allblackedout5

iTrader: (18)

Hey guys, I'd like to start by saying this is NOT a post bashing MWC. I bought my cage through them (has not yet arrived), a drive shaft safety loop and then my S60 and Driveshaft through them from Strange. Their customer service and pricing was outstanding, and I have been nothing but happy with them thus far.

However...

When ordering the S60 I looked for some assistance as to what I should purchase. I was adamant that I wanted a spool and not a posi style carrier, other than that I looked to my sales rep for assistance. I definitely explained that my car is 95% street driven but not necessarily street abused. I truly just putt around town mostly...and I hit the track maybe 5 times a year. I make 425rwhp on motor and 585rwhp on nitrous currently with some plans to up the power a bit in the future but itll never be a 1000rwhp monster. Never launched on spray, always brought it in once shifted to second gear on the 10 bolt, but planned to launch on spray with my S60. It is a 4l60 car. I ordered over the phone with MWC and upgraded to chromoly pinion and trans yoke and an upgraded tig weld chromoly ended driveshaft that I didn't really understand but hey whatever it was like $60 more and the rep recommended it. All in all my price was awesome, delivered to the house for the s60 and driveshaft with the upgrades and sending my backing plates in for stock brakes was $2900. At the advice of MWC I chose to forego powder coat and paint it when it got here.

Now to the problem... I never really received an invoice at all, about 3.5 weeks went by and MWC called to say that it was ready to ship and gave me info, I requested an invoice from them then and it was emailed to me..didn't really outline much about specific parts just an fbody s60 and driveshaft and the price if i remember correctly.... Once it arrived I painted it that day and went to install it the next night. Spent two nights about 2.5 hours each night after I got out of work at 8pm putting it in. Two nights ago I finished, or thought I did.... I noticed that the sticker on the axle center was different than the one on my two friends axles. Mine is white with the blue and red strange logo and theirs is black and silver with an "S" on it and I noticed that the center bore style of the axle flange seemed different on mine. I thought nothing of it, assumed maybe these were updated style or something of the sort.

Well it was dark out and late, so maybe partially my fault here I suppose but assuming I was ordered and received the correct things I continued with my install. When sliding my rotors on it seemed like they weren't seating correctly they wouldn't slide over the axle center of the flange right, I thought maybe this is the way these are designed and the wheels will snug it up and seat correctly.

So I bolt the wheels on (my 15" Fbody specific Billet Specialties) and drive about 150-200 ft down the road, TOPS. I hear this god awful grinding, which is tough to hear over the exhaust noise mind you, and immediately pull over...I have a friend swing by that has the S60 also in his Fbody and (not that it really matters but he's been an ASE Master Tech for like 15 years) he says that the center hole on the rotor is too small to fit over the axle and thinks I got the wrong axles installed. The wheels got marred to hell on the inside of the barrel from the calipers and they felt like they were rotating very uneven.

So I trailer the car the 200 ft home and park it. Next morning I read the packing list from strange and note that I received race axles not street strip, so I have the rotor center hole machined out to 2.820" which is the size of the axle flange and install them later that night and everything is fine. Cost just over $60 no big deal but I'm real disappointed about the damage to my wheels. They were mint.

So here's my dilemma...I'm concerned street driving will abuse the stronger but more brittle race axles especially with the opposing forces on the splines when making tighter turns with the spool. I'm also concerned that the ball bearing style ends may develop a leak or fail from side loads consistent with street driving. I haven't called MWC yet and don't know if I will, I honestly dont want to bother them about it....I just am concerned about having some serious issues down the road with my nearly $3000 investment...

Sorry this was so long but I wanted to give all the details....All advice welcome please start spitting it out. Thanks!

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

My understanding is the race axles are stronger. Would I be afraid to drive them on the street? **** no. The only caution Ive heard of is severely lightened axles like ones that have star flanges and whatnot. I normal axle with a solid flange I would have no problem running.

1FastBrick

iTrader: (16)

The race axles are the stronger axles. As mentioned I would not hesitate. The S/S axles will actually twist with a spool. Maybe not on an F body but I have seen it happen.

Plenty of ball bearing bearing style axle bearings with guys running 9 inches.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Ive got a spool with the S/S axles and no issues so far. Just checked them last week, 33 spline, 1 3/4 inch engagement and zero twisting.

allblackedout5

iTrader: (18)

Thanks a lot for the responses guys... Like I said I was only a bit concerned about those ball bearing style axle bearings becoming a problem, and maybe the race axles being more brittle.. Maybe MWC ordered it that way for me on purpose and just forgot to mention about the rotor center bore being slightly too small. It's too bad I marred the **** out of my wheels but I didn't know any better. You can hardly see the scratches from the outside anyways I guess. At least now I can feel better about running the thing as it sits. I guess I'll just leave it alone and not bother the guys at MWC.

