I keep breaking axles on coilovers

[cammy_ss]

Hello guys I'm new to this forum.

I currently have a 5th gen 2011 camaro SS, I installed coilovers in the car, the brand of the coilovers is K Sport (will post the link below). When I installed the coilovers, I obviously lowered the car and since then, I've broken two axles, on the same side (left side). I was wondering if this problem is caused by the fact the car is lowered on the rear, maybe there's a certain height that the car needs to be at so the axles don't break?


The car is a manual LS3. I also recently stroked it to 417, put a stage 3 cam in and some other mods, before I opened up the engine I honestly got tired of breaking axles and decided to take off the rear coilovers and switched back to OEM susp, but I'm 100% certain the original susp isn't going to help much at the track with this new setup. I haven't tested the car with this new build/setup but I honestly don't want to keep breaking axles since I'm in Mexico (far away from the border) and It's pretty complicated getting them shipped here, I'm most likely going to re-install the rear coilovers again.

I now have the LCA357 Lowe control arms, non-adjustable, poly 15" kit and the smaller break conv on the rear to fit r15 rims.

I appreciate all the help you guys could give me, thank you all beforehand.

Link of the coilovers: https://www.octanemotorsports.com/20...wHeGHUuLBxo-SZ

Photo of the height my car had when coilovers where installed:



Sorry if my english is not perfect.

[SS_Dave]

A lot can be attributed to how you drive, particularly on a stick car. Are you pre-loading the drivetrain for launch or just letting it get shocked? Need to pre-load.

Also, how much are you lowered? If it's more than about 1.5" you should be considering offset differential bushings to fix the geometry a bit. In fact, those wouldn't hurt to have regardless of how low you went.

[fz4k98]

I have worn out axles with stock shocks and coilovers. Based on the information i have found, lowered cars and track days are big contributors with axle issues. Last year i put rebuilt aftermarket axles in and raised the car back to stock. This year i have an axle clicking noise again.

[1JEWLDSSRS]

Originally Posted by cammy_ss

Hello guys I'm new to this forum.

I currently have a 5th gen 2011 camaro SS, I installed coilovers in the car, the brand of the coilovers is K Sport (will post the link below). When I installed the coilovers, I obviously lowered the car and since then, I've broken two axles, on the same side (left side). I was wondering if this problem is caused by the fact the car is lowered on the rear, maybe there's a certain height that the car needs to be at so the axles don't break?


The car is a manual LS3. I also recently stroked it to 417, put a stage 3 cam in and some other mods, before I opened up the engine I honestly got tired of breaking axles and decided to take off the rear coilovers and switched back to OEM susp, but I'm 100% certain the original susp isn't going to help much at the track with this new setup. I haven't tested the car with this new build/setup but I honestly don't want to keep breaking axles since I'm in Mexico (far away from the border) and It's pretty complicated getting them shipped here, I'm most likely going to re-install the rear coilovers again.

I now have the LCA357 Lowe control arms, non-adjustable, poly 15" kit and the smaller break conv on the rear to fit r15 rims.

I appreciate all the help you guys could give me, thank you all beforehand.

Link of the coilovers: https://www.octanemotorsports.com/20...wHeGHUuLBxo-SZ

Photo of the height my car had when coilovers where installed:



Sorry if my english is not perfect.

Now THAT'San interesting color combo!! Is the car wrapped? Cowl hood too?? Looks pretty cool. Good luck with your issue. As SS said, sometimes you can go too low and throw off the diff and axle geometry too much and cause issues.

[acutron42]

Are you running solid cradle bushings? If not you might be getting deflection on the hit with the M6.

[acammer]

Couple things to thinkin about. First - these cars have angle in the CV when at factory ride height - which is sub-optimal from a reliability/strength stand point. When you lower the car, you introduce even more angle in the CV, which accelerates wear further, and puts the CV in a more vulnerable position when load is applied. So, unfortunately ride height works directly against axle reliability.

There is a counter, and that's to run a Hendrix offset bushing, which actually raised the differential up higher in the subframe and reduces CV angle. It's not a dramatic amount, but it certainly helps. Besides that, running with as much ride height as you can stand will prolong axle life.

Second - where are you getting your replacement axles from. The OEM axles have been out of production for a while, and unfortunately the big-box part store axles (Advance Auto, Autozone, O'Rielly's, etc) are all extremely sub-par in terms of quality, and almost always fail much more quickly than the factory parts. That leaves you two options - hunt for good condition, low mile used factory axles, or go to an aftermarket axle. G-Force makes a great set of axles for these cars, but they are costly. Sometimes, especially for cars that get run hard, that's a cost worth paying.

Third, as some of the guys have hit on, stick shift cars are notoriously hard on driveline parts. If there is a third pedal in the car, everything between the crankshaft and the lugnuts is always "at risk" depending on how the car is driven. There are steps you can take to strengthen key weak points in the driveline, and steps that should be taken to reduce points of lash that will introduce additional shock loads. The subframe bushings are the #1 suspension mod for M6 cars IMO, as that whole rear subframe is prone to substantial deflection, and is a key point (along with the differential bushings) where wheelhop can be introduced. From there, you can get into upgrading suspension components for stiffer and stronger parts, engine/transmission mounts, etc.

But the key to making an M6 car last is the way you drive it. Inherently, the faster you want to go, the more violence it has to endure, but using things like driveline preload on launches, avoiding clutch dumps, wheel hop, and other non-productive violence will preserve the driveline as much as possible. The rear diff is another weak point that eventually fails in these cars under enough abuse - so keep in mind that "solving" your axle failure issue may just move that failure point to the next weakest component, which is typically the ring and pinion and/or differential itself.