Advice for Sheared Steeda Differential Bolt

[IvanCRF]

Have not seen one failure with solid aluminum. That is the best way to go.

Not allowing the diff to move at all, is what will prevent the bolts AND the diff ears from failing.

I tried to stick with various diff mods on mine, but ended up going solid aluminum. Over 10 sixty foots in the 1.2's...still no signs of any issues.

I worked with GForce with the diff stuff, and we actually supply them with the solid bushings for their kits, and the holes are larger and fitted with larger diameter hardware. However, the 14mm stuff is fine with solid.

If I go with solid aluminum differential bushings, should I keep my CB005 or change to delrin for a strong setup?

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[Genxer]

Should I have any concerns with my street car? I added the diff bushings to simply keep movement down and handle better. I don't make a habit of launching, as in dropping the clutch. In fact, I've never experienced wheel hop because I don't hit it that hard. However, I want to know this Steeda bushing setup is as reliable as stock. I have not done any other mods to the diff or IRS besides the bushings.

 

[gtorpedo]

[MENTION=9985]BMR Tech[/MENTION] - thanks for your input on the diff bolt issues. I'll stay tuned to this thread for more details. I have the Steeda black bushings installed and this is something i'll pay close attention to as I bring my car to the road course several times a year. Scary stuff!

 

[IvanCRF]

Update: Steeda called today as promised. I'm not sure which direction to go with my car yet because I stay on the street, but I appreciate them taking the time to discuss everything and them offering ideas to this problem. After I remove the sheared bolt, I should be ready to decide what to do. Thanks for caring about the customer and following up, Steeda.

 

[BMR Tech]

Good to hear! This is why I send people to them when I cannot offer them a solution for their needs.

Keep us updated.

 

[SteedaTech]

Should I have any concerns with my street car? I added the diff bushings to simply keep movement down and handle better. I don't make a habit of launching, as in dropping the clutch. In fact, I've never experienced wheel hop because I don't hit it that hard. However, I want to know this Steeda bushing setup is as reliable as stock. I have not done any other mods to the diff or IRS besides the bushings.

Yes, much more than stock. Plus, our kit offers better control of the differential than just the urethane kit with a washer for the bolts and bushings. Why, because we use bushings custom molded to fit perfectly into the gaps of the stock bushings and we use aluminum inserts to center the bolt and put more control into the diff. If you look at the all urethane versions you will see that they start to drooping in the center which causes drive line miss alignment and excessive NVH.

On another note, if you are a hard core drag racer then the solid bushing are for you. But in daily driving you will have much more NVH and gear wine which could be annoying to most. Also, with solid mounting the rear, fasteners will come loose more frequently therefore once going to that option, I would check the torque on half shafts and other rear suspension components periodically.

In closing we have sold over 1800 kits since early 2015 and have only 3 failures two of them using other competitors parts in conjunction with ours. If the Steeda kit is installed and torque properly you will enjoy years of trouble free use.

We do not like to put fear in other competitors products to sell ours

 

[Doctor Fishtail]

You are incorrect, this customer does have the CB 005 in his build notes.
So why does he still have severe axle hop as communicated in this thread?
On another note, our hardware is all grade 10.9, not junk as you quoted earlier.
Furthermore, this kit is used by Melissa Urist on her S550 which runs 8's in the quarter mile and makes over a thousand horsepower to the ground with no issues.

We will be working with this customer to get to the root cause, and keep this educational for everyone.

As you can tell I am not a Steeda fan boy. The last purchase I did with your company went south. As any member here I have an opinion just as the next guy here. I would advise you and your company to upgrade your upgraded hardware. As another company has. Without starting a war let me just say the BMR suspension products will be now going on my car and will advise my Mustang brothers to do the same. Wish y'all luck.

Plenty have broken diff bolts without wheel hop, including myself.

The best way to overcome this is to simply remove the shear loads from the weak threads on the 10.9 Graded 14mm bolts.

