Silvermine R180 Stub Axles?

[JeffB240z]

Anyone running the Silvermine stub axles for their subi r180 swap? Any comments you can share on the quality of them vs. the Wolf Creek (Beta) ones or the FutoFab ones?

The looks and description is almost identical to the Wolf Creek (Beta) stub axles but they are almost $200 cheaper! 

http://www.silverminemotors.com/featured/lsd-r180-sti-out-output-flange-conversion-stub-axels

[Neverdone]

I bought the Silvermine ones, which from what I can tell, were the first generation of design that John made.

While my car isn't running yet, they poped right into my diff with no issue. 

Can't comment on Futofab ones.

[JeffB240z]

Thanks for the response. 

In my searching, I have only seen one negative review from someone who bought them on ebay and the splines twisted right off the bat.

Outside of that, I saw a post that John Coffey wrote stating that Silvermine has great quality.

Anythis else that anyone can share? I dont drag or road race, so I assume they would be just fine.

[jhm]

I can recall there were some batches a year or two ago that were not properly hear-treated; which is probably what cause that negative review you saw on eBay.  Have not heard anything bad about them since.

$375 is a great price.  I would go for it.

[Dime Dave]

I don't post here often, but as owner of FutoFab I thought I would chime in about the FutoFab STi conversion stub axles.

 

FutoFab purchased the WCR stock after Todd Walrich passed. Part of this stock included the Beta Motorsports / John Williams designed stub axles. 

 

We also heard about breakage issues on those axles and decided if we were to carry on with STi stub axles, they would be made by a driveline shop from axle forgings, not machined from billet stock.

 

We felt using an axle forging for our stub axles would improve the quality in 2 key areas.

 

1) The flange being forged onto the shaft allows the grain of the steel to "flow" into the flange rather than be cut as it would be when machined from a billet.

 

2) The heat treating on our forgings is done to the shaft only. Heat treatment penetrates roughly .20" to .25" into the surface of the metal. The treatment depth leaves the core of the shaft untreated, making it more flexible. While heat treating adds strength, it also makes steel more brittle. Because heat treatment will fully penetrate the thinner flanges, we prefer to use forgings with untreated flanges.   

 

Since we have changed to using forged shafts, we have not had a failure reported to us.

 

Dave Patten, Owner

Edited December 7, 2017 by Dime Dave

[260DET]

Forgings > billet, sounds good  Mr Patten.

[Dwayne_The_Rock_Datsun]

On 11/28/2017 at 12:40 PM, Neverdone said:

I bought the Silvermine ones, which from what I can tell, were the first generation of design that John made.

While my car isn't running yet, they poped right into my diff with no issue. 

Can't comment on Futofab ones.

Did you have to use c clips along with the stub axles?

[jhm]

The C-clips are internal to the differential center section.  They snap into the machined channel on the splined section of the inboard ends of the side axles -- that's the click one feels when people talk about the side axles "snapping" (or "popping") into the diff during installation.  Hope this helps explain it.