***Extreme Chassis 8.8" Broke in half***
05-02-2004, 05:31 PM
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***Extreme Chassis 8.8" Broke in half*** I'll start off with a little background history. I've had this rear for over 35K miles at least, daily driven and raced all of the time (over 350+ passes, at lease 150+ slick passes) are on this rear and it is daily driven (120 miles/day). Cam only car 12.1's 12.2's.
This thing was bulletproof until last weekend when I ran it at a local 1/4 track. I normally leave @ 6700 rpm on slicks on every pass and I noticed a very loud vibration after I made my 1/4 mile pass and I was at the top of 4th gear and on deceleration it started vibrating bad (the shifter). I thought it was the tranny so I quit racing on slicks and put the street tires back on it. The vibration was not very noticable on the street tires.
A week later I put it on the lift (thanks ken) to check out what the problem may be and low and behold it was my precious 8.8 that had the issue not the trans!
The 8.8' was split in 1/2 where the stock 10 bolt axle tube was welded to the 8.8" housing! My rear was literally being held on by 1 inch of weld!!! Yikes is right. Over 5-6 inches of the weld on the driver side axle tube was cracked around the entire housing!
Well I took it to Coupe Performance (mustang shop) and scott put it up in the air and we inspected it. The welds were cracked around the entire housing on the driver side and the axle tube was crooked b/c of it. It appears that the welds were tig welded (which looked pretty) but they didn't have over 1/16th of an inch penetration. That's right, the welds were a joke, we were both suprised it even lasted this long. You can tell they mig welded the Torque arm mount which is really beefy and sturdy but the axle tube welds were tigged (probably when they had it on the jig) and it didn't have crap for penetration. We grinded down the one weld (didn't take but 1 minute since they were so thin) put a porter power (spelling) on it to straighten it back down on the driver side axle tube. We got it as straight as possible and he laid a really fat bead with the mig welded around the entire tube.
We noticed that after we welded it with the hot mig (which penetrated really well) that the other Tig weld to the actual housing started sweating axle fluid (which indicated cracks in the weld) so we had to grind it down and lay another fat bead over it too with the mig. We ended doing both sides.
Morale of the story, the welds LOOK great from Extreme Chassis but the penetration of the welds were way under par for the durability of this rear end. I'm so suprised it even lasted this long. I would highly recommend any 8.8' owners to grind down their welds and put a hot bead with a mig welder over it to prevent it from breaking down the road. This would have been very ugly if I was at 115 MPH in the 1/4 and my friggin axle tube came off at the top end of the track!
I'm not a basher of Extreme Chassis or the 8.8', as a matter of fact I'm probably one of their biggest cheerleaders, but I do not want anyone that owns one of these rear-ends to have it break because of poor craftsmanship with their rear-end.
I did not want to even post but, but I felt it necessary because it poses a serious safety hazard to anyone owning an Extreme Chassis 8.8".
Just because the weld looks good (tig) doesn't mean it it penetrated for crap, which was exactly the case. They should have Mig'd the axle tube and housing welds like they did with their torque arm mount.
After making these modifications to it, it drives perfectly and doesn't have any issues. Please don't wait for your to break on you, you may not be as fortunate as I was!
Cheers.
This thing was bulletproof until last weekend when I ran it at a local 1/4 track. I normally leave @ 6700 rpm on slicks on every pass and I noticed a very loud vibration after I made my 1/4 mile pass and I was at the top of 4th gear and on deceleration it started vibrating bad (the shifter). I thought it was the tranny so I quit racing on slicks and put the street tires back on it. The vibration was not very noticable on the street tires.
A week later I put it on the lift (thanks ken) to check out what the problem may be and low and behold it was my precious 8.8 that had the issue not the trans!
The 8.8' was split in 1/2 where the stock 10 bolt axle tube was welded to the 8.8" housing! My rear was literally being held on by 1 inch of weld!!! Yikes is right. Over 5-6 inches of the weld on the driver side axle tube was cracked around the entire housing!
