Need Advice: Chewed up Axles on Torsen Swap
 

I bought a Torsen swap from another member for a fair price. Unfortunately, he had trouble getting the axles out of the uprights and ended up mushrooming the threads. They were mushroomed so badly that on one of them the staking groove for the axle nut had to be ground off. These are pictures of what I have now:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1374021766
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1374021766

The seller was up front with me about it, so no complaints. I figured these axles were readily available. Alas, I'm finding that '94-95 axles are pretty hard to come by and, when found, aren't cheap.

Soooo . . . . I'm wondering if I can swap the outer CV joints from my 1.6 axles onto these to take care of the issue. Does anyone know if they interchange? Any other ideas?

Buy '99 one piece axles, that's probably why you're having issues finding the '94-'97 axles, they've been replaced with the '99 part number AFAIK.

Good suggestion. I didn't know the 1 piece and 2 piece axles interchanged. I wonder if I can still get core money (assuming they would take these as cores given how chewed they are)?

Anyway, I've got a path forward. Thank you sir.

Does the nut still thread on ?
If so, I would bolt them up and not sweat it.

+1

That there.

And if not just get the 95.5+ axles.

Found an axle on E-bay for $40. I'll use that and the better one from above.

Just nervous about not being able to stake the nut on the axle that's been ground down. Plus, by the time I read everyone's comments, I'd already bought the E-bay item.

With the exception of MSM, all '94-'05 axles freely interchange.

That said, I'm with the rest of the folks here urging you not to be a pussy and just run 'em. I mean, what's the worst thing that can possibly happen, a wheel falls off while you're doing 80 MPH around a dangerous curve?

But it's a Miata forum. Right gayz?

I betcha he didnt know how to take them off. The first one looks like it was ground off... as in with a grinding wheel.

You're being sarcastic, right? The threads aren't damaged, the damaged part isn't structural in any way, and removing that material hasn't weakened any important part of the hub or axle assembly. There's no legitimate reason to not use those axles (aside from aesthetics, perhaps).

I was being about 60% sarcastic, yes.

The other 40% was noting that, in the axle pictured in the upper photo, the "keyway" into which the nut is supposed to be staked appears to have been completely ground away, such that there's really no provision (that I can see) to secure it.

I have honestly never tried driving a car with an axle in this condition. For all I know, it might work just fine in >99.9% of cases, and the designers were just being overly paranoid when they provided an affordance to positively secure the nut against rotation on the axle.

The prior owner had pounded the end so much that the nut wouldn't come off due to the diameter of the end.

I don't know why so much was ground away though.

Names will not be named to protect the guilty.

For others that encounter this common problem:

1. Air hammer with rounded bit so that the impact gets put into the center of the axle end and doesn't mushroom it.
2. Failing the above, remove the upright with axle attached and take assembly to a press.

Other tricks? I may need it as I remove 1.6 axles that have been in place for 202K miles.

This is all correct. In addition, I run RPF-1s without a center cap, so in theory I could "preflight" this nut before every drive (a little dab of inspection paint would do the trick).

Unfortunately, 3 decades in aviation prevents me from ever using an assembly that includes a locking feature without using said locking feature. It's a reflex. I can't explain it, but I am still alive (and those 3 decades were not without excitement).

How's this for an offer . . . if the axle I just bought from E-bay works out, I'll let someone have this one for shipping costs. :party:

Mine.

PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench.

1" thick steel plate. Drill holes 4 x 100 same as hub. Install long bolts in hub. Torque bolts pulling plate against axle after removing nut. Slam plate, torque bolts, slam plate, repeat as necessary.

I have never mushroomed the axle on any ones removed this way.

Nice!

Or just a 3 jaw puller put in on the hub, center on the axle and pop the sucker out. Done. Did this on my 91 with 240k on it.

PB blaster is nice to lube it with prior also.

Heat is your friend when you are trying to break this things loose. Then when you put them back together use some high quality anti seize compound on the splines and they will come apart easy peasy lemon squeezy Had a heck of a time with the first set I pulled apart, since I started using anti seize on the splines they pop out with a couple light taps with a hammer.

No worries. I bathe in anti-seize. Wife insists on it.