Wayne had a stage .5. LOL And yes, he has traction bars.
Pffft...:bs:
The trans is what's left of a stage 2 minus the billet low/reverse hub. I also have the extreme duty torque converter and billet flexplate. Based on the symptoms of how it went down I strongly suspect I twisted off the end of the intermediate shaft. It wouldn't be the first time I broke one of those. Being cheap has definitely cost me, at least in time to fix it. I will not make that mistake again. A billet intermediate WILL be going in this round.
Yes, I have traction bars, good ones too. They're the fabtech long floating bars. I have zero axle wrap, but one of the bad things is I've been doing a ton of testing for different products, and for that I run a series of data logged tests including some aggressive driving to compare different parts. I've run the same tune for all the tests, Innovative extreme race, with firmer stock stall shifting for driving, and race lock for dyno runs. Even with firmer stock shifting strategies, the shifts are quite violent unless you're in the throttle a lot, so I attribute the shaft breakage to violent shifting, and torque spikes on shifts, not smooth max power runs. I'm really looking forward to the updated tune in hopes that I can have a happy medium between shifts firm enough to hold yet not so hard I feel it bang every time it grabs another gear. If not, I'll be going to new tunes even though the soon to be more upgraded trans should handle the shock load.
FWIW, when I'm not testing I usually run the extreme mild tune, and stock shifting, which keeps the trans quite happy. I hope this experience can show other readers the value of buying the good stuff so you only have the warranty for peace of mind, not to actually need it. I should also note that when the truck was a little closer to stock I really enjoyed the innovative tunes, and still like them. I just need some custom stuff to handle the way I drive for these tests, and when I do sled pull.
To sum it up, stock shafts can, and do break. You might get lucky, and you might not. If you sled pull or drag race your truck, expect carnage at some point or another on stock parts. We've all heard it; you gotta pay to play. If your truck is one you don't need to be reliable every day, and can afford a little down time if/when you break a shaft goofing off, then if your budget's tight, sure, go with stock shafts until your day comes like mine did today.