[FrostBite_Cat]

I was on the highway today (65-70mph) then all of a sudden i hear a bad grinding noise coming from the rear. I pulled over and noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the rear passenger side tire. When i looked under the car i could see oil or some black liquid dripping from the diff case where the half shaft boot was. It was dripping on the pipe causing the smoke.

I had to get it towed to a near by dodge dealer that doesn't have the best reputation so now im nervous. Ill probably hear back from them monday but i want to know why it happened on a newer 2020 Charger hellcat.

Stock no mods
10k miles
It was already lowered when i got it so im not sure if thats the problem.

 

[Xylander]

Well, lowering springs is a mod. There's a chance they could have caused issues with the rear suspension that potentially compromised the rear/diff or half shaft.

 

[Linda's Hell Cat]

Most likely the Diff broke and took out the Halfshaft
I had this happen to me in 2015....was the 1st for busting a halfshaft. But the Diff is the weak link.
I was drag racing and is why I have the Per4formance diff Brace. I have not heard of this happening because of lowering, but I guess anything can happen.

Sorry for this

 

[Octane_Cat]

Had the same thing happen to me twice on my Widebody Charger. It was the Passenger side axle both times and it was caused by it being lowered. No clue why but for some reason Widebody chargers are more prone to it. I went back to OEM height and have been fine ever since. Good luck with whatever it is and I hope they take care of
You.

 

[2020WB]

When you lower a car it changes the pinion angle and can put stress on the real axle.

 

[motorheadmike]

When you lower a car it changes the pinion angle and can put stress on the real axle.

Err no. The diff is fixed, it's an IRS car. The operating angles of the half-shafts does become a potential problem with excessive lowering.

 

[FrostBite_Cat]

Had the same thing happen to me twice on my Widebody Charger. It was the Passenger side axle both times and it was caused by it being lowered. No clue why but for some reason Widebody chargers are more prone to it. I went back to OEM height and have been fine ever since. Good luck with whatever it is and I hope they take care of
You.
[/QUOTE]

Thats a shame smh. They look soooo good lowered. Guess ill have to raise it back up, not worth the hassle.

 

[2020WB]

Err no. The diff is fixed, it's an IRS car. The operating angles of the half-shafts does become a potential problem with excessive lowering.

Diff is fixed but lowering the car changes the angle with the dive shaft. When you lower the front it changes the pinion angle with the diff.

 

[motorheadmike]

Diff is fixed but lowering the car changes the angle with the dive shaft. When you lower the front it changes the pinion angle with the diff.

No. It doesn't. The pumpkin is bolted to the cradle, the cradle is bolted to the car. It is not a live axle other than some arbitrary movement afforded by rubber bushings.

 

[Hworth18]

Had the same thing happen to me twice on my Widebody Charger. It was the Passenger side axle both times and it was caused by it being lowered. No clue why but for some reason Widebody chargers are more prone to it. I went back to OEM height and have been fine ever since. Good luck with whatever it is and I hope they take care of
You.

This happened to a friends widebody Challenger also. The change in the geometry changes the load on the driveshaft/differental and causes them to fail. This is why I won't lower my widebody.

 

[Octane_Cat]

This happened to a friends widebody Challenger also. The change in the geometry changes the load on the driveshaft/differental and causes them to fail. This is why I won't lower my widebody.

Some rewording to not spread false information should be lowering changes the geometry of the AXLES not the driveshaft. G force makes a modified cradle with 9” rear, axles, driveshaft and all bushings to solve this problem but it’s 9k.


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[FrostBite_Cat]

Some rewording to not spread false information should be lowering changes the geometry of the AXLES not the driveshaft. G force makes a modified cradle with 9” rear, axles, driveshaft and all bushings to solve this problem but it’s 9k.

I love the look of the car lowered. Just not worth 9k for me. If thats the only known fix, guess ill have to raise it back up. That sucks because that was part of the reason i wanting a widebody.
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[Aaron27]

There is an excellent picture of the rear end geometry and what the axle angles look like when stock before lowering the car. It explains why the rear ends fail on our cars and why it is worse if the vehicle is lowered or we use larger diameter tires. 2015+ Mopar Modified Cradle & Complete 9″ IRS Kit – GForce Engineering (gforce1320.com)

 

[Xylander]

You also have to remember that you're playing with fire on these cars. Unlike lesser vehicles with their 200 lb/ft. of torque, ours carry upwards of 650. On a piddly Mustang or Camaro, you can lower them. On a 5.7 R/T or a 6.4, you can lower those too... they only have 400 lb/ft at most. When you step into big power like what we have, odd angles that impart added stress on the drive components is a very big risk. This is why I give so many internet "posers" a hard time.

