Not to severely disagree with you, Hitman, or any of the others but wheel hop has been around for a lot longer than IRS (independent rear suspension). And someone who posted is correct in stating that its cause has to do with the twisting torque at the wheels overpowering the suspension. In addition, it has to do with the rigidity of the rear axle itself, and that has little or nothing to do with solid axle, IRS or FWD, for that matter. Many FWD cars have wheel hop, and some of them are relatively underpowered, but so are their suspensions (I could induce it in a '80 Corolla Tercel, with about 60 hp given the right road conditions!).

Matter of fact, old drag racers with solid axle rear wheel drive cars used to have "traction bars" as described by another poster to prevent axle wrap up. Limited slip differential can sometimes act in unusual ways, as well---sometimes it helps prevent wheel hop and other times (not as frequent) depending on how it's set to grip with its clutch packs, it can help wheel hop along by not controlling traction or shifting the power too quickly to the wheel that has traction. Not to mention weight transfer either to the rear driving wheels or off the front driving wheels (sometimes the rear set can become too heavy thus overcoming the suspension's ability to hold the wheels down to the road, or in the case of FWD, too light thus allowing it to "bounce")

Long explanation 'cause it's not an easy question. And yes, given the right conditions, it can really hurt your car's entire drive train, not just the rear differential or axle.

BONDg35c

 

Bondg35c,

Oh, I don't disagree with you at all..... axle hop definitely exists on older solid axle cars. No doubt about it.

For example, Ford put a set of second shocks, mounted nearly horizontally on Mustang GTs for years to control axle hop. I think they first appeared about 1986 and they've used them every since. If I'm not mistake, even the current Mustang GT still used these "stabilizing" shocks.

But these days, it seems that axle hop is more inherent in RWD IRS cars. Sure a FWD can hop too, but I think torque steer is more of a problem than axle hop for those cars.

 

All correct, many car designs can suffer from wheel hop. If you experience it, you should let off the throttle, it is more violent and scocking to the drivetrain than constant clutch drops. My RX7 suffered from it sometimes and there are many RX owners breaking driveline parts with wheel hop. The same driveline that can withstand 11 sec 375-400 RWHP quarter runs in an RX will break with wheel hop on a stock 230 RWHP Rx if allowed to continue. Remember the wheels hop off the ground, or nearly so and then are slammed back into contact by the suspension. This all under full throttle and several times a second. Not good for long term durability.

The RX has left the building, I have been driving the G for about 6 weeks!!!!

 

OOO, some very bad info in this thread! If you experience wheel hop for any reason, Get out of the throttle immediatly! It can be very detrimental to your differential. No the axles won't break first. Inside your diff there are spider gears. and what happens during wheel hop is that it is so violent that it will actually rip the teeth of off the spider gears. Wheel hop occurs when you tire starts to spin, then gets traction, then spins, then gets traction, and so on and so forth. Believe me you will not enjoy the consiquences of wheel hop. I drag race FWD eclipse. and I know what happens. TRUST ME! I wish I took pics before I welded the diff after a nice case of wheel hop. It only took a fraction of a second in wheel hop for my diff to explode and it put some nice size holes in the tranny as well.

Pardon my spelling!

 

SniperinaG is absolutely correct with his assessment of wheel hop. Treat wheel hop much as you would treat hitting the rev limiter - get off the gas.