Spare half-shaft laying around?

[TowDawg]

I've got a problem that's been driving me crazy, and after talking with some people this past weekend at RA, it might be my half-shaft that's the problem.

My axle seal on the passenger side of my diff has been leaking since towards the end of last year. While I was getting the tranny replaced, I had Brian go ahead and fix the seal. He put a new one in, I barely drove the car on the street and then went to a track day. After the first session, it was already leaking some. I was able to keep running because it wasn't pouring out or anything. It was just blowing and spattering on the rear diffuser and bumper and wasn't in danger of running too low on fluid. Obviously it still bugged me though since I just had it replaced.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I took the car back to Brian the week before this past RA trip, and he replaced the seal again. He said he couldn't see anything wrong with the seal he replaced, but put the new one in anyway. I drove a little on the street before I loaded up and headed to the track, and then after the first session, I had the spatters of diff fluid coming from the same seal!

This is getting really damn annoying, especially since the seal on the driver's side hasn't been touched and is as dry as a bone.

I talked to some people at the track about it, and got the opinion that it was possible that the splines on that half-shaft are slightly worn and the fluid could be getting out that way. Especially since the seal that was just replaced didn't appear to have anything wrong with it, and there isn't type of noise or vibration to indicate the half-shaft itself is damaged/bent or anything.

I have no clue how to tell if the splines are a little worn by looking at it, and I don't feel like taking it apart without one to replace it with while it's apart. If I can find someone who may have upgraded to aftermarket shafts and has a stocker laying around that I can get for cheap, I may go ahead and get it, so I can give it a shot.

I also welcome additional opinions from people with more experience than me in this area. I just want to be able to take the car out and not have the rear of it covered in diff fluid.

 

[Allan]

Possible plugged or restricted vent. Fluid expands when it warms up, vent cap at the top of the diff is supposed to allow any pressure to escape.
I have seen seals leak because of this. Not real common, but happens.
Any other condition that would cause a leak, -seal area of shaft moving out of concentricity due to loose bearings, out of balance jacked up cv shaft/joint, would have to be felt or heard while driving it.
If your tech changing the seal hasn't noticed anything loose, and hasn't inadvertantly put a burr on the seal area or anything like that, I would suggest running the car in the air to make sure everything is spinning true. If all is good, and he didn't burr the shaft pulling out the original seal, It has to be the vent deal. If the seal only starts to leak after a little bit of driving, it's the vent.

 

[VIPER PIT]

I was wondering why it seemed the vent pukes alittle fluid

 

[TowDawg]

Can you check if the vent is functioning without pulling the diff out? I haven't looked that in-depth at it, but I'll try to get it on the lift tomorrow. The bad part is that I won't be able to run it while it's on the lift, as the jacks just came in and I'm going to need the skidsteer and another person to get them set in place. Sons-of-******* are heavy as hell.

 

[treesnake]

Possible plugged or restricted vent. Fluid expands when it warms up, vent cap at the top of the diff is supposed to allow any pressure to escape.
I have seen seals leak because of this. Not real common, but happen:.
Any other condition that would cause a leak, -seal area of shaft moving out of concentricity due to loose bearings, out of balance jacked up cv shaft/joint, would have to be felt or heard while driving it.
If your tech changing the seal hasn't noticed anything loose, and hasn't inadvertantly put a burr on the seal area or anything like that, I would suggest running the car in the air to make sure everything is spinning true. If all is good, and he didn't burr the shaft pulling out the original seal, It has to be the vent deal. If the seal only starts to leak after a little bit of driving, it's the vent.

This is exactly what happened to me... The results were the same as yours.

Are you by chance running a Quaiffe?

Quaiffe diffs. are known to run hot.

 

[Allan]

I was wondering why it seemed the vent pukes alittle fluid

Yes, that's cuz your vent is working. It's not supposed to have a bunch of fluid coming out of it, but with full-blast thrashing of the car, a little dampness around the vent is normal in my opinion.

 

[Allan]

I have no experience with the Quaiffe differential. (yet)
I don't see what's in them that would generate more heat than any other design. In fact, if it's working properly, in should run cooler.
Heat in the rear end in generated by friction. -the ring and pinion gears running on each other. (there's a lot of friction/scrubbing going on with a hypoid gear design) -that's why the special lubricant, instead of just whatever.
The Quaiffe is a locker, it locks.
That prevents slip, with reduces friction.
The heat comes from high loads at high speeds on a track running 30 minute sessions of full blast. -apparenty this TowDawg guy is FULL-BLAST!


A clutch-pack design locker has the potential to slip on take-up, or when it's worn out, or jacked up.
That would possibly generate heat, but I think you would notice the 'only one tire spinning issue' when driving it.
The full-blast track driving heat is why the ACR-X and Comp Coupe have diff coolers. And that's also why our street cars have the provision to add a diff cooler to them. (the extra plugs on the thing are for this mod)
I don't have a cooler on mine as I am only an HPDE ****** and not really racing.
I just change the fluid about every 4-5 track days. -it's always dark, so I know it's getting a little warm. no metal, just dark.

Something is up with the vents on your guys' rear ends after the Quaiffe install maybe?
Any other Quaiffe guys out there with a similar story?

 

[TowDawg]

Yep, I'm running a Quaiffe. I've still got my old diff here, so I can try to compare the two. I'll look and see if the vent can swapped between them if I have an issue.