I define posers as people who buy a powerful car like a Hellcat, GT500, ZL1, etc... then they put ultra low profile tires on oversized wheels, add negative camber and a bagged suspension. It LOOKS fast, it might have BEEN fast at one point, but it is now no longer capable of BEING fast. But hey, it sure looks nice. Not only does this give the vehicle a terrible glass jaw, it kills all hope of any traction whatsoever. So, on the plus side, this terrible traction and tire spin might actually save their rear diff as they can't put all the power to the ground in the first place. Regardless, it's like a classic Japanese geisha with bound feet. shuffle shuffle shuffle

 

[FrostBite_Cat]

Well, looks like i dont have a choice. Im going to miss the look of it being lowered. Thanks for all the support and help.

 

[Frosty]

Do you know what springs? I thought the mopar springs gave the car about a half an inch lower stance which helped prevent these problems as well. If you are changing springs and you like the lower look maybe look into that too. I know the other springs which lower your car an inch+ (looks like what you have) does cause half shafts to go out rather fast but I don't recall hearing of anyone with the mopar springs having that issue.

Just an option to maybe help keep you some of the look you are after without potentially risking another half shaft issue.

That GForce kit looks real nice but as others have said, big money. Sounds like they modify the stock cradle so I assume most of the cost in that kit is all the other goodies it comes with. Would be nice if a vendor would modify stock cradles to work with the stock parts so you could fix this issue much cheaper for those that don't need all the other high HP racing style parts.

 

[Octane_Cat]

Do you know what springs? I thought the mopar springs gave the car about a half an inch lower stance which helped prevent these problems as well. If you are changing springs and you like the lower look maybe look into that too. I know the other springs which lower your car an inch+ (looks like what you have) does cause half shafts to go out rather fast but I don't recall hearing of anyone with the mopar springs having that issue.

Just an option to maybe help keep you some of the look you are after without potentially risking another half shaft issue.

That GForce kit looks real nice but as others have said, big money. Sounds like they modify the stock cradle so I assume most of the cost in that kit is all the other goodies it comes with. Would be nice if a vendor would modify stock cradles to work with the stock parts so you could fix this issue much cheaper for those that don't need all the other high HP racing style parts.

Widebody cars for some reason are more prone to angle and that’s why the ride height is a tad higher OEM. Any change in height is a gamble.


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[FrostBite_Cat]

Do you know what springs? I thought the mopar springs gave the car about a half an inch lower stance which helped prevent these problems as well. If you are changing springs and you like the lower look maybe look into that too. I know the other springs which lower your car an inch+ (looks like what you have) does cause half shafts to go out rather fast but I don't recall hearing of anyone with the mopar springs having that issue.

Just an option to maybe help keep you some of the look you are after without potentially risking another half shaft issue.

That GForce kit looks real nice but as others have said, big money. Sounds like they modify the stock cradle so I assume most of the cost in that kit is all the other goodies it comes with. Would be nice if a vendor would modify stock cradles to work with the stock parts so you could fix this issue much cheaper for those that don't need all the other high HP racing style parts.

Eibach Pro's installed. I seen the mopar lowering springs but wasn't sure if that would fix the issue. Maybe someone will chime in that has experience with mopar springs on a widebody. I would hate to buy springs twice. The car didnt come with the stock shocks smh.

 

[Octane_Cat]

Eibach Pro's installed. I seen the mopar lowering springs but wasn't sure if that would fix the issue. Maybe someone will chime in that has experience with mopar springs on a widebody. I would hate to buy springs twice. The car didnt come with the stock shocks smh.

You are going to be risking it with anything other than OEM height. Take it from me I had coilovers so I was able to adjust my height and it still doesn’t help. Factory springs the angle is still very severe on the axles and pushing it. It becomes an issue because the axles end up being to short when the angle is worsened


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[FrostBite_Cat]

Widebody cars for some reason are more prone to angle and that’s why the ride height is a tad higher OEM. Any change in height is a gamble.


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I noticed the widebodys are higher in the rear then the slim body's. Howerever, the redeyes I've seen seem to be lower in the rear. Not sure if they have different (better) axles.

Im not doing anything thats a gamble cause im not a fan of having my car in the shop lol. From what im reading ill enjoy the car more at stock height.