ok so tonite i went to the track. for those of you that dont know i have a srt turbo on my car with 10-11 pounds of boost. i was running 100 octane tonite. well i went in the water bow and did my burn out (BFG DRAG RADIALS) and every thing was fine. i pull up to the line and rev to 4500 rpms just to see how it launches at that rpm since i have launched at 4k before. well when the tree dropped i dumped the clutch and the tires hooked for about a half second then the car didnt move at all. after i got towed out to the pits and reached around the wheel hub and found gobs of lube. i was like WOOT atleast i know its not my trans now. any way to my question.. any body have any suggestion on some cheap axles or were i should consider getting some.

--- boost is awesome btw

 

PT axles FTW!

 

do PT axles fit rite in with our trans and hubs??? or do i need to swap things out

 

I looked on Rockauto the cv shafts have different part numbers. Some time back I came across a site that was selling stronger hubs and beefier axles for hopped up Neons. I didn't check the prices because mine is just a daily driver. I think I was looking to see if anybody made hubs with the 114mm bc.

 

they maybe a different part number but do they fit is wat i need to know lol. and you can get the driveshaftshop axles for 799 now but i dont really wanna spend 800 bucks on axles just yet.

 

You were lucky this time because the shaft didn't come apart and flail around busting things up. Also if it would have unloaded going down the track it could have sent you into the guard rail or the other car. If your car is making serious power and the cost of good shafts is in the $75 per side range ...
Anyway stay safe and inspect the cv shafts frequently.

 

any pics? did it fail at the cv joint or the shaft?

 

ill try to gets some pics from under the car.. it failed rite at the joint i think. the boot and everything just blew to pieces.

 

Wtf my pics wont upload

edit:go here if you can till i can post them http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...f-8a90dab00f03

 

Here is some more info...
Matt's archived BS from his computer wrote:
The Pt/axel shadow swap.
Very cheap if junkyard is used!

Drag racers have been looking for ways to upgrade their first generation half-shafts for quite some time. Various different products have come to the market in response. Some didn't work, some required knuckles from other vehicle applications, and some just were priced unreasonably. Now first generation Neon owners can upgrade their half-shafts with OEM parts and benefit from the largest torque capacity half-shafts available.
The left (driver) half-shaft comes from the old p-body (Duster, Shadow) application with a 3.0L V6 motor. The right (passenger) half-shaft comes from the PT Cruiser platform. These half-shafts install into the transmission in the same manner as the Neon OEM half-shafts. The hub and bearing in each knuckle will need to be swapped with a 2000 Neon hub and bearing to accommodate the new half-shaft spline pattern. In addition, the 2000 Neon hub washer, hub nut, and castle nut package will need to be installed on the new half-shafts.

I have a 2.4 turbo firts gen auto that I did the pt/shadow swap the shadow axle is leaking seems like it s not in the trans all the way.IE there is no clip to hold it in could I use some other axle with a clip (2nd gen or caravan?)

The older Chrysler axles are normally spring loaded inside the tripod and don't use clips on the outer ends of the inner stubs. New seal? Seal area on that axle in good shape?

2nd Gen short axle was working in my '95. The early thought was that a Gen1 body with some negative camber and a Gen2 Neon axle would cause the tripods to bottom out



Something I've done in the past was to temper the axles. Stock
axles need to not only be strong enough to hold the stock clutch but
also not wear out in 100,000 miles.

So the factory case hardens the axles so the splines don't wear.
What can happen is the very brittle case hardening cracks the first
time you launch hard, this crack will eventually lead to total failure.

The trick is to take the CV joints off, clean the axles REAL well and
fire up your oven at home. You need to bring the axles up to about
550-600 degree's F and let them cool very slowly.

I do a hour at 400, hour at 500, hour at 600 (self cleaning temp), then back down. 500 for a hour, then 400 then turn the oven off and DON"T
OPEN THE DOOR for about 4 hours.

The axles should come out a nice bright blue color. What you just did
was to soften the outer case hardning. This has more then tripled the
life of my axles on my old car. This works for gears in the transmisson
as well, any steel with a case hardening.

Steve


No breakage for me yet. I bring spares though because that pt axle isn't much better than the stock 1st gen part. Don't forget you can also use pass side axles out of 2nd gen neons with 5-speed trans and probably those equipped with 4-speed autos.

As for the hubs, there are many possibilities. Cheapest is to use some old knuckles from a 80s or 90s shadow/daytona/lebaron/spirit. Or buy used 2nd gen knuckles for cheap and have the clevis part machined down. As far as I'm concerned there are no deals on new 2000 hubs.



