98 328i breaking multiple axles

[Aaronnw541]

hey everyone! i have a 98 e36 328i that i keep breaking axles on, im up to 11 axles so far, both oem and autozone both sides of my car break. With that being said ill let you know what is not stock on the car, motor wise everything is stock.

single mass flywheel
stage 4 sprung clutch, ebay
new oem flex joint
new oem carrier bearing
condor speed shop poly subframe bushings, differential bushings, offset front control arm bushing, rear trailing arm bushings (toe correction).
reinforced plates on all mounting locations
lowering springs in the rear with old oem struts
3.91 welded diff
i believe that is everrything.

when i drift on 15" 16" i usually dont break axles. but when i put on my 17" 18" wheels, its a guarantee that will break.
i am pretty sure i will be needing new motor mounts and trans mounts.
will switching to a true coilover and new upper and lower control arms fix my issue or do you think it will still break?

so my over all question is there a easy fix to my problems? like am i over looking something simple? or are these axles weak?

thank you everyone!

[bluptgm3]

So how are you controlling wheel hop? Old worn out shocks? OE shocks on lowering springs?

BMW felt that going from ~180hp 2.8L to 240hp 3.0L required larger rear axle bearings and more robust axles for the 1995M3 then decided they needed even more robust axles when stepping from 3.0L / 225 lb-ft @ 4250 rpm to 3.2L / 236 lb-ft @ 3600 in 1996.
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[protomor]

Sometimes autozone/advance reman their axles with weak materials.
Sometimes your car is so low that your axles are at bad angles that make snapping them easier
Sometimes your driveline is so rigid that the axles just can't take the shock. EG unsprung clutch, all solid bushings, no guibo
Sometimes your installation of the parts were wrong. Like the axle nut isn't tight or something
Sometimes you have the wrong/bad parts. EG wrong or worn out wheel bearings. Axles for a different model (iunno 318 vs 325? Don't think that's possible but who knows).
Sometimes you're at the limit of the parts. Sure you upsized to 17s, but maybe you're running a wider tire or better compound.
Sometimes Venus is in retrograde. Maybe it would have broken with 15s anyway and you just got lucky with 17s
Sometimes I like typing so I keep adding things to lists.

[Aaronnw541]

i dont have any wheel hop currently, i do know my rubber bushings on my rear struts are worn and a little loose. and yes i believe oem struts with a after market lowering spring, im not running true coil overs.
so your saying axles from a 1996 m3 will be stronger than the stock ones i have been running? are they direct bolt up, or does that require me to source a m3 diff?
thank you for the input

[bluptgm3]

You are at risk of tearing the sheet metal rear shock towers by running lowering springs with OE length rear shocks.
The E36 does not have ‘struts’ in the rear. The rear suspension is composed of an fore/aft articulating rear trailing arm (RTA) with motion described by upper and lower transverse arms, supported by a spring and controlled by a rear shock or spring dampener.

To use the E36M3 axles, the E36M3 RTAs/brake calipers must be used. ...the E36M3 output flanges will fit the medium case E36 differential. The 1996+M3 has larger/stiffer axles than the 1995M3.

You should be ‘rolling’ into wheel spin with throttle application to initiate the tire slippage, not simply dumping the clutch.

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[Press22]

To use the E36M3 axles, the E36M3 RTAs/brake calipers must be used. ...the E36M3 output flanges will fit the medium case E36 differential. The 1996+M3 has larger/stiffer axles than the 1995M3.

I did not know this. I still have 95 M3 Axles. Can I swap to 96+ M3 axles without doing the whole trailing arm?

[bluptgm3]

The 1996+M3 has larger, more torsionally stiff axles than the 1995M3.

I did not know this. I still have 95 M3 Axles. Can I swap to 96+ M3 axles without doing the whole trailing arm?

Yes, these are interchangeable.


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