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Front axles pulling out of Hubs at droop/in air.

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Front axles pulling out of Hubs at droop/in air.
« on: May 05, 2009, 11:07:01 AM »
Hello,  Long time no visit.  I finally had a broken part or two. :o  It seems that the front axles are pulling out of the hubs at full droop or when the front end comes off the ground, causing the splines to grind.  It sarted with the driver side and by the end of the trip the passenger side also.  I can unlock the hubs and the grinding noise stops so I'm sure I got the right part.;D  Called Calmini they never heard of it.  They asked me to send pictures and details by email, they offered to help if they could. 

99 Vitara 2-door, 2.5" calmini lift, I kept the front stock coils and added spacers, rear Jeep XJ shocks, and the calmini springs, Superwinch hubs, 31" MTRs and a lot of fender trimming.

Anybody had this problem?  Are there slightly longer axle shafts that will fit?
The hubs do not look abused but the axle splines about a 1/4" are ground away.

Here's a picture of driver side shaft.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2009, 08:18:38 PM by vitarasean »

Re: Front axles pulling out of Hubs at droop/in air.
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2009, 03:32:36 PM »
pulling out of the hub (spindle) or the center axle housing?  If it is the hubs, someone removed the snap rings on the outer stub as that should never happen.

Re: Front axles pulling out of Hubs at droop/in air.
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2009, 03:53:18 PM »
Thanks for the reply.  The hub it seems, the stub shaft splines are damaged.  The snap rings are in place.  When I first installed the super winch hubs the driver side did not have a snap ring, I thougt that odd. I asked around found out it needed one and replaced it.  I will take some photos tonight to send to calmini and post here also.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2009, 03:55:52 PM by vitarasean »

Re: Front axles pulling out of Hubs at droop/in air.
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2009, 08:29:11 PM »
Took it for a drive with hubs locked in 4 low it clunks as soon as you let out the clutch.  On pavement doing aboujt 15-20MPH when you accelerate you can feel the front shift or pull you in the direction of traction as it does that the clunk occurs.  When I was in the sand last it would clunk even louder mostly when suspension drooped.  After looking at the hubs and the shafts again, only the driver side is damaged.  What else could this be?  My first Suzuki and first IFS.  If I were to bind up the tires it would clunk continuously.

Sean

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Re: Front axles pulling out of Hubs at droop/in air.
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2009, 06:24:32 AM »
New or used hubs? Sounds like the hubs ground down your splines? Perhaps you were driving on them partially locked?  Also when you unlock your manual hubs, do you back up to disengage the hub?
Is your spacer+stock spring talled than the Calmini? The calmini A-arms are slightly wider than the stock ones, yet the shafts are the same length, maybe over time, depending on how often you wheel, tey could have overextended the shafts. That's why a lot of wheeling rigs have nylon straps attached to limit suspension drop.

Re: Front axles pulling out of Hubs at droop/in air.
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2009, 07:32:52 AM »
All parts were new from Calmini.  Th hubs are not damaged though.  Occassionaly I back-up to diesengage,  If I was leaving the trail and immediatly going to pavement.  Most of the time this vehicle is in the sand or desert.  No, the spacer is 1.5 and the stock spring sags the rear is higher.  Probably should have straped it a long time ago.

I will have some time this weekend and hope to find the problem.

Sean