 

[Allan]

Wow. Please post whatever your findings and results are. This is very good info for the rest of us who may upgrade.

 

[TowDawg]

Got up on the lift and cleaned everything up. I didn't pull the rear end or half-shaft, but everything "looks" fine. I added some fluid back in and swapped the breather from my old housing to the one in the car. I'm just going to watch it and see what happens. I usually don't drive it all that ******* the street, but I'm going to get on it a bit for a while and see if any fluid starts leaking. It might just be a "track" thing, whatever it is.
The vent that I took out of it appears to be fine, but I swapped it anyway just for the hell of it.

 

[Allan]

The hole that the vent fits in is clear to the inside of the unit, right?

 

[TowDawg]

That I'm not 100% sure about that. I didn't pull the diff, so I couldn't see into the hole. I just had to reach up there and unscrew the one that was in there and replace it.
When there's an issue with the breather, is it usually inside the diff, or is it the breather itself? The breather I took out isn't clogged or anything.

 

[Allan]

That makes me wonder about the Quaiffe install.
What is going on with the diff housing at the vent location that is possibly causing a restriction?

Something is up with it, cuz you apparently are not the first to have the issue after a Quaiffe upgrade.
Not blaming the Quaiffe unit, but somethings up with the install, or mod to the housing that blocks the vent hole, or what?
I have my original blown up gen III diff in my garage, I could look a little closer at it to see how it vents specifically. -never had a need to give it any thought before now.
Did you by a pre-assembled unit, or have one built by somebody, or built it yourself, or what?
Maybe got yours from the same dude as the Treesnake guy?

 

[TowDawg]

Mine was a pre-assembled unit by Unitrax. I haven't heard of it before, but a LOT of people run Quaife diffs, and it was a common problem, I would think people would be ******** about it a good bit. I'm definitely not to point of blaming it on the Quaife yet. Especially since I ran a lot of track days and never had a leak. It's just now that it's started, I can't seem to get it stopped. This past weekend was the only time I plan on tracking the Viper this year anyway, so I'll see if the problem comes back up with only street driving. I'm really thinking it's something with seal area and not a problem caused by the Quaife.

 

[treesnake]

I have no experience with the Quaiffe differential. (yet)
I don't see what's in them that would generate more heat than any other design. In fact, if it's working properly, in should run cooler.
Heat in the rear end in generated by friction. -the ring and pinion gears running on each other. (there's a lot of friction/scrubbing going on with a hypoid gear design) -that's why the special lubricant, instead of just whatever.
The Quaiffe is a locker, it locks.
That prevents slip, with reduces friction.
The heat comes from high loads at high speeds on a track running 30 minute sessions of full blast. -apparenty this TowDawg guy is FULL-BLAST!


A clutch-pack design locker has the potential to slip on take-up, or when it's worn out, or jacked up.
That would possibly generate heat, but I think you would notice the 'only one tire spinning issue' when driving it.
The full-blast track driving heat is why the ACR-X and Comp Coupe have diff coolers. And that's also why our street cars have the provision to add a diff cooler to them. (the extra plugs on the thing are for this mod)
I don't have a cooler on mine as I am only an HPDE ****** and not really racing.
I just change the fluid about every 4-5 track days. -it's always dark, so I know it's getting a little warm. no metal, just dark.

Something is up with the vents on your guys' rear ends after the Quaiffe install maybe?
Any other Quaiffe guys out there with a similar story?

Quaiffe is not a locker. It is a limited slip, torque biasing differential.

http://www.unitrax.biz/?tag=viper-differential.


Devin at Unitrax is one of the most knowledgeable people I have talked to on this subject. He is the person that told me about the heat issue with Quaiffe diffs. I found out for myself when I installed a diff temperature gauge.

Call and talk to Devin 1-800-622-4327

 

[Allan]

Quaiffe is not a locker. It is a limited slip, torque biasing differential.

http://www.unitrax.biz/?tag=viper-differential.


Devin at Unitrax is one of the most knowledgeable people I have talked to on this subject. He is the person that told me about the heat issue with Quaiffe diffs. I found out for myself when I installed a diff temperature gauge.

Call and talk to Devin 1-800-622-4327

Really............
I stand corrected.
Like I said,...........no experience with it -yet.
Now, I am a little concerned about the heat issue.
I may consider some other diff. for my own upgrade.

 

[treesnake]

Really............
I stand corrected.
Like I said,...........no experience with it -yet.
Now, I am a little concerned about the heat issue.
I may consider some other diff. for my own upgrade.

There is a solution. The Wavetrac diff.. It is also torque biasing like the Quaiffe but w/o the heat issue..
Better yet, the Wavetrac doesn't unload like the Quaiffe if one wheel comes off the ground. Like cutting the apex and
and bouncing the rumble strips. Add the fact that it has a lifetime warranty and it is American made.

I was going to try an OSGiken diff.. But after talking to Devin about how I was going to use the car, we thought
the Wavetrac was the way to go. I have been using it for three track events so far and really like it.


http://www.unitrax.biz/#!/entry/wavetrac-updated-for-the-dodge-viper-srt-10,619/1

 

[treesnake]

TOWDOG...


FWIW... Unitrax will now rebuild your halfshafts with a better HD velocity joint along with other beef'd up parts.

I should be getting mine any day now.