Car is a 96 GSR...

After a race, I threw the tranny into neutral so I can coast and slow down. When I stuck it back in gear, I stepped on the gas and my rpm's just climbed without the car accelerating. I immediately thought I broke an axle. So I pulled over and looked under my car. The axle was clearly out of the trans but not completely out either.

I called my girl to come get me and I went back to my car with a jack so I can shove the axle back in. After i did that, the car drove fine but once I got home, I could smell burning fluid. I figured it was just burning off what had leaked out. I drove the car the next day and I could still smell it. So I figured that the axle seal must have gotten damaged when the axle popped out.

When I went to replace the seal I could see that the axle wasn't all the way in. It had maybe 1/8th of an inch left. I kept trying and trying to get it to fully go in but it wouldn't. I decided to pull the axle out and see if there was anything wrong.

I found the end of the axle teeth rounded off...



Ok, so I need a new axle...

I go swap it out for another one at VatoZone. I try to put it in and i'm still having the same problem. It won't go all the way in. I look inside the diff, the teeth are ok. I stick my magnet in there and nothing major seems to be broken or anything. The magnet pulls out a few shavings but nothing dramatic.

As i'm installing the axle, I notice I can shake the joint housing that goes into the tranny. I look closer at the diff...

It seems that this part of the diff...



...was honed (so to speak) by the first axle just jumbling around there when it popped out.

Now this part of the axle...



...won't sit snug inside the diff and that's why I can shake the joint housing up and down.

But that still doesn't explain, at least to me, why the axle won't go all the way in. You figure if it's bigger, it would still go in even easier. The snap ring does go far enough in though because I can't just pull the axle out. I need to use a pry bar.

So before I buy a used diff off someone on here, I want to make sure my diff, infact does, need replacing.

What do you guys think? Could there potentially be another problem? Anything particular I should look at inside the diff again? Check for any play inside the diff?

 

your dif is prolly fine, the part that you said was "honed" has nothing to do with holding the axle in its place, the inner part with the splines is where it holds, that little ring on the end of the axle is what makes the "snap" or "click" sound when it pops in or out, thats what holds it into the dif..

My guess is, is that u ruined the old axle, thats clear maby the the ring on the end has been warn as well as teh splines, it needs those end splines as well to stay in place, i would for sure replace the old axle with a new.. you said you tried to put it in but it wouldn't go in?? Is this your 1st time putting a new axle in? because sometimes they can be very stubborn going in..

you really have to push hard and work it in as weird as it sounds, then grab the very end nearest to the transmission once u think youv gotten it and try and yank it out, it shouldn't come out by pulling so if you cant just pull it out then your good...

My guess is the oil burning was itt running out because when u put the old axle back in, since it was damaged it did not stay all the way in causing fluid to go by it leaking out the seal..

Buy a new axle, push hard making sure it snaps in place, be careful not to damage the axle when it goes in, check to make sure it wont just pull out, and you should be golden man...

Hope this helps...

 

I agree that the diff is probably okay for now but you may want to get a LSD if you are going to be racing because you will blow the pin out of the stock GSR diff.

Make sure you recheck the fluid level after replacing the axle and use only Genuine Honda MTF (Not Gear oil from "Vato Zone")

 

No, this isn't my first time putting in an axle lol. Like I said in my post, the new axle will not come out just by pulling on it. I have to pry it back out but I can still shake the axle (The joint housing part that holds the bearings/grease that the boot is clamped to. I don't know wat else to call it lol) the way it sits right now. I can clearly see that it's not sitting against the seal on the tranny. Has about 1/8th of an inch left to go... I tried pushing it in farther for over an hour and nothing i'll keep trying though.

I've been hearing that the autozone axles are sucking as of late. Should I try getting axle somewhere else?

Yeah I plan on rebuilding this entire trans with a quaife LSD once I get out of school. I just don't have the time or money to do it right now. I just need it to hold up for a few more months lol.

And I only run Honda MTF

 

dont race till you have the lsd. simple as that. also replace that axle while your at it and make SURE it actually pops into place when you put it back in

 

Oh I don't plan to anymore lol. Until the LSD of course

I believe I found the problem though. It's the axles. The one that popped out the first time was a a brand new autozone axle. The one I got now is a remanufactured. When I had a friend warranty out my axle under his name, I gave him a broken axle I had laying around, not the one that popped out. So I compared the new one and remn'd one and the spline lengths are different. So i'm gonna go try and get another new one and see what happens.