Bent axles...wobbly wheels

So I noticed my rear wheels were wobbling a little at low speeds, could actually feel it while rolling down main street. Jack up the car, both sides do it the same. Remove tires, see axle flange is doing the wobbling. So apparently my axles are bent.

These are 35 spline Mosers in a Dana 60. They are 14 years old...Moser has a 10 year warranty.
Really hope the housing isn't bent too.

Anyone else had this happen?

Yep. 35 spline Strange in about 1990.

I bought Sumers brother 40 spline and was done with it.

I havent bent mine but they are twisted at
the base.. that happened within a dozen passes
but never got any worse..they have about a single
spline of twist... these are Strange 35

Axles twist. Flanges bend. Part of life. You might limit it by going to 40 spline, but you know at some point you will turn up the power even more, and eventually bend and twist those. If you think all those years of 8,9 and 10 second passes in a 3,500+ lb car doesn't take it toll, guess again. My opinion. Get another set of axles and just keep going.

I've seen splines twisted and axles sheared off, but not bent flanges like this.

I have some guys with heavy, fast stick cars. When the guy at Mark Williams says "I've been here 15 years and never seen that." you know anything can be bent or broken. 35 spline axles have their limits.

Stock axles in Challenger were bent. I dont think moser or strange are really that much stronger that stock dana axles

Moser and the cheaper Strange axles are similar. The Strange race axles, not so much I don't believe.

The flange itself doesn't bend. It bends at the base of the shaft. You have a real powerful, heavy car. If the tires bite hard enough, something has to give. Truth be told, you probably need a larger diameter shaft (ie: 40 spline). But that's a lot to change up. If you can get another set of axles to outlive the warranty, what's wrong with that?

The extra torque that comes out of that blue bottle probably did this haha.

Would a 40 spline be any larger between the flange and the bearing?

The joys of Drag Radials.

I understand the shaft is bent near the flange, guess i should have worded it differently. It'd be kinda hard to bend the flange itself.

Fwiw...I've seen a lot of broken Strange products, but not Moser or MW. Even had 2 friends switch to Moser after Strange axle failures and have no more trouble.

Yeah, nitrous and drag radials definitely take a toll on things. Guess i never figured I'd be in this ballpark with this car, lol.

If i went 40 spline, will it work with the stock housing ends?

Chip...Its that big ol Hemi!

That is correct, Moser axles are not much stronger than stock.

Have had several different axle flanges out of round. A couple were that way brand new. I use a dial indicator to measure the amount of run out. And then glue feeler guages the right thickness between the flange and drum to true it back up. Have run that way for years with no problems. I have one side shimmed on my Cuda now.

I think you need big Ford ends for 40 spline axles.

Std Mopar ends have a 2.875 bearing bore. 40 spline axles take 3.150 bearings. That being said I think Mark Williams makes a Mopar end for the 3.150 bearing. Radials find all the weak links.

I wrote a few calculations wrt axle size here: http://victorylibrary.com/mopar/axle-spline.htm

As you see, 35 > 40 is a really big help.

Going to 40 spline stuff may require a different case with a larger 3.250 side bearing. Not enough room in the smaller bore for the axle, spool and bearing. Sometimes it just makes sense to step up to the good stuff to begin with. Gun drilled 40s are lighter than solid 35s and substantially stronger.

Big investment to go to a 40 spline I bet for your car. I think a better quality 35 spline Axle from Mark Williams or Strange would do the job for you.

Did you ever use wheel spacers?

MW 40 spline gun grilled floater axle out of my top alcohol dragster.

Do you really think 40 spline is necessary in the OP situation?

Its a 1000+ HP car with god knows how much torqueon the nitrous in a 3800b car on drag radials. I would say a 40 wouldn't be overkill.

Strange has an 1147A housing end that takes the 3.15 bearing with the normal mopar bearing ID. You will have to change brakes though, or modify what you have.

Years ago Strange and MW both told me they don't recommend pro race axles on the street. Because of the hardening process they said over time with potholes and such it's possible for the axle to fracture or even bend just outside the bearing.

I can not imagine how you bend a stock 30 spline axle, let alone a 35 spline axle
I have broke several stock 8 3/4 axles racing them, they had twisted 1 to 2 full axle splines on the left axle before breaking
I replace them now when they have one full spline misaligned
I put Strange 35 spline race axles in my old street Duster, never had a problem with them in the 8 3/4, they where dead straight even after I bent the crap out of the 8 3/4 housing and swapped them into a narrowed Dana 60 housing

I would go with 35 spline race axles and watch them. If that won't hold it's all new time, expensive....

True. Strange does not want their race axles put in a street car. Doesn't mean they don't end up there on occasion.

Some people, in an effort to have the lightest possible car, make the rear axle as narrow as possible. This requires a minimal wheel backspace and results in a lot of bending stress on the axles. It would be possible to have near zero bending stress in the axle by having the axle bearing centered in the tire tread. I usually just put the axle flange near the center of the tread and run a centered wheel. This results in a bending moment of about 2.5", which isn't much. If you're running a wide tire and small backspace wheel you'd better keep an eye on it.
As far as the housing goes, the same physics apply but the distance from the suspension mounts to the axle bearing is what counts.

I understand and agree w/ your post, but in this particular case, that's not an issue. My car has a factory width E body Dana 60, 15x8.5" wheels w/ 5" of backspacing, and the leaf springs are only moved over about .750" from the factory location due to offset rear shackles. While it is a wide rearend, the attachment points are close to the tire.

Most likely what I'll be doing is getting a new pair of 35 spline axles and go at it again. Unless the housing itself is bent, then I'll need to regroup and make plans to get a serious 9" under the car.

What gear ratio are you using? I used the best axle strange had. They were no comparison to the Sumers Brothers 40 spline stuff.

madscientist...I use a 4.10 gear w/ a 295-65 drag radial or a 29.5x10.5 slick.

Moser says they typically rate their 35 spline axles to 1000 hp. They're encouraging me to go 40 spline.

Here's a quick video I took of the axle wobbling the other day.

https://youtu.be/u7en1p9e7iU

TO be honest I don't think that it is all that uncommon to see unfortunately. I have seen it on a number of cars in the past. I would go to a big bearing 40spline myself, If possible. Our Camaro has a Dana 60 in it with Strange axles. They have been on it since 2001 and so far are holding up well. But it is mostly a street car with occasional trips to the track on a radial.

I remember Monte saying that a radial car should be built like a promod in the rear...

Yes he did. He told me that I'd eventually bend the Dana 60 housing/tubes and when that happened, to go to a 9" setup. I'm gonna pull the axles out and take some measurements to see if the rear is bent.

When you pop them out, pull the o-ring off the bearing and see if they slide in and out of the housing end easily. Or if they have to be pulled one way or the other, probably towards the front, to get them in.