I'm scared

i broke stock 60 outer shaft first ride out with bald 38 tsl's and weak 4.0L... i've seen many stock knuckles break so i won't run them without some gusseting... broken knuckles are one of the worst failures to happen in the woods...

i meant to mention that spicer 60 u joints are really tough but i recommend changing them every other year if you're beating on it as i've had them break and ruin the shafts... cheap u joint breaks 300 bucks worth of chromo axles...shittay!

If you broke a stock outer with bald 38's you had to get it bound up. I've never ran chromo's and I beat the piss out of mine. I've broken 2 stubs in the last 10 years. Now the knuckle thats no joke! I pulled the studs out of mine once. The new buggy won't leave the garage til it gets solids.

I wheeled a leaf spring buggy on a budget for a lot of years, and followed link trucks a lot of places. Sounds like you're on the right track.

Traction bar.
35 spline outters. I ran/ still run Warn Premium 35 spline hubs. They're a nice fuse to keep the rest of your crap intact. I've also accumulated a bunch of spares over the years. 10 min trail fix and warranty out the old ones.
I ran full hydro for 5+ years on stock chevy knuckles before breaking one. And I was mean to that ol' buggy. It always happens in a shitty spot though.

Nevermind that leaf spring. It was pissed.

I had spares at camp, so my buddy ran down the hill and we swapped it on the spot.

But this was plan B when my buddy broke a Ford knuckle and welding it failed:
Down the hill:

Back to Camp:

Only problem with running a fuse at the hub is I've seen wheel hubs break when all the parts start grinding and crunching in there!

pholmann said:

If you broke a stock outer with bald 38's you had to get it bound up. I've never ran chromo's and I beat the piss out of mine. I've broken 2 stubs in the last 10 years. Now the knuckle thats no joke! I pulled the studs out of mine once. The new buggy won't leave the garage til it gets solids.

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It was certainly bound up but broke surprisingly easy... I've seen others get away with stock outers for a long time, i guess i had real bad luck...

Just bad luck,, I just dropped in the middle rock garden at Harlan and broke one, In low not on gas 43s non stickie. Maybe went 20 feet.

I`ve ran my Yukon for 7 years and broke two cromoly axle shafts and one knuckle (Ford) during that time. I promise you I have beat the living piss out of it. Both times I broke an axle it was due to a spicer ujoint letting go under a load and it broke the ears off. Put a set of super joints in it and some 35 spline outers and you will be very surprised at how strong the axles really are. If you buy from a place like ECGS they will Not hassell you about warranty. There gonna give you a replacement set even with spicer joints on the first break with no questions but, if your not running CTMs or super joints you usually always break the ears which is a tell tell sign and they get flack from Yukon on those returns so there only covering there butt. With the cromoly joints its usually a clean axle break so you won`t have any problems getting warranty even after a few breaks. I`m really in the same boat with my new Jeep I bought. It has a auto trans and an atlas. I loved my stick just for reliability but, so far the auto has done me ok. At the end of the day YOU know your rigs capability better than anybody so drive by what you know and make sure you can trust your spotter in the tight spots. As far as the 14 bolt.... That ain`t even worth sweating period. Under cuts is your axles worst enemy.

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I'm also astounded by what stock 14 bolt axle will tolerate. Not by my testing....watching other guys at windrock jus massacre some ****. I've only seen one break in person and figured it was about 10 minutes past an epic beat down

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tonybolton said:

I'm also astounded by what stock 14 bolt axle will tolerate. Not by my testing....watching other guys at windrock jus massacre some ****. I've only seen one break in person and figured it was about 10 minutes past an epic beat down

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x2.... if you break a 14b shaft pat yourself on the back and put another stocker back in... and hopefully you weren't running a detroit because its probably toast also...

I`ve only seen one break as well and it broke twice!! Both times at choco on boat ramp. He almost made it and slid back down on the pass rear tire and hit the lip while he was still in the rev limitor. Snapped the axle. The second time he did the same **** and snapped a Yukon 14 bolt replacement axle..

al1tonyota said:

Only problem with running a fuse at the hub is I've seen wheel hubs break when all the parts start grinding and crunching in there!

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I've broken no less than a dozen of them without having that problem. They seem to shatter and break the inner splined gear for me.
I have extruded spindles to the point of cutting off wheel bearings by breaking stub shafts inside them though. I went through 4 stock stubs before upgrading to 35 spline.

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I never broke my stock outers but I went to a buddy's place in West Virginia and it had a bad reputation for eating some pretty built rigs so I put chromos in. They held up when I bound the front up so bad that I broke both inners in the same spot. That's when I learned I wasn't invincible on tons. My gusseted ford knuckles are holding up but this thread makes me nervous.

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Ive broken 3 or 4 stock outers in the last couple years, v8 and 40's. finally ran out of spares and ordered a set of 35 spline outers and slugs, so hopefully i wont have that problem anymore. Other than that driveshafts have been my problem, but its my fault for putting 1310 joints in the rear shaft, upgrading that this winter too.

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I think driving with the fear of breaking actually makes you a better driver, you chose the right line and crawl it or bump it when ya have too, couple years like this has made me a much better driver and now its time for tons and 42's, seen a couple guys jump right into "built" rigs and couldnt make **** and embarrased themselves and their rig cause they didnt start out small. This thread has shown me what direction i wanna go with my 60 front Thanks guys


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Not to derail because I think it's on topic but.....can some of you post pictures of how you gusseted your knuckles?

Ford knuckle....but how I was gonna gusset mine before jus sayin ****it and bought solids.

Thanks Tony I finally found a picture also. Haven't found the vendor though.

money_pit_yj said:

All stock CUCV axle with a Yukon Locker

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I was gonna ask where the axles came from. I'm a firm Believer in the stock 456's in military axles. They are fawkin stout! I have Yukon stubs, the non greaseable spicer joints and stock inners. With a cute lil Spartan lunchbox.. All has been good. I'm in same boat as u and tony. Hell I think we all have enough common since to know when **** is at its point. Or for the most part anyways... Theres one thing I always seem to remember .. Was riding and chad was spottin or watching and says to me while I was on tub rock "hey kush, if them wheels ain't spinnin something gonna bust!! If you start comin down mash them Fukin brakes! Unless you just wanna break some ****".. Since then I have logged countless hours and watched countless morons. Even had to help a few! Haha bastards! I'm as weird as anyone when it comes to not breaking ****.. I live to ride.. Not Fukin ruin the weekend.
Dammit sorry .. Started rambling... :smoke:
You get what I'm sayin.. I think.

^^^ I think I become dumber by reading this!

I just hate being the guy in the group that holds people up. So I try my best to make sure my rig is at 100% at all times and my "give a ****" is set to highest priority.

I know breakage happens, but as much as I ride and see what fails on alota rigs.....I purchase/modify accordingly. I see...or have seen lotsa steering fails. Like FAIL....like not being able to roll and need to use your winch to hold all the **** together.