DSTRAC / KNB Axles

Disciple Off Road said:
Update: After getting the new air locker from Brazil, he pulled the differential out to begin the swap and saw this on the ring gear.

View attachment 384056

He installed the new locker and gears only to find the new air locker had an internal leak.

After talking with DSTRAC, they decided to just send him a new seal kit/seal housing. This left him with having to take apart both “new” lockers and combining the good parts from each

After pulling apart the original locker that came with the axles, this is what he found.

View attachment 384057
View attachment 384058

He pulled apart the replacement locker and found this.

View attachment 384059
View attachment 384060

At this point I think there is an obvious issue with the quality of materials used to manufacture their products.
Click to expand...
Found a good home for those...

I0000Ch_I9H61nSc.jpg
 
Disciple Off Road said:
Update: After getting the new air locker from Brazil, he pulled the differential out to begin the swap and saw this on the ring gear.

View attachment 384056

He installed the new locker and gears only to find the new air locker had an internal leak.

After talking with DSTRAC, they decided to just send him a new seal kit/seal housing. This left him with having to take apart both “new” lockers and combining the good parts from each

After pulling apart the original locker that came with the axles, this is what he found.

View attachment 384057
View attachment 384058

He pulled apart the replacement locker and found this.

View attachment 384059
View attachment 384060

At this point I think there is an obvious issue with the quality of materials used to manufacture their products.
Click to expand...
Looks like those parts were machined by a cross eyed man using a claw hammer. He probably has five thumbs on each hand and was screaming cuss words in Portuguese the whole time.
 
Disciple Off Road said:
This post is intended to help provide some information for anyone in the market for axles and specifically, the DSTRAC Axles. I'm sure there are a ton out there working just fine but wanted to share our experience with them thus far.

I have a local customer and friend who was in the market for a new set of axles which we talked about all of the available options. He eventually came across the DSTRAC Axles and like most, was sold on the price point. Front and rear tons for around 13.5K sounds pretty nice so he made the purchase.

I got curious and did some digging and from what I can gather (please correct me if I'm wrong), the main reason for the cheaper price point is due to the fact that all of the components are made "in house" or sourced locally in Brazil. This of course raises concerns on quality and availability on replacement parts when needed.

He ultimately received the axles relatively quickly, which is awesome, and installed them himself making modifications to them as he already had the EVO DTD installed on his JK.

After install, he quickly had issues after programming his Jeep for the new 5.38 gears so he decided to pull the rear diff cover to take a look only to find that they had installed a different ratio, not 5.38's which he ordered. He also stated the rear differential looked like a "Glitter Bomb" went off inside.

DSTRAC was contacted and advised they had a "bad batch of material" in the carriers and were going to send him all new gear sets and a new rear Air Locker (Not ARB as these are also their in house locker). After no response from them for almost two weeks, they finally sent him all of the replacement parts....

Here is the "New" rear air locker they sent him, complete with random welds and blemishes on bearing mounting surfaces.

View attachment 383865

View attachment 383866

At face value, the ring and pinion doesn't look bad. Still waiting on the bearings to arrive.

View attachment 383867
View attachment 383869

He also noticed some voids in the front hub assembly to which DSTRAC advised him "It's normal".

View attachment 383870

What we CAN see is definitely concerning but what about the things we CAN'T see? I personally don't think these are worth the "savings" and would still rather pay the extra 4-5K for axles that I can trust and readily get parts for. But that's just me.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this. That's a very well put together write up on those axles. I appreciate that everything was straight forward. It's very hard to find the truth in today's world. Thanks again.
 
benatc1 said:
Just curious, What don’t you like about the fusions?
Click to expand...
Sorry for the late reply. I've been planning to make a thread with pictures for the Fusions (same with my whole build.) One of these days...

I don't want to bash Fusion but my opinion is pretty meh. I went with the 60/80 combo 5.38s and Eatons in 72."

Firstly, the lead time was about a month longer than promised. Not that big of a deal. Once the build was done the front locker broke on the first trail. I was being easy on everything for the break in period as well. Again not really Fusions fault, but the shit show that ensued was. We are talking about around 7 phone calls between the shop that did the build (ORE) and Fusion. Not to mention I'm at least 14 emails deep. Once I thoroughly proved that I and ORE were not dumbasses and the locker was in fact broken they agreed to warranty it. This took 1 month for them to agree to. They then made me pay $1300 or whatever to send the new locker as insurance I would return the broken one. Whatever I guess, I've already shelled out 20k to them. So here we are 3 months later and I just recieved the replacement lmao. I'm hopeful I'll get refunded for the locker, but I'm not holding my breath.

All that BS aside; the fit and finish just isn't there for what they cost. Big runs in the paint and hardware that rusted after 6k miles in the desert of SW UT and AZ. Nothing too major and I'm sure they are plenty strong and will stand the test of time. However, when I compare them to my freinds Dynatracs, you can just tell there less refined, and overall just not as well thought out.
 
jpkjeep said:
Sorry for the late reply. I've been planning to make a thread with pictures for the Fusions (same with my whole build.) One of these days...

