went mud'n saturday,was burried up to the gas cap and made it through but there were some deep rutts at the end of the hole from folks going around the hole and i hit the rutts in all four locked low and popped the front axle

my 660 Griz i bought in '04 but was among the very first '05 bikes released,had heard of many popping axles but dispite never cutting my bike any slack had never fallen victim to the issue

i had replaced the rear axles with Gorrillas but never got around to doing the fronts,and i think my hub was damagd when the axle let go

have a question,if i spend the dough on Gorrillas for the front,will i still be prone to popping the front axles,or will gorillas possibly do the same

have to say im not disappointed in the least,i have had the only bike that has made it through several deep sink holes in my area for several years now which have swollowed many a bike and this is really the only major breakage ive encountered so far,and as i said ive never been shy in pushing the bikes limits

but i dont want to spend $700+ on front Gorrillas and still be prone to be popping a axle,but have no reservations if Gorrillas will prevent,or at the very least reduce the chance of this occuring again

we had 18 riders that day and the ole girl performed to the point it flat out amazed many scheptics of the Grizzly,and even with the axle breakage they still couldnt stop praising what the bike had gone through during the course of the day

we were probably 10 miles from our starting point,so i had to remove the whole axle,then pop the lock ring seperating the shaft from the spline and reinserted that back into the xfer case

any advise/comments welcome,,,,,also any idea who has the axles for the best price?

thanks,Dave

 

cant get no love?

 

Gorilla axles should solve the problem. I broke three CV joints and an axle on my Rhino 660 when using the OEM parts. Haven't had to touch it since I upgraded to Gorilla's, and the Rhino gets hammered hard. I'm talking 40 foot jumps on the dunes, play racing against dirt bikes on the local motocross track, competing in sanctioned desert races, you name it. That poor Rhino, LOL.

DV

 

thank you very much for your response and input,the odd thing was it wasnt the CV joint,the axl let go straight out of the wheel hub,the CV i would have understood a little better,ive been beating on the bike for 4 years now and would have expected the CV to give,but the axle simply put just pulled out of the hub damaging the grooves in the hub the axle meshs with

thanks again,Dave

 

So did the axle nut come loose, and the hub come off the end of the axle that way? Or did the axle stub shaft outside of the CV break? If the stub axle shaft broke outboard of the CV, then upgrading to Gorilla axles may not make a whole lot of difference. That outer stub shaft diameter and spline count on the Gorilla axles is the same as the stock axles; it has to be the same size for the OEM hub to fit the new axle. The CV joints and the axle half shaft between the CVs is much stronger with Gorilla axles, but I'm not sure about that outer stub axle. If the hardness of the metal is greater, then it would help, but I'm pretty certain the size is the same.

 

i was going through a deep mud bog,at the end of the hole there were deep rutts from riders going around the hole,i was in all four locked low and as you know in all four locked low,the bike takes you where it wants to when you hit hard dirt,,,so when i exited the mud bog the front wheels gripped and yarded me into the rutts at a odd angle,and i heard the pop followed by the clanking of the axle flopping wild,,,,stopped ,released 4 wheel drive and took off,noise stopped so i knew exactly what happened even before looking

the end of the shaft on the wheel side (hub) of the axle has 4 splines that slip into coinciding with 4 of the same inside of the hub,there were some bearing ***** that fell out,not certain how they fit into the picture because there didnt appear to be a normal type of bearing in the hub

the hub end of the shaft popped out of the hub sheering one of the 4 splines in the hub off which caused the axle to let go

i might just rebuild the axle and buy a new hub since i need a new hub any way,i really dont have 7 bills for Gorrillas and a new hub on top of that right now,i really think it was a combination of the torque of being in all 4 locked low and catching that rutt wrong that did the damage

i'll take some pics and post them tomorrow

 

The ball bearings are inside the c/v joint. Probably what you did was lose the nut too.

 

so the CV joint slips into the hub? if thats the case maybe the hub is fine and its just part of the CV is still inserted into the hub

i have the day off today,i have a bunch of errands to run but i'll snap some pics of all parts concerned and get them posted this evening so you all have a better look at what went on,,,i replaced the rear axles with Gorrillas,not because of failure because i figured they took more constant abuse and didnt have the other 7 bills to do the fronts at the same time,and then it turned into one of those deals where i thought "the fronts will be fine",,,,[give me a second while i try to place my foot firmly in my butt]

because i never dealt with a axle failure im not really clear on exactly what happened,ive had 3 bikes before this one and never had a axle failure other than a bent one (older bike),the griz is my first with 4 wheel independant

when you say "nut" what nut are you referring to?

 

Part 20,40 is the nut he is talking about. Part B is the stub shaft I was talking about, and it is actually part of the outer CV joint. If you have ball bearings showing the CV joint has broken, and in that case the Gorilla CV joints are much stronger than OEM.

 

you guys are great,that means my hub is fine,and the part that sheered wasnt actually part of the hub but actually part of the outer CV,you made my day

i'll get the bike out and snap some pics