Well I took it to Coupe Performance (mustang shop) and scott put it up in the air and we inspected it. The welds were cracked around the entire housing on the driver side and the axle tube was crooked b/c of it. It appears that the welds were tig welded (which looked pretty) but they didn't have over 1/16th of an inch penetration. That's right, the welds were a joke, we were both suprised it even lasted this long. You can tell they mig welded the Torque arm mount which is really beefy and sturdy but the axle tube welds were tigged (probably when they had it on the jig) and it didn't have crap for penetration. We grinded down the one weld (didn't take but 1 minute since they were so thin) put a porter power (spelling) on it to straighten it back down on the driver side axle tube. We got it as straight as possible and he laid a really fat bead with the mig welded around the entire tube.
We noticed that after we welded it with the hot mig (which penetrated really well) that the other Tig weld to the actual housing started sweating axle fluid (which indicated cracks in the weld) so we had to grind it down and lay another fat bead over it too with the mig. We ended doing both sides.
Morale of the story, the welds LOOK great from Extreme Chassis but the penetration of the welds were way under par for the durability of this rear end. I'm so suprised it even lasted this long. I would highly recommend any 8.8' owners to grind down their welds and put a hot bead with a mig welder over it to prevent it from breaking down the road. This would have been very ugly if I was at 115 MPH in the 1/4 and my friggin axle tube came off at the top end of the track!
I'm not a basher of Extreme Chassis or the 8.8', as a matter of fact I'm probably one of their biggest cheerleaders, but I do not want anyone that owns one of these rear-ends to have it break because of poor craftsmanship with their rear-end.
I did not want to even post but, but I felt it necessary because it poses a serious safety hazard to anyone owning an Extreme Chassis 8.8".
Just because the weld looks good (tig) doesn't mean it it penetrated for crap, which was exactly the case. They should have Mig'd the axle tube and housing welds like they did with their torque arm mount.
After making these modifications to it, it drives perfectly and doesn't have any issues. Please don't wait for your to break on you, you may not be as fortunate as I was!
Cheers.
05-02-2004, 11:27 PM
#2
You must have had one of the first gen housings. Now he machines the outside of the 10 bolt housings and the inside of the 8.8 housing and slides the 10 bolt axle tube into the 8.8 housing, then TIG welds to seal it and them MIG welds over it for strength. He also drills a couple 3/4 inch holes into each 8.8 axle tube and welds the holes shut while bonding both axle tubes together.
Sucks that yours broke. i just got mine a couple of days ago.
Sucks that yours broke. i just got mine a couple of days ago.
05-03-2004, 06:11 AM
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Mine is an early model 8.8", and I'm sure there are a lot of early model ones in people's cars on the board as well. The only thing that was mig welded on mine was the TA mount, the tig welding's pentration was pathetic to say the least, it must have been made on a friday afternoon or something 
Can you ask craig after what date did he start MIG welding his axle tubes so people on the board who purchased them will know if they need to get theirs re-welded or not?
Can you ask craig after what date did he start MIG welding his axle tubes so people on the board who purchased them will know if they need to get theirs re-welded or not?
Last edited by m1key99WS6; 05-03-2004 at 06:17 AM.
05-03-2004, 05:33 PM
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Do you not have to heat the entire housing to reweld the axle tubes? Hey at least it's a differnt problem and not a retrashed transmission. You didn't already buy the used one, did you?
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05-05-2004, 01:43 PM
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8.8 welds hey mike this is craig you did get one of my early housings that was the first gen i am on the 5th gen now like sux2bu and damians theres a huge difference in the housings sorry to here that you had trouble with it if you would have let me know i would have built you a 5th gen housing for free i will take care of my customers but you didnt get a hold of me you just posted here and you have it fixed now. i am glad it wasnt to much trouble for you to get it fixed. the rears do go thru a total different process when being fabricated and have been for many months now this rear that mike had is one of the first rears built wich all the others built then are still working fine as is the very first one buit and again sorry you had trouble with it mike i wish you would have called me. well good luck and if you have any other problems please call me so i can make it right with you! 817-881-9591 thanx
craig
craig
05-05-2004, 06:09 PM
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Don't worry too much about the rear, it was a simple fix, just a little welding was all it needed (I don't think it's 100% straight though 
)! I've been your biggest cheerleader for the 8.8" and I've referred a ton of people there. There is no doubt it my mind it isn't tough, if not I wouldn't drive 120 miles a day on it! I leave the line @ 6700 RPM Every pass at the track and it has yet to leave me stranded with hundreds of strip passes and street races. The only reason I posted was because I didn't want anyone getting hurt if they have an 8.8" in their car like mine. I did not know you've been making them differently with different revisions.
