I'd like to hear some stories of what actually happens when you "grenade"" your rear end. Mild stories to full-blown horror stories of axles shooting out the housing. I'd like to know what some of the symptoms are when you're about to grenade that 10-bolt ( so I'll know in time when to slow down ) thanks for sharing your adventures ...

 

haha, it will tell you when to slow down.

Most likely with the rear tires locking

 

Well, I can tell you what a powertrax no-slip locker feels like when it halfway goes out. You'll hear a bang then the car wants to pull to one side when you're on the gas. Mine locked open on the passenger side axle basicly making it a 1 wheel drive car. Friend of mine blew out a rear end and there was just a lot of clunking from the stripped gears inside. Car launched, ran through some water from a leaky fitting, the engine rpms went way up, caught traction and that's all she wrote.

 

a lot of clunking from the rear when a tooth breaks.

 

i race a stock car here at a local track and blew up a rearend 2 weeks ago. coming out of turn three i got into it hard and the spider gear snapped. all i herd was a clunk and then the car go up to about 7000 grand. the axle came completly out of the housing still connected to the tire. then i took a nice little spin down the frontstrech.

edit turn 4

 

Wow ! a lot of feedback already keep those adventures coming guys, from the "oh, crap!" situations to the more bone-chilling moments thanks for sharing !

 

From my personal experience and what I've read, when you start leaking out of the pinion seal is only a matter of time. It means the pinion bearing has too much play and then kaboom, followed by dead in the water.

 

here are 3 of the 13 pinions my brother broke over 3 years in his 96 LT1 6 speed with 280rwhp and 320rwtq.

 

"How does it feel when you grenade your rearend?"
Well sir, i feel a deep sense of accomplishment. it's gratifying really...lol!!!

my powertrax lockright locker was a loud clunk, pop and shake. it was pretty crazy. launched the car, spun hard and wheelhopped. thing didn't stand a chance:


the pinion gear was just a dull whine for a while, then i made 6 hard passes...the whine got really loud...then i spun the tires on the street once and it just started clunking really badly. took the cover off and found this:

 

I've got that dull whine in my rear. I've had it for about a month and a half. I was going to replace the crush sleeve to hopefully reduce the play in the bearing. Does anyone know if this will actually work or am I screwed to the point of needing to rebuild? I've got a 9-bolt

 

AHH CRAP! lately.. i too have been hearing the whine get a little louder.. it was real quiet before but i hear it loudest when im on the freeway and i let off the gas completely.. you hear it go. voooooooo like a hummm and it gets quiter as the car loses momentum.. and it started getting louder after i did a few burnouts this past weekend and i just installed an aluminum DS. crap.. how would i go about checking this out..

 

pull the diff cover and look for uneven wear in the gears. i have a "spare" rearend with the same ratio as what i run in my "good" rearend. the spare whines ALOT. so much that i used the pitch of the whine as a cruise control since my car doesn't have a real cruise control, lol! anyhow, when i pulled the rearend out to put the good one back in(fresh rebuild with good used factory gears and a solid pinion spacer WOOHOO!) i noticed alot of uneven wear on the gears. it'll endup needing a rebuild shortly...

 

When the 10 bolt in my S10 went it was a loud crack and immediate loss of acceleration. That was when the pinion shaft broke, and I learned how bad wheel hop can be.

 

probably the pinion bearing.

ive broken a couple rear ends, one under hard acceleration and the other launching.

 

probably 9 times outta 10, there's no warning. Just BOOM! My 69 spit the entire carrier out through the cover of the 12-bolt. Snapped the axles off and rolled the carrier and ring gear out on the pavement(another one of those stories - hotty in the car with you....she was real impressed). Short shifted 2nd and wheel hop got the best of it. That's the only time it did that and the trans took it.

 

Wow , allright ! we're getting some cool pics and even cooler stories
So far we dont have anyone who sustained personal injuries ??? Keep sharing guys ...

 

racing on highway and took off fine then about 80 or so i hear boom boom in the rear thought i broke the driveshaft... no cracked the ring gear in half and knocked some teeth off the pinion gear....

 

If you are doing a burnout... and the burnout suddenly stops, thats a BIG hint right there. If you have a manual trans, and you can throw it in first w/o using the clutch, when the engine is running, and you don't go anywhere - thats also a BIG hint.