It never ends... Broken Watts link..

[JeremyH]

First day driving the car to work, was fine on the way there. On the way home noticed some odd noise and some movement in the rear around turns... Got home and found this...

The center prop stud sheared off from the diff housing...

Some background, it's a techco watts link (improved saleen design) has around 15k street miles on it and maybe 30 track passes.

Can this be repaired?

Looking at a new watts, whiteline maybe or bmr whenever it comes out...

 

[fdjizm]

Got to get in there with an easy out or something now, if you can drill a hole in the bolt that is in the diff.

also, sweet pants.

 

[Greg Hazlett]

WTF....not that I know much about Watts links but how often do they fail?

Any idea on whether or not they have a lifetime warranty?

No overheating issues?

 

[JeremyH]

Looks like there is a set screw of some sort on the bottom, and I can probably easy out the bolt and look for a replacement one but more curious as to why it would happen and if its just gonna happen again or not. I was still in uniform just got off work lol

 

[fdjizm]

It looks like a bolt failure, I'd just get a monster strong bolt to throw back in there.

 

[JeremyH]

It's actually a stud and a nut and washer go on the end. About to go out in a few and mess with it as soon as it cools down outside.

 

[BruceH]

Any idea of what the bolt was rated at?

 

[Greg Hazlett]

Any idea of what the bolt was rated at?

Not enough?

 

[JeremyH]

WTF....not that I know much about Watts links but how often do they fail?

Any idea on whether or not they have a lifetime warranty?

No overheating issues?

Well Techco doesn't quite exist anymore.... lol

I'm sure this kind of break was a long time in the making.

 

[JeremyH]

Any idea of what the bolt was rated at?

They talk about it around 1:55 on the vid.

Says they went from a bolt to the stud for strength lol

They say "class 8.8 heat treated rolled thread steel stud."

 

[BruceH]

As you know 8.8 is the metric equivalent of a grade 5 sae. Replace it with a 12.9 and see what happens.

 

[Seethrough]

You should be able to drill the center of the stud in the cover and remove it. Replace it with a 10.9 or 12.9 grade stud or bolt. An 8.8 is equivalent to a grade 5 stud. Grade 10.9 will be equivalen to a grade 8 and 12.9 will be about 10% stronger than a grade 8 stud. Metric high grade hardware is hard to find so expect doing some research and paying a premium price for it.

 

[Wes06]

ffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu..........scary shit...

Thats why I like the units that run a double shear pivot point instead of single like above

 

[JeremyH]

Gonna try to get it out here in a few and see what Im looking at as far as length and thread pitch. Most kits don't have a double shear center pivot, not that it would help much in this case.

 

[Wes06]

well didnt it shear at the point between the prop and the diff cover?
Isnt that what double shear designs help prevent?

Like you said BMR link is looking promising, Kelly needs to tell them to hurry it up

 

[Sharad]

Single shear is no bueno. That's why the cool kids are going double shear. If teccho is no longer around, maybe you can take it to a machine shop and add a plate on top of the center bolt, running out to two studs?

 

[one eyed willy]

Maybe the bolt fatigued, looks little rusty? Just be glad it didn't crack that dif housing!

 

[JeremyH]

Well, jacked the rear up and got a clear shot on the stud drilled it out and got the easy out bit set good. But that stud might as well have been welded in place as I snapped the easy out and broke it, that fucker wouldn't budge, so it has to come off for sure. Probably just going to replace it with something else to get the car running again and see about fixing it later.

 

[Greg Hazlett]

Uh oh....BFH?

 

[Shotokan1509]

Sometimes better to bring something like that to machine shop, Might be surprised they say no problem fast and cheap as they're used to it and have equipment rather than you messing with it for long time and potentially doing more damage to cover or yourself