SteenH

I was urged to stay away from street driving the race axles when I spoke to strange. No problems yet and don't foresee any in the future. Fingers crossed

BOLO

iTrader: (40)

I know its too late now, but why didn't you check fitment/clearance thoroughly while the car was on jack stands before going for a drive? I've ordered a couple of S60's with spools and never had any fitment issues. I also run Billet Specialties Street Lites.

allblackedout5

iTrader: (18)

As was I, that's what made me make this post. The Strange rep that I spoke to prior to purchasing the S60 made it sound like the race axles would shatter under street driving and that the ball bearing style ends would leak and fail after one trip down a curved off ramp somewhere. Guess I'll be crossing my fingers as well.

Obviously a smarter thing to do would've been pop the car in neutral and spin the wheels by hand before just going for a ride, but after spending probably close to 7 hours total over two days and almost two months of anticipation once I bolted on the wheels, excitement kicked in and I decided to drive it. However the s60 and spool isn't the problem at all. If you read, the center bore on the axle flange was too large for the rotor to fully seat against the axle flange. I believe the center bore of the rotor ended up being about 0.020" too small. So pretty tough to see with the naked eye using a shitty shop light in a driveway at midnight. Seemed about right, it just didn't feel like it slid all the way on, so as I said I figured ehh when I snug the wheels it'll be where its supposed to be....how was I supposed to know the race axles don't accommodate stock rotors without machine work? No one ever told me and both my of friends who have S60's were ordered them with the S/S axles and their brakes slid right on as they should. With mine it caused the wheels to rotate unevenly and make contact with the caliper. The second I heard it I stopped the car. Nothing I can do now.

BOLO

iTrader: (40)

I have the race axles like the ones you have on your S60 and I still run stock rotors and brakes on my camaro. But anyways, I'm glad you had it taken care of.

allblackedout5

iTrader: (18)

Hmmm... that's very interesting I don't know why the heck mine were different, I don't disbelieve you and wasn't being argumentative by my responses, sometimes written text comes off wrong. But regardless 2.820" was the bore size Strange rep told me to have the rotors hogged out to, and once that was done fitment was normal....no chance in hell they were fitting properly before that, it's too bad I didn't play it more safe. I knew something was wrong but hey like I said they're gouged to hell, but you can't really see it from the outside so whatever I guess...I just bought a set of 17" Streetlites for the rear now to run on street and my 15" set will be getting slicks soon and become dedicated for track nights and the occasional street competition in Mexico. LOL

After the help from you guys and the responses I got, I've decided no reason to contact MWC, I'm sure they did nothing wrong and ordered appropriately, this is the type of stuff that happens when you add dozens of things to a car that was never meant to have it I suppose. Thanks for all the help and to 01SSredA4 especially, you've been helpful to me several times in the past on here.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

I'm lucky enough to be able to spend time and money on my hobbies, which allows me to gain knowledge over a period of time. I also work a type of job that gives me quite a bit of downtime, it only makes sense to cruise around the Web and offer advice or knowledge to others. Especially with all these fruitcake tree huggers who would love to kill our petroleum fueled hobbies, I'm trying to keep them going.

farmington

iTrader: (14)

As long as you aren't planning on autocrossing the axle bearings will be fine.
But who uses a spool to auto cross anyway?

allblackedout5

iTrader: (18)

haha I hear ya...when there's no actual "work" to do at work I can F off on the web as well. It's quite nice. Well your help is appreciated and I agree...if I didn't have cars to play with idk what I'd do.

Lol very true. No auto crossing here. Just bombing around town, the occasional trip to the drag strip, and occasional trip to the local "spot" for some fun.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Cars and speed are great therapy. Some start useless drama, some snort for it, stick a vein for it, all it do is hit the throttle and my problems go away.

MidwestChassis2

iTrader: (1)

At times this is the downside of drop shipped orders as we never see them so we can not inspect them for our customers. The register was ordered correctly and there was an error after the order was placed. Like mentioning it is always a plus to go over every detail of an order as to error is human. Stranges PRSF10 will include a 35 spline lightweight steel spool, 35 spline Pro Race axles w/ ball bearing axle bearings, 1/2" screw in studs and your choice of standard gear ratio. Also included is a S-series pinon yoke to fit a 1350 series u-joint, u-bolts, stamped steel cover and a Lucas oil package. If the customer suggest anything different we can change it up to a tapered bearing and street strip axles though with a spool most are looking to drag race thus why they purchase that particular package.

As for the axles and bearings-
You are correct Strange does not recommend ball bearings and race axles for the street. However it is done on a regular basis without issues. I always use Drag Week as an example of people using these exact same axles and bearings.

We are sorry for the error and if caught before hand Strange would of paid to have their axles fixed to the correct register size per the order details. Any questions or concerns never hesitate to call us as we are always available.