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J5 axle break

I

IMP

Member
After a relitivly problem free 75 mile off road J5 hunting trip this fall, I go on a 1/4 mile neighborhood trip to get firewood
and I break an axle! But I feel like i hit the jackpot having it breaking practically in my back yard! It looks like it broke because the heads of the bolts that holds the aluminum end cap on the axle cone rubbed on the axle drive plate enough that it wore through and broke the drive sprocket free. Has anyone seen this problem on a J5 before?
 

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On the bright side your axle survived , and the machine broke down close to home. If I remember right when those axles are in the machine they touch ends giving the seal bolts clearance at the plates , but grit and crud can get in there to , wearing away . The metal isn't to thick and lots of wear and tear, metal fatique, cracked welds etc over time. A warped tub wall or really thick gaskets might take away some of your seal bolt clearance.
Happy New Year !
J5 Bombardier
 
One side note , if you are repairing that axle , have a good look right where the outer bearing runs on the axle ,they crack in that area. The bombardier seals are junk and are one offs. If I get into one of these again I would find the proper dia for the axle and mod the aluminum cap to fit the new seal.
Mr Bombardier should have kept the whole T16 diff assembly in his machines and not just the innards. Would have saved us a lot of troubles !
J5 Bombardier
 
J5 Bomb, I think you've given me some clues to my axle end cap bolts rubbing problem. #1 you said the spline ends of the axles should butt up end to end. You can see my axle ends have not been touching. #2 Also you said something about thick gaskets. When I originally restored this J5 4-500 hours ago it had a gasket similar to this and it leaked and the end cap bolts were rubbing. Have you ever seen wear like this on the axle end caps like this? And do you think these thick gaskets could cause the rubbing problem? I may have another gasket under the end cap, I'll check that tommorow. I dont want to replace or fix these axles without figuring out what the problem is or I'll be
fixing this again. Thanks for all the help!
 

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The gasket pictured looks fine, mine are probably double that thickness. The axle pic looks like it sits in the side gear splines until it bottoms , not touching. You may be looking at a 40 plus year old axle that just wore out from wear and tear.
Regards J5 Bombardier
 
There is something more wrong here. The end cap bolt heads should not be rubbing on the axle sprocket plate. I don't know what would "wear out" to make that happen? Any ideas where to go from here? I've made a few calls to Canada looking for axles and I have a few more contacts yet to try but I need to figure out what the problem is first before I install different parts. I'll try Brad at Minnesota Outdoor Sports. He's always been a big help.
 
Seems to me the cone is too long or the axle wasn't being retained in it's proper position.
I'm going to look in a book , now and see what retains it.

Looks like there isn't much more than a c-clip thing holding a bearing and a sleeve with a spring to absorb shock....so not much to control side to side movement of the whole axle.
 
i just talked to Brad and he said the new axles come about 1/4" longer than original on the splined end so that makes the ends of each axle but into each other, which helps maintain the clearence needed on the sprocket end. I do have options of purchasing new or used axles i found out this morning but i dont have prices yet. But Brad suggested I repair what I have and gave me some ideas that sound good. I need a little more info to decide what way to go. I will report back when I decide. I really need to find a parts machine at some time in the future. Sooner the better
 
J5 Bomb, I think I understand the axle shaft wear you were referring too as the cause of my problem. You can see in the axle spline photo the wear at the head of the spline. The only thing that stops the axle from inward movement is where the differential gear runs out of spline and stops at the end. You can see in the photo where it has cut a some "new" spline from bottoming out. It may not have moved in very much but enough to loose my clearance on the sprocket end. Also You mentioned axle shaft cracks at the outer bearing area. I didn't like the looks of mine so today I pulled the pin and ordered 2 new axles from Prinoth and also ordered the new spring can bogies from Dan. And bought a new sprocket from Brad. I kinda wanted to buy new instead of good used axles because they improved the new axles and made them .25" longer to give more clearance. I think All my spending made the stock market go up today!
 

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Nice pics, yes looks like the tracks slamming those axles inwards over the years have taking away your clearance. Biting the bullet on those new axles will give you peace of mind when out on those long trips. Keep the pics coming.
Regards J5 Bombardier
 
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