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Sunday 6-11-17 Our local Solo event in North Charleston
It was nice to sleep in this morning and only have to drive 30 minutes to the venue. Rolled in, unloaded the car off the trailer and bolted on the wing. Then just chill, talk to friends, and look at cool cars until the drivers meeting.
Right at 130 drivers today, broken into 4 run groups. I was work 1, drive 3... awesome get the hot miserable stuff out of the way early and have fun in the heat.

Our group gridded up right at 12:40. Drove the car to the grid and met up with my buddy and co driver Justin. Checked temps and pressures. All 4 145 degrees F, lowered pressures to 8 psi and chalked the tires.

Run 1 - getting a feel for the suspension changes I made and pretty sure this will work. There's an opportunity to fine tune, but the car rotates well, brakes OUTSTANDING, and I can apply power at the apex. Mission accomplished. First run pretty good 26.675 +1
I had to watch the video 3 or 4 times to see where I got a cone. Talked to the corner worker after it was all done and he said I dove over the flat with the rear tire and the tire threw it several feet in the air... guess the tires are sticky.

Co Driver getting a feel for the car got loose after the hairpin and missed a gate for a DNF. Time was 30.085 First time ever sitting in the car... he's going to kick my butt today.

Run 2 - Turn it up a notch. Clean run 26.198. I'll have to see where all the times fall. I know FTD was 24 and small change. HO LEEEE CHIT this is getting fun!!!!

Justin run 2 - Support struts for the wing break welds, wings starts to shimmy, Wing SNAP support struts.
Justin finishes his run and beats me by 0.3 sec.

Run 3 - no wing, tires are sticky PLENTY of power. Decide to see how it's going to handle without a wing, turn it up to 11. I'm putting down a SOLID pass. Rocket through the slalom, hard brake into the hairpin, apex and roll on power, Come out of the hairpin, dodge left and clear the gates, dodge right and don't know what happened SNAP SPIN!!!

Lick my wounds and drive back to grid

Justin run 3. He takes off and it doesn't seem to be putting down power. Not sure what's going on but think I smoked the clutch with my spin. Didn't get his time

Run 4 I pull off from the line, can't put down any power. I think the clutch is done, limp through 29.832
Get back to the grid and tell him it's done. He tells me only the right tire was spinning when I left the line.

Look at the back of the car and....

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

https://youtu.be/CcCju8U6zMA

First run


Then I looped it and broke the axle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCvSsKfNXTA

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Awwww Mannnnn.... You might just have worse luck than Team Slotus...

Sorry about the axle. That does well and truly suck.

JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

Ditto what JD said.

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Larry in Seattle

Yeah, it sucks. I'd like to string together at least a few events without breaking crap.

The wing struts failing started as a simple fatigue failure of one weld, one of the diagonal braces. Then it started shaking / twisting and broke every single one of the 1/4-20 heim joints in about 3 seconds.

I kept watching and rewatching and rewatching my loop and break video. There's a dark patch on the pavement. I go across it still accelerating HARD and I can hear the engine rev, then the ends swap as I give it a little bit of left to line up for the gate before the last turn.

The "dark patch" is the leftover soap where we taught Street Survival the previous day. We wet and soaped down a portion of the skid pad so the kids could experience their car breaking loose in a controlled environment.

Turns out a supercharged Miata spun in the same place in group 2 and a Z06 nearly lost it there in group 4.

Time to fix the wing and axle and then see what the next weakest link will be.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

OK, I will leave the obvious jokes about dark spots unsaid so as not to be banned.

But since you were part of the prior days training the old saw about Petards and being hoisted on your own clearly applies.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

Indeed it does. I wasn't expecting a Shakespeare reference this early in the morning. Well done good Sir.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

How long is your axle?

I have one (about 40) you probably cant break. 1.250"



Hubs and bearing holders too!

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Honey anyone?

Isn't that best left for another website?

Tommy, was that spline welded to the axle. That's what it looks like. I know that you don't have the torque that JD has. Butt-welding didn't work for him. I don't know how to compare the force created on the axle in a turn with a solid rear axle. I bet it is a goodly amount with sticky tires.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

I have to take it all apart this weekend to properly assess the damage.
I would bet the 1" diameter axle shaft is good and I've probably broken the CV stub axle. Of course it's totally possible that I've broken both.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

THat looks an awful lot like the same three bolt bearing flangette for 1-inch kart axle bearings (2 of them hold the middle drive shaft in the B3). it'll be interesting to find out what broke.

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The B-3 build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=13941 unfortunately, all the pictures were lost in the massive server crash

The beginnings of the Jag Special,
https://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19012
Again, all pictures were lost.

Good eye Rob. Yes those are simple kart cassette bearings. Easy to take apart and maintain. Easy to replace. Cheap to purchase. All of the things I really love.

I haven't ID'd the CV stub yet. I'll have to rely on the knowledge base here to figure it out based on spline count and a couple of other measurements. I'm hoping it's a common part.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Went out to the garage this morning and ripped the rear end apart to survey the damage.

Boy this was not what I expected to find.


When I took the CV Axle apart I was expecting to find a broken CV cup. Instead the CV cup was fine and the 1 inch spline had sheared a wimpy ass weld. I made a couple of phone calls because I really didn't expect to find the axle was a welded assembly. Come to find out it's pretty common on Mini Buggies (supposedly).

I guess people buy broached axles, cut them to length, drill or bore a 1/2 inch hole, and add the splines, which are a catalog part.

Looking at the failed part there was almost no weld penetration. I fixed that.


I chucked the spline in the drill press, grabbed the angle grinder and ground a 45 degree bevel all the way to the 1/2 inch stub. On the axle I ground a 45 all the way down to the bore. I ground it back about 1/16 so I could leave a 1/16 gap open root.

Pre heat and 3 passes later it was back together.

After a quick lunch I busted out the plasma cutter and lopped off the side pods.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Tommy, That is exactly what I thought I saw, with the exception of weld penetration I hope the deeper weld will work for you, but I think you may be travelling on thin ice, especially with a solid axle setup and sticky tires. You might want to start looking for a longer axle that can be cut and joined in a different location with an external sleeve . JD had this problem with his 5.0 monster. Broke it until he followed my lead and sleeved it. If you haven't seen my style for axle welding, http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=4145&start=37 it never failed me.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

The weld itself isn't as ductile as the axle and even tho you have penetration is likely to break again some day depending upon the abuse it takes. Or at least let's say that if it does break again, it will break at the weld.

Sleeving it is a much better idea as it spreads the load out better.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.