

The broken one is definitely an aftermarket shaft but it doesn’t look billet to me. A couple of new forged units from Tony Thompson Racing, or Kelvedon Motorsports, or Dave Bean, or Ray at RD Enterprises should resolve that problem for the rest of your life!