• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Drivetrain durability issues

Bradness

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 1, 2000
Messages
330
Location
Hammertown, Canada
I pounded my car pretty good today doing the stoplight Grand Prix thing. Got me thinking about the rest of the drivetrain. I used stock halfshafts and transaxle although I do have a Quaife and a solid brace in place of the stab o shoc when I did my build.

Anybody have any issues/failures with the transaxles, halfshafts, etc. after doing a 3.0? I'm not talking about turbo'd cars, just (regular!) 3.0's with the extra 35 ft/lbs of TQ we get over a 2.5.

Lemme know boys.
 
First thing that'll is the drivers side axle...
It'll shear right from where it goes into the diff...

Been there done that :p

Been there done that too! Mine have never sheared off the splines if thats what you mean. But I am on my second passenger side axle, and fourth drivers side.
 
From what I've heard when it come to axle failures on these cars it's almost always a sheer where the splines meet the shaft. It's been speculated that the issue is that the shaft changes in diameter at this point causing a weak point.
 
i broke one clean off inside the trans like that one time. only axle i ever broke, and it had about 200k miles on it. i had a torsen and clutchnet red disc at the time. just pulled the passenger side axle out, stuck a long small punch in through the passenger side in the diff (torsen's have a small hole in the diff between the axle splines) and tapped it out. came out very easy. i broke the axle (allegedly) about three miles from home and drove it home that way thinking WTF did i do this time LOL

axle was just a 66$ replacement from napa. never had another prob.
 
I'm getting an unusual "click" type noise, out of the drivers side wheel well when I corner hard in 1 direction. Haven't taken a look yet with the wheel off, but nothing appears loose and there's no telltale grease stain. Hmmm...
 
Mine pulled apart at the joint, put it back together and mine clicks now. :( Just going to end up getting a new one.
 
Mine pulled apart at the joint, put it back together and mine clicks now. :( Just going to end up getting a new one.

You probably need to regrease it and ensure it's fully seated... I had that happen with mine and it just wasn't fully seated. Popped it in and it ran fine until I pulled my motor for the build.
 
Although I haven't taken a good look at it yet, I doubt it's a wheel bearing. I've done too many of those and don't want to hear that rumble any time soon. The car is steering kinda' funny, so I'm suspecting a tie rod-either inner (likely) or outer (replaced fairly recently). Only makes noise when I'm cornering HARD.
 
iv been throw 17 axles...none with the 3.0....lol...i did however snap my transaxle to fender apron mount doing a 2nd gear downshift the other day...
 
Hard on the car much? I've never blown an axle in my 3L Supercharged Cougar. I never dump the clutch (that's just stupid) or try to powershift (bye bye tranny).
 
Back
Top