Quote Originally Posted by Triathlete View Post
Where those OEM shafts you broke? Don't think they were! I was refering to the OEM shafts.

T4B..the green cup supplies a lot of in/out movement, may not be 3 inches but it is close. As far as replacing the green cups...unless you are prepared to disassemble your diff, not going to happen. They are held in place with lock rings inside the diff.
Billy, You do not need to dissasemble the diff to get out the stub axles...It is a real pain in the ***** though...you need a tiny pair of snap ring pliers to get the two snap rings and they slide right out after removing the 4 bolts holding the bracket to the axle housing.
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As far as the HD axles...I/We looked into it years ago and it was $$$$ (as did Swordy and Grampa Bob and others)...but mabey things have changed.???

I have broken 3-5 CVs over the years...and most were in the cage-star area...although at least one damaged or even split the green cup in two...and one broke an outer stub inside the hub.

the biggest two problem areas (beyond the obvious cages) are the smallish 17 spline stub axles (necked down to .9" in some areas!!!), both in the diff side, and at the outer hub-side.
I have spent much time and research into this....Even if you went to a superior material like heat reated 300M, you nwould still only gain a marginal amount of strength (10-20%) and the diameter of the spindle is too small to upgrade the axle size. On the diff side, the guys at ARB could make a modified 10 bolt diff with larger side gears (like 30 spline Super 30), and larger carrier bearings, but this would be pricey custom work and require your diff 3rd member to be machined for the lager bearrings.
And after all that work and money, you still would be limited by the diameter of the outer stub axle.

That is why I have resorted to a project upgrading the whole front end of my VX...to Dana 44 center section, with Toyota 30 spline axles (a full 1.31" dia. almost 50% stronger than the isuzu), CVs and larger brakes and larger Land Cruiser hubs and spindle and berrings....the project is not yet complete though, as I am still gathering all the needed parts...


Keep us posted on the axles and CVs.....