Lotus CV Axles are here!

[Dirtco]

What was the obstacle? Was there a lot of skinny pedal involved?

Here is how it happened…

I was snow wheeling on top of about 5-6' of snow, it was wet and heavy spring snow with a lot of good traction. The tires were aired down to around 2 psi to stay on top of the snow (the lowest I've gone to date). I fell off my tracks towards the driver side of the 4Runner and dropped to my bumper/headlight (it happened multiple times this trip). I engaged the front locker and turned the wheels hard to the passenger side (pretty much maxed out), it started crawling out of the hole and then I heard something break, and the driver side tire stopped spinning.

Here is where it broke

And this is what the conditions were like all day. I drove out of this hole without an issue.

Carnage!

I'll post the rest of the details of my trip in my build thread, there's nothing like swapping out a CV on top of 5'-6' of snow!

I will also say that up this this point the axles have been great, this is really not your normal wheeling conditions! After looking at the breakage I feel that there was something wrong before I even started this trip, maybe a bad casting or a stress crack from an earlier trip? I'll let Glen make the call on that once he looks it over.

Glen was great to deal with; I emailed him on a Sunday, had a tracking number Monday morning and a new axle Tuesday morning! We are in the same state, but that's still great service!

 

[Kurtis]

Your rig even looks good when it's broke...

Any word about a warranty?

 

[Dirtco]

Your rig even looks good when it's broke...

Any word about a warranty?

Thank you!

They have a one year warranty, Glen had a replacement to me Tuesday morning.

 

[Kurtis]

Thank you!

They have a one year warranty, Glen had a replacement to me Tuesday morning.

Glad to here it. +1 rep for Glen.

 

[JWaldz]

ARB locker don't care, ARB locker don't give a shit!


Man, that's some good carnage.. looks like they didn't make them Jeremiah proof! I wish I could afford to take a stab at them. I know I could put them to the test.

 

[t4r4life]

seen a lotta stock CVs break like that in mud but this is a first i've seen with the lotus. i feel like for how much they cost it should come with life time warranty.

 

[rideexileex]

Carnage!

+ 1 for sidewall flex and bead locks... must have been some realllllly heavy snow. Seeing a high-lift on top of snow is one thing you dont see too often either.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

there's nothing like swapping out a CV on top of 5'-6' of snow!

Exactly my thoughts when I saw your pics! I was going "hmmm... I bet it was fun changing out that CV."

must have been some realllllly heavy snow. Seeing a high-lift on top of snow is one thing you dont see too often either.

X2!

 

[rickashay]

Crazy Jeremiah! Looks like some tacky stuff and +1 on seeing the HiLift in the snow.... wow!

Cool to see some feedback/abuse on these axles as they are on my "wish list". Pretty cool Glen was able to ship you a replacement so fast, great post-sale service. In the name of R&D and further development of what seems to already be, a great product, I'm interested to see where this situation ends up and what Glen finds out on his end.

 

[cdrewferd]

Interesting to see that everybody thought the weak spot would move, but it was still the cryo'd CV that failed. I'll be following as I might put these in my upcoming build.

 

[glenyoshida]

Interesting to see that everybody thought the weak spot would move, but it was still the cryo'd CV that failed. I'll be following as I might put these in my upcoming build.

You might have missed that these axles have chromoly parts but nothing has been cryogenically treated. Just want to try and keep the information straight. We may try treating some parts with cryo later but that's undecided.

 

[cdrewferd]

You might have missed that these axles have chromoly parts but nothing has been cryogenically treated. Just want to try and keep the information straight. We may try treating some parts with cryo later but that's undecided.

I did miss that part, sorry about that.

Awesome to see so many Colorado guys running these. Can't wait for a chance to check out some of these rigs.

 

[Dirtco]

Must have been some realllllly heavy snow. Seeing a high-lift on top of snow is one thing you dont see too often either.

X2!

