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2010-05-29 Broken MT14 Axle

2,677 views · Published 3 June 2010 · 3:20 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: mrksvideos · 2010 · Travel & Events

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Well, it happened to me.  My MT14 had a rear axle failure.  According to a myth floating around our hobby that MT14's don't break axles, here is a little video to dispel it.

The trip started out perfectly on Saturday in Lewiston Idaho.  The sun was out and it looked as if it was going to be a great day out on the Great Northwest Railroad.  Even as the video starts, the sound from the transmission/chain/wheels didnt sound 'just right'.  After crossing the Clearwater River Drawbridge heading west, I remarked that at times it seemed that the flat spot I had on the right rear wheel was getting worse.  I just thought that it was me or the car being cold.

In the video at 1:42 you can hear the ker-chunky noise the axle was making during the process of separating into two pieces.  When accelerating over the cement crossing you can see the vertical shaking the car was making, which is not normal.  A few seconds later at 2:17 the noise of the axle was getting really bad, and then at 2:33 the axle finally separates, makes some awful noises, and the shaking becomes very apparent.

The whole incident was really uneventful other than ending the trip early for me and my passenger.  After getting a chance to review the broken axle and getting a photo, the car was towed back the cement crossing to be set off.  Luckily, I was still had mobile phone coverage to call a taxi to take me back to the yard to retrieve my truck and trailer to bring the speeder back to town.  Being only 7 miles from the yard where we departed, I couldn't been more lucky that the axle broke where it did as further west down the track is very desolate, only a few crossings, and no roads that parallel the main for a good percentage of the line.

Our group worked incredibly fast to isolate the issue, make modifications to the trip, and work to help me to get the speeder off the rails so the rest of the group could continue on to Riparia and back.  Only 10 minutes passed from the time of the failure to the time the speeder was off the track and the rest of the participants were on the move again.

The three day speeder trip wasn't over for me.  I managed to borrow a speeder from a friend who lives in town and continue my vacation for the next two days.

BTW, the final photo was staged for effect ;)

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