I don't want to bash Fusion but my opinion is pretty meh. I went with the 60/80 combo 5.38s and Eatons in 72."

Firstly, the lead time was about a month longer than promised. Not that big of a deal. Once the build was done the front locker broke on the first trail. I was being easy on everything for the break in period as well. Again not really Fusions fault, but the shit show that ensued was. We are talking about around 7 phone calls between the shop that did the build (ORE) and Fusion. Not to mention I'm at least 14 emails deep. Once I thoroughly proved that I and ORE were not dumbasses and the locker was in fact broken they agreed to warranty it. This took 1 month for them to agree to. They then made me pay $1300 or whatever to send the new locker as insurance I would return the broken one. Whatever I guess, I've already shelled out 20k to them. So here we are 3 months later and I just recieved the replacement lmao. I'm hopeful I'll get refunded for the locker, but I'm not holding my breath.

All that BS aside; the fit and finish just isn't there for what they cost. Big runs in the paint and hardware that rusted after 6k miles in the desert of SW UT and AZ. Nothing too major and I'm sure they are plenty strong and will stand the test of time. However, when I compare them to my freinds Dynatracs, you can just tell there less refined, and overall just not as well thought out.
Click to expand...
I too was curious about this and really do appreciate you taking the time to share what you experienced. If it's not too much trouble, I and I think others would still be grateful if you could still make a post with pics so that we can see and understand things better. Thanks.
 
jpkjeep said:
Sorry for the late reply. I've been planning to make a thread with pictures for the Fusions (same with my whole build.) One of these days...

I don't want to bash Fusion but my opinion is pretty meh. I went with the 60/80 combo 5.38s and Eatons in 72."

Firstly, the lead time was about a month longer than promised. Not that big of a deal. Once the build was done the front locker broke on the first trail. I was being easy on everything for the break in period as well. Again not really Fusions fault, but the shit show that ensued was. We are talking about around 7 phone calls between the shop that did the build (ORE) and Fusion. Not to mention I'm at least 14 emails deep. Once I thoroughly proved that I and ORE were not dumbasses and the locker was in fact broken they agreed to warranty it. This took 1 month for them to agree to. They then made me pay $1300 or whatever to send the new locker as insurance I would return the broken one. Whatever I guess, I've already shelled out 20k to them. So here we are 3 months later and I just recieved the replacement lmao. I'm hopeful I'll get refunded for the locker, but I'm not holding my breath.

All that BS aside; the fit and finish just isn't there for what they cost. Big runs in the paint and hardware that rusted after 6k miles in the desert of SW UT and AZ. Nothing too major and I'm sure they are plenty strong and will stand the test of time. However, when I compare them to my freinds Dynatracs, you can just tell there less refined, and overall just not as well thought out.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the Info, sorry you have had a bum time after spending all that money. I appreciate the feed back and like Eddie said it would be awesome if you could still post a thread. I’m casually making some future plans, but who knows what’ll happen. These were on the list to check out, but maybe not anymore. Thanks!
 
I'm no apologist for Fusion here, but that's really surprising to hear. I know several guys that have Fusion sets and when anything comes up, Dan's been very responsive. I put a set in last year and first trip out my dumb ass broke a u-joint. Totally my fault but I called him & told him what I did and he sent a complete passenger axle shaft & stub out. I will say that he needs an assistant or something. Seems he's basically a one man show as far as phones go.
You're spot on about the paint job - it's meh at best. I had to paint mine anyways after all the new brackets were welded on so I took care of that.
 
Ddays said:
I'm no apologist for Fusion here, but that's really surprising to hear. I know several guys that have Fusion sets and when anything comes up, Dan's been very responsive. I put a set in last year and first trip out my dumb ass broke a u-joint. Totally my fault but I called him & told him what I did and he sent a complete passenger axle shaft & stub out. I will say that he needs an assistant or something. Seems he's basically a one man show as far as phones go.
You're spot on about the paint job - it's meh at best. I had to paint mine anyways after all the new brackets were welded on so I took care of that.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the feedback, I’ve heard some good things about them on here and why I was looking at them. In all reality anything can break, but if the a Customer support is there or not makes a big difference. I can’t say I’d be overly concerned about the paint on the axle as that an east fix and something that would get scratch up anyway, but you don’t like to see rust after spending 20k
 
wayoflife said:
I too was curious about this and really do appreciate you taking the time to share what you experienced. If it's not too much trouble, I and I think others would still be grateful if you could still make a post with pics so that we can see and understand things better. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I definitely will do a detailed writeup with pics. I just returned the faulty locker. I am just waiting to see if they refund my $1300. That will certainly shape my opinion even more.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom