Front Right axle coming apart

[xtcinoz]

The rt front 1/2 axle comes apart when I hit a dip in the road hard enough to pop the front end up and turn left at the same time. Like when you pull out of a driveway through the gutter and accelerate to cross traffic and turn left.  This has happened 6 times now. I have a 83 Eagle Wagon, all the bushings, bearings, etc. have been replaced. And the front end has been aligned to eagle specs, not concord. PLEASE HELP!!! I don't have much hair left to pull out.
Could the problem be shocks? It looks like the shaft was pulled apart.

[AMC of Houston]

That's weird.    Only question I can think of is: Is the axle the original style axle; or an aftermarket replacement axle with a different style inner CV joint??   Those aftermarket inner CV's don't allow nearly as much in/out "travel" as the original style joints.

[mudkicker715]

I have seen different halfshafts sizes on eagles, but smaller ones were on the 4cyl models. Is there any kind of lift on the front, i know you said alligned to spec.

[mo.eagles]

I would pull both axles and compare them and try swapping them.

[v0rt3x86]

The only way that is happening is if you have the wrong part in there.

[xtcinoz]

Thanks for the response,  My Eagle has not been lifted and the 1/2 shafts are the same size. The alignment is good. I wonder if the shock length is to long. I thought there was a spec for that in the form but haven't found it yet. Does anybody know where it is?

[mudkicker715]

On a street a shock with too much travel is hard to believe as a cause for this, driving as you say. I guess possible, i wonder if both left and right halfshafts could be the wrong size. So when you compared it looked right.

[AMC of Houston]

Can you give us a pic of the inner joints??   Would love to know for sure if they are the original-style joints.

[xtcinoz]

If it stops raining I'll try to get some pics, A friend heard about a guy that was dropping 1/2 shafts faster than he could replace then. Said his engine mounts were shot 
and replacing then fixed the problem. When I looked the passenger side mount is about 1/2 gone. Could this actually be a cause to my problem? I'm trying to find the article my friend spoke of, but . What do you guys think???

[AMC of Houston]

I wouldn't think the mount would cause that much movement - but I guess anything is possible; especially if more than one mount is toast.   Check the trans mount, too; as they seem to be always bad!

[AMC of Houston]

Even so; those original inner CV joints have a LOT of room to move; so the engine would have to just about turn over to lose a joint.   Unless some bazoo didn't bother to install the little snap ring on the outer joint!   I could see an outer joint coming apart then.

[xtcinoz]

My friend told my the story was on Cartalk.com, I haven't found it though. Also I'll check the trans mounts, thanks...

[ItsaWykydtron]

Im going to start a new topic, but I wanted to make sure you saw this as well. I just blew my 2nd rf inner axle joint in 2 weeks, only with 4x4 on. My motor mounts are fine. Did you ever resolve this?

[xtcinoz]

I add a reply to ItsaWykydtron and want to finish this post. After I broke another 1/2 shaft I found 1 engine mount had broken a bolt off and was bent! It had only been held on by 3 bolts when it should have had 5. I have replaced both engine mounts and have not had a problem since. So as Crazy as it sounds I believe that the engine mounts can and do break 1/2 shafts if they are warn or not properly bolted down!

[amcfool1]

hi, the factory style engine mounts are rubber, and after 30+ years of heat/oil/salt/etc exposure will break down. Replacing them is almost mandatory in this, the 21st century. I may have gone a bit overboard in this area. On my 84 Sedan, at rebuild time, I put in hard poly engine mounts, available at any Jeep place, like 4WD Hardware. They may outlive me, but the trade off is some vibration, though mostly only noticeable at idle under load, ie at red lights. good luck, gz