NEED HELP!!!

Nick95GT · Nov 8, 2008

i was drivng my 95 GT the other day when the roads where slick and i lost control going into a turn. i did a 360 and slammed my rear left wheel into the curb and snapped my rear axle shaft right in half where the wheel connects. its now in a shop and im trying to decide if i should buy a new axle shaft or a used one. luckily nothing else was wrong with it. im very lucky that my whole body of the car landed on the rear driver side wheel once it snapped off keeping the body from scraping along the sidewalk or anything. so the body and everything else is in perfect condition. all i need is a rear axle shaft, a wheel, and a brake rotor. will my car ever drive the same again?...

BlownFiveLiter · Nov 8, 2008

Moved to 94-95 Tech.

If you can find a good, used axle, you could probably get away pretty cheaply. FWIW, aftermarket axles are available under $300, so if you wanted to step up to something stronger, now would be a good time, too. If all that was damaged was the axle itself and nothing else was tweaked, I don't see any reason why the car wouldn't drive the same.

mo_dingo · Nov 9, 2008

I would get the car on a lift and check out the unibody very carefully. Frame damage comes quite easily on our cars, it doesn't take much. Any of the pinch welds could have broke, or any of the crumple zones could have caved. Or one of the rails may be mushroomed.

But as said above, compare new prices to used carefully, you may find a real deal, or it may behoove you to step up to a 31 spline setup.

toyman · Nov 9, 2008

mo_dingo said:
I would get the car on a lift and check out the unibody very carefully. Frame damage comes quite easily on our cars, it doesn't take much. Any of the pinch welds could have broke, or any of the crumple zones could have caved. Or one of the rails may be mushroomed.

But as said above, compare new prices to used carefully, you may find a real deal, or it may behoove you to step up to a 31 spline setup.

Now you are adding $$$'s if you go to a 31 spline setup. IMHO totally a waste on a stock and not so stock setup. I would look for used parts (axle, caliper, etc) but I would also install a new axle bearing and seal on that side as well.

Zero_chance · Nov 9, 2008

Jeez, how fast were you going into the turn? Ive driven Mustangs every winter here in new england for the last ten years and have never spun out. The good news is youre okay, no one else was hurt and the car wasnt destroyed. With the amount of force needed to do what youre describing, Id be extremely wary of other perhaps unseen problems as of yet. Think of the amount of force it took to snap an axle shaft like that. Id be surprised if the rear axle hasnt relocated itself an inch or so to the opposite side. Id definitely have them check it out and go look for yourself. I can easily see shocks and control arms being ravaged by an impact like that. Hopefully not but Id rather find out while its already up in the air. As for replacing the axle, Id just find a good used one and call it a day.

Nick95GT · Nov 10, 2008

Zero_chance said:
Jeez, how fast were you going into the turn? Ive driven Mustangs every winter here in new england for the last ten years and have never spun out. The good news is youre okay, no one else was hurt and the car wasnt destroyed. With the amount of force needed to do what youre describing, Id be extremely wary of other perhaps unseen problems as of yet. Think of the amount of force it took to snap an axle shaft like that. Id be surprised if the rear axle hasnt relocated itself an inch or so to the opposite side. Id definitely have them check it out and go look for yourself. I can easily see shocks and control arms being ravaged by an impact like that. Hopefully not but Id rather find out while its already up in the air. As for replacing the axle, Id just find a good used one and call it a day.

Yeah actually i havent had a chance to look at it from underneath on a lift yet. ive actually heard that it doesnt take much to snap the axle shaft because its only about what. an inch or 2 thick. i looked at the other side and the wheel on the other side looks like its in the right spot, it doesnt look like anything shifted at all but an inch or 2 would be hard to notice so im not sure. the only thing i noticed after the accident was that the exhaust pipe on the drivers side was sticking out a little more than the other exhaust on the passenger side. im guessing the whole exhaust setup must have shifted a little. but right now its in a shop still, and the people working there said the unibody is perfectly fine and nothing shifted. so idk...

vladasap · Nov 10, 2008

get a used diff with axles n everything with some nice gears n brakes in the rear n swap the whole thing...you can find many for cheap and some even have the 31 spline axles already

thats what i would do...this way u'll save a few bucks down the road if you are planning to get gears done

hotcobra03 · Nov 10, 2008

U might get lucky depending how axle snapped .during the spin it could have twisted.if u slamed curb just think 2in solid shaft broke, next solid to go would be somesort of bolt half inch tops .i would look for more damage.used known good parts are fine

mustang6tee8 · Nov 11, 2008

dang nick.. bad luck..