For example, use a 12.9 Grade bolt and place the shear load on the shank. The difference in shear load capacity is staggering.

This^^^will be going on my car. I am done guessing. Dropping the whole damn thing pulling the other companies rear diff. kit and going aluminum. What half shafts do you use? Or recommend. And thanks for understanding our problems with sub standard parts out there.

 

[IvanCRF]

Get the Ford Racing ones. None of the halfshaft bolts have budged. Tough as hell. I probably would have been stranded and not made it home unknowingly without them. I need to ask Kelly if his Koni shocks still fit with no problems because it's very tight even with the stock shocks.

 

[Doctor Fishtail]

Get the Ford Racing ones. None of the halfshaft bolts have budged. Tough as hell. I probably would have been stranded and not made it home unknowingly without them. I need to ask Kelly if his Koni shocks still fit with no problems because it's very tight even with the stock shocks.

Thanks Ivan.

 

[IvanCRF]

Update:

For today's progress, I tried using a few bolt extractors from Lowes, but they didn't have the easy Easy Out brand sadly. They had some lower grade brand unfortunately as my only convenient choice. With the subframe out of the car, the two sizes of extractors I used wouldn't grip the sheared bolt and then the extractors got dull and wouldn't grab anymore.

I'm taking the diff out tomorrow to try some other tricks you guys suggested.

Removing the subframe is tricky because it wobbles around and gets too close to the rear valence upon removal, weighs a lot and I didn't have much clearance to roll it out on my jack it even with my jack stands raised all the way up so I had to play around with different configurations of wood blocking to support the cradle to still allow me to roll it out of the car. I'm sure it will be harder to put the subframe back in while ensuring the mounting holes, shocks and springs are all lined up right. I'm loving my Craftsman motorcycle jack right now for this project.

I used White Out to roughly mark where my subframe was in relation to the car body beforehand so I don't have too much hell aligning it in the future.

Removing the giant halfshaft was not fun. It was really oily from my blown out shock. I used two dirt bike tire irons while holding a third as a fulcrum for the second. Using only one tire iron would not work even with a giant cheater bar and I didn't want to break anything so I stopped that method. With two tire irons, it came out surprisingly easy with a more even force spread around.

So far, this project is so involved for me working alone as a noob that I don't ever want to do this again. I figure I might as well make the cradle badass since everything's coming apart.

Some pics from today:

 

[IvanCRF]

I couldn't stop working on the car. I tried hard and gave that sheared bolt hell using every trick possible. It looks like I'll be getting quotes from machine shops tomorrow. But, online the differential cover costs $72.50 if I'm not mistaken. Because of this, it may not be cost effective even with re-making the diff gasket and buying the special socket to remove the bolts from the diff cover.

The Blue Loctite made the 'good' differential bolt hard to remove so I know why it is so hard to remove without the bolt head...

 

[xXANCHORMONXx]

Hey I have some experience with this in the past, "steel bolts into aluminum".

Most likely the aluminum in the cover deformed due the bolt stretching or the devil himself.

What I would do is drill the bolt out, you'll need to start off with a small bit like 1/8" and work your way up to the bolt hole size. Be sure to use a center punch so the bit doesn't dance when you drill.

Once drill you'll be able to tap the junk out and move on.

Worst case a new cover isn't too expensive but I always try to fix things.

Pm me if you get stuck or want some clarification. I've helped a few people on here with tech stuff like this and it's always worked out in their favor.

 

[xXANCHORMONXx]

Also be sure to use cobalt bits, they are worth it.

 

[IvanCRF]

Thanks. I was losing hope. I wonder what's the name of the special diff cover bolts.

 

[T-S550-X]

The Blue Loctite made the 'good' differential bolt hard to remove so I know why it is so hard to remove without the bolt head...

Hey Brother, I don't know if you know about this. If it helps you then it may be worth checking out. This stuff is made to chemically remove the bond from Loctite.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DD1QS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3NZXP1P4WE90L&coliid=I7G4D7NGCP6X5

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