Crazy Jeremiah! Looks like some tacky stuff and +1 on seeing the HiLift in the snow.... wow!

Yeah, the main trail was packed down from me going up there several other times this season, and from a snow cat going up there to service the radio/cell tower that is behind me in the above picture. Once you got off the packed trail it was a good 5' deep, I fell up to my waist several times carrying parts back and forth. I was about ten miles in, so I didn't have a choice to fix it.

As for the Hi-Lift, I sacrificed my cooler lid for the greater good! There needed to be something to keep it sinking, and that was the first thing that came to me. By the time I finished changing it out the 4Runner had sank a good 6" or so, it was not the most comfortable situation.

 

[crazydubman]

So I know Jeremiah has broken a second one, the race this time.

Has anyone else taken one of these out? I'm strongly considering a set and hoping to get some updated info on how these are working out for others.

 

[sn0wrunner]

Still on my originals. They have been holding up great.

 

[Dirtco]

So I know Jeremiah has broken a second one, the race this time.

Has anyone else taken one of these out? I'm strongly considering a set and hoping to get some updated info on how these are working out for others.

Just to keep everyone on the same page, and to keep the possible misinformation to a minimum, I'm going to post this from my build thread.

Yes, I did break another one. It was the inner star that broke, not the HD cage. According to Glen (owner of Lotus axles) I'm the only one to break one, well now two. Glen has sent me another replacement and I will continue running these for a while and putting them through their paces.

I broke my second Lotus axle CV axle shaft; so far I'm the only one to break one, not to mention two!

It happened on the second obstacle of Wheeler lake, left fork, right line. I slipped off my line and fell into the largest hole on the right side, I tried to drive out of it and turned hard to the driver side. The front was locked, turned hard driver, and the 4Runner was leaned way over on that passenger side (look at the trees in the background). Watching the video you can hear a small snap, then the sound grinding metal as the 4Runner tries to climb the ledge with the passenger side outer CV joint broken. For reference I do have front limit straps and less droop than most people.

I tore into it and found that the inner star inside the outer joint is what broke, the outer cage is still intact but beat up from all the broken parts. The splines are shot on the axle bar, that's the grinding sound you could hear in the video.



There's no doubt these are much stronger than stock, and Glen has been great to deal with, top notch!

The broken star



Next to a good one for reference



Cage



Ouch!

 

[crazydubman]

Thanks for the update jeremiah and jeff. So with the failures, it has never been the cage correct? One race and one cup.

Any chance that because of having to make the race slightly smaller to be able to accommodate for the larger cage, that the weak link might be the race now instead of the cage? Also it seems strange that it would have completely broken apart like that instead of just cracked in half.

 

[Dirtco]

Thanks for the update jeremiah and jeff. So with the failures, it has never been the cage correct? One race and one cup.

Any chance that because of having to make the race slightly smaller to be able to accommodate for the larger cage, that the weak link might be the race now instead of the cage? Also it seems strange that it would have completely broken apart like that instead of just cracked in half.

I'll let Glen chime in on the details but yes, one race and one cup.

I drove on the broken CV for a little while on the trail, so it's possible that it broke in half, but then got caught up in the cage and broke the rest of the way. Judging by the sound I thought the ring and pinion broke, so I kept driving up the trail a little ways while diagnosing what was going on. Being that the break was inside the cage, the axle was just spinning on the boot and it looked fine from the outside.

 

[crazydubman]

I'll let Glen chime in on the details but yes, one race and one cup.

I drove on the broken CV for a little while on the trail, so it's possible that it broke in half, but then got caught up in the cage and broke the rest of the way. Judging by the sound I thought the ring and pinion broke, so I kept driving up the trail a little ways while diagnosing what was going on. Being that the break was inside the cage, the axle was just spinning on the boot and it looked fine from the outside.

Ya that makes sense that it would potentially have gotten worse as you drove on it.

 

[NateMob]

No problems here, been hammering on them for a couple months now.