good thing the body is OK though! and glad you werent hurt

i'd upgrade to stronger axles while you're having work done. no matter what your plans are with the car (drag, etc), strong axles are a great thing to have.

i actually got a scare today on slick roads. hit a puddle going about 70 and felt the front end wiggle..

thankfully it kept going straight instead of spinning around the busy freeway. new tires are in the works..

ps- crappy 245's are not a good idea on a 9" rim

revhead347 · Nov 11, 2008

Dang that sucks. Next time you get an alignment have the wheel base checked. If it's less than 1/4" from one side to the other, you're fine. If I knew where my stock axle shafts were, I send one to you for the cost of shipping. I'm never going to use them again. I think they are in my dad's garage in Ft. Lauderdale somewhere.

Kurt

Nick95GT · Nov 13, 2008

well the car just got fixed. im going to pick it up tommorow morning. hopefully everything is good. im kinda pissed off and annoyed at this whole thing though cause i just cant believe its costing me 950.00 i mean i know that may not seem bad for an axle shaft, new seal, new brake rotor, and a new wheel but im just frustrated since i havent even owned this car that long and this already happened. i was deffinatly planning on putting some chrome bullit wheels on it too which probably wouldve cost about 1000. and there goes the extra grand i couldve used for new wheels...

Chythar · Nov 13, 2008

Congrats on getting your 'Stang back on the road. As you are now aware, our cars have a ton of torque which makes it really easy to break the rear wheels loose. When it rains here in Southern California, I baby my GT as much as I can because water X torque do NOT mix. Even while babying my old 94 V6, I STILL broke the rear wheels loose on a rainy day and had the car sideways on a busy road.

I'm sure you were being careful, but we all love to push our Stangs hard. I guess this was your Stang's way of saying "treat me gentler next time".

revhead347 · Nov 13, 2008

That price seems pretty reasonable to me. Sucks that it happened though.

Kurt

RODDOG 187 · Apr 29, 2012

revhead347 said:
Dang that sucks. Next time you get an alignment have the wheel base checked. If it's less than 1/4" from one side to the other, you're fine. If I knew where my stock axle shafts were, I send one to you for the cost of shipping. I'm never going to use them again. I think they are in my dad's garage in Ft. Lauderdale somewhere.

Kurt

HEY IF U FIND THOSE SEND ONE MY WAY TOO! HAD THE SAME TYPE OF ACCIDENT ONLY DIFFERENCE IS I RAN OVER AND LANDED ON A BABY PALM TREE, WHICH WAS STUCK UNDER VEHICLE AND AT TIME OF TOW THEY PULLED OFF FRONT BUMPER . SAME AS NICKS ACCIDENT MY CAR LANDED ON THE BROKE RIM AND TIRE.

revhead347 · Apr 29, 2012

I won't be able to find them in any reasonable period of time. I just don't have a clue where they went.

Kurt

WhiteCobra95 · Apr 29, 2012

The alignement check is a GREAT idea. That would confirm that the car is okay or if there is any more serious damage. If you're lucky, the axle itself took all of the force.

Regarding used axles, you have to check them carefully since the brearing rides on the axle itself insteaof using an inner race. New axles aren't that bad price-wise. You can find good replacements in the $200 to $300 range. However, you have to include the cost of lugs, a new ABS ring if your old one doesn't press off (sometimes they bend), and labor to assemble them.

toyman · Apr 30, 2012

RODDOG 187 said:
HEY IF U FIND THOSE SEND ONE MY WAY TOO! HAD THE SAME TYPE OF ACCIDENT ONLY DIFFERENCE IS I RAN OVER AND LANDED ON A BABY PALM TREE, WHICH WAS STUCK UNDER VEHICLE AND AT TIME OF TOW THEY PULLED OFF FRONT BUMPER . SAME AS NICKS ACCIDENT MY CAR LANDED ON THE BROKE RIM AND TIRE.

This post was started in 2008 so I would suspect anyone who had parts back then has already sold them. BTW, uppercase is bad etiquette, it's equivalent to shouting.

WhiteCobra95 · Apr 30, 2012

That is hilarious Toyman! I didn't even notice the original post's date.

This is kind of like on "Car Talk" when they ring a caller from a month back to see if their suggestion fixed the caller's car problem. Too funny. =)

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