Was that an OEM shaft? Did it get wasted just from trying to get the truck through a tough spot or did it get hit by something while under load? Was the truck lifted with bigger tires and lockers or stock? I'm not asking to be a jerk, I'm just curious what the circumstances were. A thread regarding failures would be useful for people considering an upgrade so they can decide if it's necessary or not. I don't wheel mine very heavily but if I start to I'd like to know at what point I should by beefier propshafts so I don't end up broke in the woods somewhere. Of course, a spare OEM shaft out of a junkyard would be cheaper.

The rear shaft looks not too different from the front. Are similar failures of the rear shaft common as well?

 

It was an OEM replacement shaft supposedly, though we don't know for sure. Was on a truck with 265/75s with a 2" lift, the CDL was the only drive train mod. Pretzeled under load when the front wheels suddenly caught traction. I would have guessed the front diff would go before the prop shaft, but cheap is cheap!

 

That must have made an awesome sound! I'll have to keep that in mind. I wonder how much throttle was being used. Of course, it's probably the cheapest piece in that portion of the driveline so it's probably a good thing that it's what failed.

 

It was definitely best that it failed, he had installed a CDL so he removed the shaft and was able to drive RWD home from the rally. If anything else had failed he may not have been able to drive it home.

 

Those sound like good reasons to KEEP the stock shaft. It's like putting too heavy of a fuse into an electronics circuit. If it overloads, it may take out the $1000 stereo, instead of the 25 cent fuse.

BTW, I'm actually kidding as I'm sure a heavy wheeler has already replaced the diff, shafts, etc...

 

There's something to be said for that. Warn used to make a fuse for their hubs that was designed to fail before the next weakest piece in the driveline. Too bad there's no place on a Rover front end for something like this: Desert Rat :: Warn Hub Fuse Not sure if they still make it but it makes sense to me.

 

That's pretty interesting. I think I'm going to take a hack saw and cut half way through my drive shafts so they break at that point instead of taking out my diffs.

No, seriously, the Warn thing is pretty cool!

 

Or you could install a common item like a shear pin.
Or a Sonnax Power Train Saver
Sonnax - Aftermarket replacement transmission, torque converter, and high performance automotive parts

http://staging.sonnax.com/videos/pow...x.webmvp8.webm

 

That's a great piece. I would think that belongs in every "heavy duty" driveshaft. You can repair your broken driveline in a few minutes with two open end wrenches. Of course, fitting that between the cats would take some planning.