GTS Hydratrak LSD Problem

[skyracer]

Hey guys/girls

Last night was cruising around no troubles at all. Except the ABS light came on. Thought nothing of it since the car was still driving fine... Later that night, came home and reversed the car into the drive way. locked it and went inside to sleep.

Come out the next morning to go to work. Started the car. Let it warm up for a bit then went to drive off. Put it in 1st and let the clutch out only to go nowhere.

At this point I'm thinking wtf?? Got another lift to work and left it all day.

Jack the car up after I got home from work, started it, put it in gear and noticed that only 1 wheel was spinning...

Then I saw this.







The whole shaft has just slid out by the looks of it???!?!?!?! WTF!!??

How could this have happened?
Could there be any damage?
Easy fix or am I looking at a new diff/rebuild?

Ideas?

Help much appreciated.

Thanks!

[yoshi87]

ouch wat did u run over?

[acarmody]

I would be getting that towed to a diff specialist.

[skyracer]

hrmmm still don't know whats happened. going to drop the diff and have a closer look. :/

[NickVR]

No damage to the rear cross member that could cause this. It's common on the early IRS cars for the crossmember to crack/break.

[pjdm1980]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+ 2

[SP00KSTER]

+3, definatly check your rear cross member, i have seen a few with a complete break on this site

[Darcon666]

+4, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Also check the other end of the CV, try and not drive it.

[GRPABT1]

Lol the good old IRS fail,love my live axle

What the others said is true though.

[skyracer]

Think your right peeps, had a good look at it today. Took the drive shaft out and it seems fine. Pushed the flange back into the diff and bolted it up. It's alright driving it forwards but if I reverse the car the wheel seems to pull out alot more and look like its got heaps of camber :S Will look closer for a crack tomorrow. Could it have bent the trailing arm? So glad its not the diff though. That would have been expensive. :/

Thanks for all your help so far!!!

[Brett_jjj]

These IRS setups are a joke and are dangerous, and shouldnt be trusted if you are a "spirited" driver who actually likes to drive their car quickly..I dont know why they made these IRS setups so weak.Ive got a mate who had the complete left side of the IRS assembly collapse in on his HSV VS,all he was doing was going around a corner fairly hard and fast..hes lucky it didnt cause more damage to the car or even injure someone, as it took him completely off the road when it broke/collapsed. As mentioned,thank god for live axles.You wont break a live axle setup in a hurry just from cornering hard....

[BlackVXGTS]

Can't agree with Brett_jjj. I've ran hundreds of racing kilometers at Sandown and Calder during Murcott Driving High Performance driving days in my Calais and never had a problem with the IRS.

[pjdm1980]

I'd say It's not a problem you'd run into all the time but it's one that comes up occasionally. As long as you can get the camber right the IRS isn't a bad unit.

cheap one on eBay -
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/calais-st...item4aac914b83

[Brett_jjj]

Can't agree with Brett_jjj. I've ran hundreds of racing kilometers at Sandown and Calder during Murcott Driving High Performance driving days in my Calais and never had a problem with the IRS.

Yeah,Id say that it would only be the odd IRS unit that turns up faulty and gives trouble ,Ive only heard of a couple actually collapsing,but I have heard of a lot of stories of them being cracked etc, luckily most owners notice the odd looking camber or whatever,and find the problem before it gets worse..I still dont think Id like to trust it at a track day though.Id definitely want to inspect it real good first at least..

[skyracer]

Thanks for the ebay link! Might pick up it. Yeah lucky I sused mine out before it got worse. Could have been pretty bad if it collapsed while driving :S

Thanks for all your help everyone! Saved me from taking it to a mechanic and paying big labor rates once again!!!

A+++ for this community.

[m62vpute]

Just a quick question have you had a camber kit installed within the last few months?????

[skyracer]

Not in the last few months... The car was lowered like 2 years ago and had a camber kit installed at the same time.

[zapper-l67]

If you have the ass of the car really low and have corrected the camber problem with Twin Camber kits. The axle can smack into the diff center over a bump causing the end of the axle to mushroom and drop the retaining surclip and allowing the axle to come out.


Zapp

[VrWagz1]

nice pics there zap. Intersting information in this thread, wonder if the general populus is aware of these issues with lowering irs commos.

[zapper-l67]

Opps should of mentioned the pics aren't mine I borrowed them from a mate..