you play hard, you pay hard! broke an axle on my 650 this weekend. luckily it wasnt out on the trail, but after lunch i was blasting around the gravel roads, and i felt slop in my brake, then my rear right tire started to drag, limped home in 4wd and saw that the spline end where the castle nut holds the spindle, sheared right there. now i remember guys having this problem on here a couple years ago, but was it a manufacturer's defect in the axles? the part is discolored as if the axle wasnt heated properly through. what did u guys do? will they replace the part or what? I really want a set of gorilla axles, because in the future i might do a cdi box with a pipe, and i do very aggressive trail riding, and i dont want this happening again.

 

i broke 2 axles in the past. both were replaced under warrenty,but aparently i have a good dealer because others say their dealer wouldnt replace them. i also had 27" tires on and they didnt care. i guess it depends on the dealer!

 

It takes a great deal of pressure to twist and break an axle. Pressure causes heat - the discoloration could have come from that. To illustrate that take a paper-clip and keep bending it until it breaks and then feel the heat.
When I broke one of my axle it was discolored also (bluish-black) Well you know the color of heated metal.

 

the reason i brought it up was b/c i remember there being some mention of faulty axles from the factory on the 04 650's. there were alot of people on here that broke them with stock tires even (which mine are). and i couldnt remember if they were fixing the problem or u had to pay out of pocket. im out of warranty and babbits had the best price of 223 per axle. im gonna get one and if the other side ever breaks, im going with the gorilla axles... then a cdi box... then a pipe...cam?? lol

 

ill get a pic of the broken shaft up tommorrow.

 

I put a Wild-Boar axle in mine. Cost about $150.