While reading thread on another site. Guy is talking about having a set of axles cut down and resplined for a car ,reasoning being its low hp build.

I just don't get people who will spend money to build race car,buy trailer and tow vehicle and then scrimp on piece that may cost few hundred bucks and if breaks will destroy car.

Me yes I am on tight budget and took forever then some to get car on track. Now buying truck that will fit need and trying to keep in budget. My car as axles heavier than needed(right now) some of best transmission parts made and most exceed whats required for power level. My engine although not std. bracket water cooled bbc it is strong pieces,hell use to be good enough for 8000 hp TF. My safety equipment even if wrong date on few pieces its more than required in most cases. Hell yea thats part of reason for extra long build.

Why the hell would you short change your car on piece that can destroy it? Rant over.

When you call to order new axles, don’t they cut them to length and cut splines on them?

yes but they are new axles not some axle with who knows how many miles,what kind of use and normally stronger material.

When you shorten and respline old axles, you go past the heat treating and the splines go into the softer part of the axle. Heat treating only goes so deep.
It used to work fine on old street cars with no power, but I'm surprised anyone would do it today.

These are some of the same people who will buy chinese junk when quality American products are available for a few more dollars.

Why would the manufacturers perform this if is wasn't safe? It's just their name, brand and reputation on the line when they do it. If it wasn't safe, wouldn't they just try to sell new axles and NOT re-spline them?

Some racers and street rodders are on a budget and can't always afford new parts. Nothing wrong with seasoned parts, sometimes you are better off with them.

A lot of the new parts are private labelled and made overseas anyway.

Re-splining a factory axle may work for some time at 12.00 and slower in a 3000 lb car. Any faster or heavier and its over with. Hopefully its a ford 9" and the axle breaks at the re-spline area and not out at the axle flange. Had this happen on two cars when i was in my early 20's and thought that the respline job was all i needed and had no reason to believe i was ever going to go faster than i was going at the time. Fact is you'll go faster, you'll put better tires on it, you'll bring it to the track where the traction is 10X that of the street, and the factory axle will break. If its a 12 bolt style without c-clip eliminators it will cause a lot of damage. If it breaks at the flange or outside of the bearing its gonna cause alot of damage. But in the case of the 9" it just makes for a single wheel peel burn out on the starting line usually, but in the worst case if it breaks at the spline and its actually hooked up pretty good, it could send you into the wall.

Totally a waste of money and a VERY bad idea. Re-spline jobs plus the ride there and back was 60% of new axle cost way back 20 years or so ago. If you can't afford the other 200 bucks to get a new axle, you shouldn't be building a car that needs a cut axle in the first place.