FireHead Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 I would like to talk about aluminum drag axles. I can read about them all day long on the internet, but it seems that this is one of the parts that personal experience mean just as much as manufacturer specifications and claims. We can either speak directly to my personal application or we can talk in general about the axles, it doesn't really matter to me. My application involves my recently purchased modified stock frame that I plan to do some hill shooting, a bit of 1st gear dune cruising (not fast and not overly rough), and I might campaign the bike around to a few sand drag events. With that said, here are the minimum discussion points that I would us like to cover: :woot: 1.)Who makes aluminum drag axles and where can you buy them? (JJ&A and Lonestar are the companies that I familiar with that actually make axles. I know Mod Quad sells the axles, but I am not sure if the make them. It seems many people put their names on the axles, but only a few are making them.) 2.)What are the different types of aluminum drag axles and what are their respective benefits? (Using JJ&A as an example, they make several drag axles for Banshees.) 3.)What are the maximum operating envelopes for each type of aluminum drag axle? (For example, how much power can they take? How hard can they be ridden before breaking? Etc.) 4.)How much do each of the drag axles cost? Also with this point, which axle is the best value and which axle is the cheapest? 5.)How much do the axles weigh? 6.)Are there any other things that one might need to know before choosing an aluminum drag axle or using an aluminum drag axle? 7.)Other than weight savings, what are the advantages of running an aluminum drag axle over an aftermarket steel axle? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b33rs Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Not sure if I can help ya, but I just went with the Durablue X-33 after looking a long time at the aluminum axles. I had a hell of a time trying to find a axle that was stock length or even wider in a aluminum axle. I personaly think they are nice and I'm sure they work well. The X-33 claims at least on RMATV that it weights around 13 or 14 lbs. with a drilled shaft and being able to adjust to +2. Just my 2 cents :thumbsup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanYE west Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 From when I was looking into them I found 3 different types of axles. drag, hillshooting, and play. these are made by JJ&A and I beleive fireball makes them too. the drag and hillshootig axles are both gun drilled but the drag axle is a little more narrow. 26" The play axle is solid and I beleive its stock width. I got the hillshooting axle. I was told its 9lbs so I would guess the drag axle is a lil bit lighter and the play axle is a lilttle bit heavier. I beleive the advantages are less weight and rotaing mass. I think there is a few guys on here that sell the aluminum axles so I'm not going to say a price. I think Boss racing is making a drag axle now also. I'm pretty sure that all these axles will take a ton of HP and I would say if you plan on duning some light duning with a aluminum axle the play axle would probalby hold up the best being its solid and not gun drilled.. I tried to answer as many questions as I could. I'm by no means a expert on the aluminum axles, I hope someone else chimes in and gives their opinion too. I hoped I helped a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majicmike Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Ok here are my.02 You have 4 major axle makers 1) JJ&A IMO the best 2) lone star racing (LSR) 3)fireball 4) mod quad/dave moore To my knowledge the JJ&A axels are the only ones that offer a gundrilled axle. The lsr to my knowledge is the only splined axle and IMO the weakest and worst looking. The rest are key driven like go kart axles. JJ&A has 3 versions of the aluminum axle 1) Play 2) Hillshooter 3) drag The play axle is 34" long and is solid.Heavyer than the other 2 but I am not sure how much. And is ok for small jumps. The hillshooter (my favorite) is 281/2" long and is right around 10 lbs. It has a 19mm gun drilled hole the entire legth of the axle and IMO is great for hillshooting. If the front end clears than the rear will clear. Can get a little scetchy jumping with this axle as the rear is a bit narrow. The drag axle is 26' wide and is 9.5lbs. It is IMO the best drag axle out. but it is only good for drag racing here is a quote stright off the web site " Lifetime warranty-no questions asked" IMO thats why they are the best as far as price you can find them from $550.00-$650.00 depending on what dealer you call. here is there web site to read more http://www.jjandaracing.com/ I have limited knowledge of the other axles one of my buddys has an lsr and I dont like it. The mod quad/dave moore might be just as good as the JJ&A I just have not seen one due to how new they are The fireball I dont like their customer servives so thats my knock on them. hope this helps some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bada450r Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 you guys pretty much answered everything,and than some of what i know about axels.1 more thing i want to add to this. i know ris design also makes a drag axel,but i have also seen some of their axel brake,not sure if they sell different types of drag axels,but having said what i have seen i would never buy an ris axel.hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Ok here are my.02 You have 4 major axle makers 1) JJ&A IMO the best 2) lone star racing (LSR) 3)fireball 4) mod quad/dave moore To my knowledge the JJ&A axels are the only ones that offer a gundrilled axle. The lsr to my knowledge is the only splined axle and IMO the weakest and worst looking. The rest are key driven like go kart axles. JJ&A has 3 versions of the aluminum axle 1) Play 2) Hillshooter 3) drag The play axle is 34" long and is solid.Heavyer than the other 2 but I am not sure how much. And is ok for small jumps. The hillshooter (my favorite) is 281/2" long and is right around 10 lbs. It has a 19mm gun drilled hole the entire legth of the axle and IMO is great for hillshooting. If the front end clears than the rear will clear. Can get a little scetchy jumping with this axle as the rear is a bit narrow. The drag axle is 26' wide and is 9.5lbs. It is IMO the best drag axle out. but it is only good for drag racing here is a quote stright off the web site " Lifetime warranty-no questions asked" IMO thats why they are the best as far as price you can find them from $550.00-$650.00 depending on what dealer you call. here is there web site to read more http://www.jjandaracing.com/ I have limited knowledge of the other axles one of my buddys has an lsr and I dont like it. The mod quad/dave moore might be just as good as the JJ&A I just have not seen one due to how new they are The fireball I dont like their customer servives so thats my knock on them. hope this helps some. There is alot of informtion there that I had not been able to get an a good handle on previously. It certainly sounds like JJ&A are one of the best places to get an axle from. How are they with honoring their lifetime warranty (I ask because of LSR's interesting interpretation of a lifetime warranty (i.e. they only honor it if they want to