Targa Miata
MIATA BUILD
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April 12, 2013 - I found the cause of the axle failure.
The spring clip on the end of the shaft broke, allowing the shaft to pull most of the way out of the CV. The small number of splines remaining just weren't up to the task and ripped apart.
On the other side, one of the CV boots ripped and was slinging grease, but I haven't taken it apart to find out just what's going one. It wasn't ripped last time I was under the car and since it was slinging grease on to the exhaust, I would have been able to smell it if it had been happening for a while. I'm curious as to what I'll find in there.
No matter, I've got a new set of halfshafts in the car now. Not a cheap fix, but an easy one. I did check to make sure I wasn't exceeding the amount of allowable change in length of the shafts due to excessive travel, but it looks as if I'm dead on the correct amount.
tags: failure, axles