How much HP before half shaft problems?

[Bo knows]

I have a gen 2 and I'm going to do some performace up grades. At what HP level do the half shafts need to be changed? I plan on running some sticky street tires also. Thanks for any input you may have .
Bo

 

[Simms]

Just an FYI, I have seen stock vipers break half shafts before. Mainly due to wheel hop at the drag strip but it can happen.

Get some Unitrax half shaft loops while you are at it.

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

I have a Gen 2 with near 700 hp and larger half shafts, but its not so much how much hp your car has but how hard you run from a stop or near stop. Many drag racers with slicks and even road racers coming out of a turn with a lot of torque and gobs of traction have broken many half shafts. Its a fairly inexpensive exchange too.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

My Gen 1 is fairly stock and the previous owner said he drag raced on street tires a lot. Only years later did I find one half shaft slightly oval instead of round. Could have been my stickier autocross tires, but guessing no. The result is that you can distort the half shaft if you try hard enough. The large diameter tube is kind of thin walled.

 

[plumcrazy]

When I ran nitrous and a ton of it my numbers were 577rwhp and 856rwtq and mine were fine. I only 1/4 miled it once though and all the miles were on the street from 60mph and up. My guess is that its torque that's gonna break them though. It all depends how ya drive it. But other than on a track you can't beat on a car more than I did on mine back then.....

 

[Jack B]

When I ran nitrous and a ton of it my numbers were 577rwhp and 856rwtq and mine were fine. I only 1/4 miled it once though and all the miles were on the street from 60mph and up. My guess is that its torque that's gonna break them though. It all depends how ya drive it. But other than on a track you can't beat on a car more than I did on mine back then.....

A little tip, when you put in new shafts, paint a straight white line across the two barrels of the the shaft. You can now tell if the shaft is tuning in the spline. There is more than one type of failure to the half shaft. If the shaft turns in the spline the shaft becomes fixed and it has no movement, the irs travel is now limited.

As already discussed, if you wheel hop it doesn't matter how much hp you have.

 

[BigBadViper]

how much is it for the mark williams half shafts?

 

[JUCD VPR]

I'm running 600Hp / 820 Ft Lbs TQ and I still have stock half shafts. Everything is working great *knock on wood* but watch out for the wheel hop.

 

[2001 GTS]

Just like Plum...I ran a 200 shot for a few years, and it was the hardest the car was ever driven. Put down 600hp/780tq. The only thing that killed halfshafts was WHEEL HOP.

 

[Catwood]

why take chances

eBay Motors: Unitrax HD halfshaft for Viper with HD driveshaft (item 190248009417 end time Sep-05-08 12:45:00 PDT)

 

[Mopar Boy]

My car is almost stock. Broke one 3 weeks ago due to wheel hop....

Robert

 

[plumcrazy]

catwood has a KILLER DEAL on them