I broke my shaft!

[WarmAndSCSI]

The supercharger shaft on my RIPP Mods SDS system developed a crack in the weld that holds the blower bracket to the shaft itself. The whole blower unit finally made its way off the shaft (I was able to pull it off by hand). The shaft has all kinds of metal shavings in it and it needs to be rebuilt.

My plan is to overnight it to RIPP Mods in New York, have them repair it ASAP, and have them overnight it back to me before MOD '07 in Cali! I really want to be able to show my car at the event, and I won't trust driving it without the system in place (oil lines are just plugged right now). Not to mention the car isn't nearly as cool without 20 lbs of boost! In fact, it's REALLY REALLY slow without the supercharger.

There is only a small chance that I will be able to get the A) money to repair the supercharger shaft and B) get it back in time. If I can't make it to MOD, I guess there will be one extra spot. For now, though, I'm going to try my hardest to be back on the road before next Friday!

[Stewi]

Im not too familiar with the SDS system, but the shaft your speaking of, is it a sealed bearing unit or does it use engine oil to cool/lubricate itself? If it uses engine oil, I would drain your oil for the car and check it for metal shavings. The last thing you need is a chunk of that metal taking out your bearings.

[ScottsNCGalant]

Im just curious if Ripp is going to cover it...or if your gonna have to pay for it..how long have you had it?? Im just curious because Im speaking from experience that they can be difficult to deal with. Good luck though

[WarmAndSCSI]

The shaft itself is a dry system.

And Scott, RIPP isn't covering it because it's out of warranty (I'm 3 months outside their 1 year warranty), but they are giving me a pretty good discount.

[WarmAndSCSI]

Well, just got off the phone with RIPP. Apparently the shaft on the Vortech blower has some damage - the keyway on it is worn. They were going to send it off to Vortech, but that's not going to happen. I'm not paying another $200-300 just because of their shitty workmanship (which is what caused all of this to begin with). It would be another 3 weeks to get that fixed! I hope everything will be okay - I highly doubt it will be a problem. The supercharger was still functioning when there was just a BIT of material left on the keyway in RIPP's coupler - I doubt the lack of a snug fit now will doom my whole SDS system.

Hopefully they can send it all off tomorrow. It still kind of sucks knowing I'll eventually need to send off the blower to Vortech. I should just buy another blower - maybe even a bigger one :mrgreen:

[WarmAndSCSI]

I just got everything put back together. I must say that this new shaft/bracket is much better than the last one. It's sturdier, has an alignment system, and the welds are MUCH better. No abnormal noises, so I'm probably okay to drive to MOD!

[VegasMatt]

See you tomorrow.

[FastNFabolous]

take your time & be safe. Hope to see it in person.

[WarmAndSCSI]

take your time & be safe. Hope to see it in person.

Thanks man.

I'm in Vegas with boostzealot right now. We'll be there at 7-7:30 in the morning.

Bad news though; I've already developed a rattle on the supercharger shaft where RIPP warned the keyway was off. I've got to get the Vortech rebuilt ASAP. Hopefully I won't damage the shaft this time considering it's not broken. I doesn't seem bad, though. I'm going to rip it apart when I get back to SLC. Hopefully 1200 miles isn't gonna do it in!

[WarmAndSCSI]

Well, the problem was definitely the tolerances in the keyway. For now, I'm forming the coupler to the Vortech shaft with JB weld. I've always had good luck with JB weld and durability, so we'll see how long this fix lasts. In this case, the adhesion isn't as important as the internal strength of the material (since it's formed around a keyway). At worse, the JB weld will turn into powder like the first coupler did and I'll hear that happening.

I'm really not too keen on paying for shipping to and from Vortech just to get a shaft changed out. I'm pretty sure it's the first thing they pull when disassembling the blower, so it should be the easiest to fix. Nonetheless, it would cost at least $200 for that ordeal.

On another note, I'm moving to sea level. When I was down at MOD, I was able to consistently hit 21 PSI at redline, where I only see 16 here in Salt Lake City. Most of that was because of the compressor efficiency difference, but I'm sure 1-2 PSI is just because of the base air density of that particular altitude.