on a given day))? The gun drilling of the drag and hill shooter axles is definitely attractive. It is commonly accepted that the center 20% of a round shaft does not contribute to strength or stiffness in an appreciable manner. With that said a 19mm hole in a 40mm axle is more than 20%. I am assuming they are drilling a 19mm hole due to tooling or machine issues, but I don't know that as a fact. I have seen the LSR axle in person and thought, at the time, that the splined area of the shaft looked a little questionable with regard to it's resilience. Splining aluminum is certainly ok to do, but you generally need to use a large format spline form, which it doesn't seem that LSR has done. I am generally an opponent of putting keys in anything if I have a choice, but it seems that the better axles will be keyed, so I will have to live with it. I suppose that I should probably refine my pesonal requirements for use of the axle. With regard to light duning, I think that it will be limited to transport to and from the hill, that's it. With that said, how well do these axles hold up to whoops on the hill? It is pretty clear that the pure drag axle is not going to work for me at this point. Lastly (for this post), I do not care much for Fireball Racing either, but for slightly different reasons. I have had had several opportunities to do business with them in the past (twice in person), but I never bought anything from them due to them clearly not telling me the truth with regard to how, where, and who made particular parts they were selling. I don't really care who made the parts or where they were made if they were honest about it, but they chose to claim that they make everything they sell at their facility. Once you look at their facility and what's in it, it becomes obvious that isn't the truth. Past that, when I confronted the customer service representatives (for lack of a better job title) regarding this, they told me that I didn't know what I was talking about and that their engineers and manufacturing people were the best in the world. The reality is that their facility has a couple of small used up HAAS CNC machines, a couple manual mills and lathes, and one welder. With regard to the people working there, it seemed that besides the sales force there were really only two guys that woked in the shop. I would write all this off if it was just one person who was feeding me the bad info from the comapny, but it was three people. I don't know what is going on with that company and I am sure that I will never talk to them again to find out. :shoothead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majicmike Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 It certainly sounds like JJ&A are one of the best places to get an axle from. How are they with honoring their lifetime warranty (I ask because of LSR's interesting interpretation of a lifetime warranty (i.e. they only honor it if they want to on a given day))? " Lifetime warranty-no questions asked" They stand behind this 100% go jump it off your roof they will stand behind it ! Now if you do it every week I dont think they will keep replacing them. But if you were to mess it up under resanable use not mx'ing with it they will replace it no questions asked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 " Lifetime warranty-no questions asked" They stand behind this 100% go jump it off your roof they will stand behind it ! Now if you do it every week I dont think they will keep replacing them. But if you were to mess it up under resanable use not mx'ing with it they will replace it no questions asked. That sounds good. As long as they don't follow LSR's example of warranty support, I am ok with it. I would just assume not ever have to use the warranty. :thumbsup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meat Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 I think RPM makes an alum axle.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted March 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 I think RPM makes an alum axle.... Do you know anything about them? I know dajogejr just bought one, but he apparently hasn't seen this thread yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHAINSAW Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Here is a sweet setup. Guys that were twisting the JJ&A have gone to these, or similar axles and have no had problems. Its not that JJ&A axles are bad, its because the guys had busa engines and other wild stuff that the aluminum just wouldnt hold up to. http://www.gigotracing.com/ It might be super overkill for what your wanting to build, because these are mainly made for upwards of 200 HP machines, but Kevin builds some killer stuff. The plus side, you can move your hubs to anywhere you want on these axles. Pretty cool stuff man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majicmike Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Here is a sweet setup. Guys that were twisting the JJ&A have gone to these, or similar axles and have no had problems. Its not that JJ&A axles are bad, its because the guys had busa engines and other wild stuff that the aluminum just wouldnt hold up to. http://www.gigotracing.com/ It might be super overkill for what your wanting to build, because these are mainly made for upwards of 200 HP machines, but Kevin builds some killer stuff. The plus side, you can move your hubs to anywhere you want on these axles. Pretty cool stuff man. you must be talking about kevin gigot he is a very smart guy but must of his stuff is not for sale to the general public. One of my buddys has a EFI fuel injection system on his DM 18 from him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted March 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Here is a sweet setup. Guys that were twisting the JJ&A have gone to these, or similar axles and have no had problems. Its not that JJ&A axles are bad, its because the guys had busa engines and other wild stuff that the aluminum just wouldnt hold up to. http://www.gigotracing.com/ It might be super overkill for what your wanting to build, because these are mainly made for upwards of 200 HP machines, but Kevin builds some killer stuff. The plus side, you can move your hubs to anywhere you want on these axles. Pretty cool stuff man. I am curious as to what makes that axle stronger than the JJ&A units? One would think the a fully splined axle like that would not be as strong as a keyed or partially splined axle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowriderb Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 as far as the jjanda axles they stand behind their work.. i havent seen anyone break them at the keyway's jet, the busa powered bikes should be putting out way over 200hp for them to consider breaking.. most all the splined axles that ive seen ended up twisting on the bigger motors, but that doesnt mean anything of the gt performance axles (i havent seen one of them). the splined axles ive seen do this were the lsr ones.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajogejr Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Do you know anything about them? I know dajogejr just bought one, but he apparently hasn't seen this thread yet. Actually...Mine is a Lonestar...LOL. Mikey...that setup is SWEET!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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