Just bring spares then no matter what you run. The "PT" parts still break, just less often than Gen1 Neon axles. That was me at Rt 66 that broke the PT long shaft, big slicks, 11psi air and big RPM launch at WOT. I have DSS 5s now but I still bring the PT parts just in case.



Can you give us more details on putting 2nd gen knuckles in the 1st gen. Can we use srt knuckles with there brakes pending that our rim is big enough?
I think that would work. You would just need to get the part of the knuckle that fits in the strut machined down, like Aaron said. Better check to see if the SRT has the same size shaft where it fits into the bearing though.



a "half shaft" includes the cv joints and the boots.



http://www.driveshaftshop.com/

http://www.gatorracingaxles.com/index.shtml


1st gen car using 1st gen spindles

plan is to use:
1. 2000+ neon wheel bearings & hubs
2. pt cruiser passenger side axle.
3. fenton's site says to use a p-body axle for the driver side.

why can't you use a 2000+ neon or pt axle for the driver side?
i know it fits the hub & tranny.
i'd prefer to use an authentic mopar axle on the drivers side instead of a cheap remaned axle from autozone or advance.
they are readily available at junkyards and not coming out of 10+ yr old cars.


Get ur brand new turbo shadow axle from here:

http://www.automotive-axles.com/

Like $110. If you want to experiment with PT/magnum short side axle, I have one that is blown apart at the tripod joint (aka CV boot is broken) but looks otherwise OK. $40 shiped.

V


Dave - The original word from Jim and others was that the PT and Gen2 short axle was a touch too long and was bottoming out both CV joints. I have a 2003 Neon 4-speed ATX short axle and it is about 1/4" shorter than the turbo Shadow axle I also have. I could tell that the Shadow axle was fully compressed when I put the car together. When I put it together with the Neon ATX axle, there was a tiny bit of "side to side" play in the center section of the axle. The Shadow axle was super tight, no motion at all.


If using the shadow knuckles/hubs then use the shadow rotors/calipers.

The pass side pt axle is the same auto and manual.

As for the shadow axle, ANY driver side axle from 87-93 from daytona, shadow, lebaron, spirit, acclaim will work. The best come from the turbo cars, and you can also use the pass side axle if it was from a equal length equipped car. Also, as long as the car was not a 4speed auto, you may use axles from cars that were 3 speeds.

The only problem I had with my swap was the pt axle would not engage all the way into the shadow hub. The reason is that the splines were not cut all the way inboard on the pt shaft. About 2 minutes with the dremel tool fixed it.

I used minivan calipers/mounts on my shadow knuckles. The neon's brake hose banjo fitting needed some filing to make fit.
Aaronmiller



I used 2k+ neon knuckles and axles. They require a little bit of machining(the knuckles) to fit the 1g strut, but, the axles are a good bit stronger then stock, i haven't broken one yet!

You can still use stock 1g neon brake parts with this, and if you DO break an axle, or a bearing, you don't have to worry about hoping a parts store has a bearing, or axle in stock. The "older" cars are starting to fade out of the parts stores....



I forgot about the possibility of using the 2k1+ pass axle. Has anyone compared these with the 1st gen stuff to see if they are more stout?
Yes. I have both 2k axles in my car. Driver and Passenger, both are a GOOD bit stronger then stock 95-99 axles, i launch at around 6000 on slicks and haven't broken one yet.


If my memory serves, its .038 on each side of each knuckle....

On the drivers side, for instance, i had to have the knuckle machined .038 on the left(towards front of car), and right (towards rear of the car) to make it fit the sturt. It fit fine with just a little tapping from a mallet to get it into place.

I believe its the same on the passenger side, and i did the entire swap(machining and all) for under 300 bucks.

Amish rake fight
turbo shadow axles



Shadow bearings and hubs won't work well in the snap-ring type of knuckle. The bearings are too thick and won't fit under the snap-ring. The later knuckles with the bolt-on plates work better. The plates may stretch a bit to fit over the bearing but that's fine, it will work great. You could have the snap-ring knuckles machined to deepen the pocket, that works too. Press them in and go, the axles with the bigger shafts fit correctly - DSS, PT/Shadow and I'm assuming Gator as well.


The retaining plate style knuckles were factory installed on 1998-99 neons. There was a TSB to install them on 1995-97 neons to correct a pop/clunk in the front end, so you might just find them on one of those too. I recently worked on a 1997 ACR which had received the retaining plate style knuckle on the right side as a warranty repair way back when.