But if you wouldn't mind sending me a new generation housing I'd glady swap all of this stuff out and put it in my car!
Heres our business address where you can send it:
Tag-a-Long Forklift Services
ATTN: Mike Brown
1490 North Road
Snellville, GA 30078
Cheers!
)! I've been your biggest cheerleader for the 8.8" and I've referred a ton of people there. There is no doubt it my mind it isn't tough, if not I wouldn't drive 120 miles a day on it! I leave the line @ 6700 RPM Every pass at the track and it has yet to leave me stranded with hundreds of strip passes and street races. The only reason I posted was because I didn't want anyone getting hurt if they have an 8.8" in their car like mine. I did not know you've been making them differently with different revisions.But if you wouldn't mind sending me a new generation housing I'd glady swap all of this stuff out and put it in my car!
Heres our business address where you can send it:
Tag-a-Long Forklift Services
ATTN: Mike Brown
1490 North Road
Snellville, GA 30078
Cheers!
Last edited by m1key99WS6; 05-05-2004 at 06:17 PM.
05-05-2004, 06:21 PM
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i understand mike i just dont want everyone thinking this is a common problem or anything i would rather people get it fixed before anything happens or anyone got hurt just like you said but those rears are over a year old and i wasnt selling very many of them back then but they are WAY stronger now, all of the welds are welded differently and in differnt locations to create less stress on the welds, plus alot of additional bracing on the TA mount also not because they have broke but because i think they should be built bullet proof! thanx for supporting me and i will help you any way i can ok! thanx! 
craig
craig
05-05-2004, 07:45 PM
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Craig when you send that new housing out this way, I will take some digital pictures of it when it gets here and I will put them up for everyone to see the difference between the old 1 1/2 year old housing I got now compared to your newest generation housing! I'm sure that would be a good indicator of how your new rear differs from the old ones so no one will be deterred from the 8.8" rear-ends.
Heck you can't beat customer service like this guys, standing behind and old design thats over 1 1/2 years old with a replacement housing! I'll keep everyone posted on the pictures and I'll even do a step-by-step install guide so everyone that was interested in an 8.8" will know how easy it is to install in their f-bodies!
Lemme know when it's on the way!
Heck you can't beat customer service like this guys, standing behind and old design thats over 1 1/2 years old with a replacement housing! I'll keep everyone posted on the pictures and I'll even do a step-by-step install guide so everyone that was interested in an 8.8" will know how easy it is to install in their f-bodies!
Lemme know when it's on the way!
05-06-2004, 03:07 AM
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Heck you can't beat customer service like this guys, standing behind and old design thats over 1 1/2 years old with a replacement housing! I'll keep everyone posted on the pictures and I'll even do a step-by-step install guide so everyone that was interested in an 8.8" will know how easy it is to install in their f-bodies!
05-08-2004, 09:41 PM
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hey ron no i didnt get one i dont think could you send it again for me please? thanx
craig
oh yeah and damian i didnt get a chance to check on shipping on that housing i will monday ok ! have a great weekend!
craig
oh yeah and damian i didnt get a chance to check on shipping on that housing i will monday ok ! have a great weekend!
05-09-2004, 07:23 AM
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Craig you ought to send out my replacement housing with damians on the same pallet, we live like 10 minutes from each other, it'd be a lot cheaper than shipping them separatly.
05-10-2004, 12:58 AM
#20
Originally Posted by m1key99WS6
Craig you ought to send out my replacement housing with damians on the same pallet, we live like 10 minutes from each other, it'd be a lot cheaper than shipping them separatly.