LeRox

Went on a drive tonight and while waiting to make a left turn at a stop light with cars in front (no one behind me), light turns green and wait for everyone to clear so i can have a small amount fun start..........and the following happens........got into the apex of the turn and heard a heartbreaking horror of a noise...sounded like loose rear drive shaft rolling around in a metal bucket. Got out, its not well lit and notice no obvious damage (asked lisa (best ever) if she thought i hit the curb) no.....did not happen. Well sat there thinking some part of the rear right drive shaft broke decided to place into first gear, slowly let off clutch (car would move) but the loose drive shaft bucket sound reappeared...i'm done. just got the car towed home and will post pictures once inspected. I'm hoping for a rear CV joint(?) failure. Last time inspected rear CV boots, appeared to be fresh in condition (no tears, fresh looking rubber).

Questions:

• is this common
• assuming its what i suspect, is this a tough job
• any special tools

thanks in advance........
off to get a

Rob Edwards

Bummer, sorry to hear it! Has that axle assmembly ever been out of the car? Either one of the CV joints broke, or the axle itself managed to undo itself from the diff- possible if the Cv joints were re-packed at some point and they weren't re-torqued properly....

LeRox

Thanks rob,
not sure if axle assembly ever out of car (will check past records). Thinking the axle managed to undo itself (due to original CV joints? and is there a scheduled replacement for CV's like a TB?). I'll do an insp. tomorrow and would like to know more about re-torque if i decide to do this job

AO

Bummer. I hope it's nothing too serious.

WallyP

Had that happen once - the Allen cap bolts backed out of the differential yoke. I jacked the car, reached under and replaced the bolts finger tight - all of them were still there! Drove a few blocks to a Kmart, bought a cheap set of Allen wrenches and tightened the bolts, drove it home and torqued them to 60 lb/ft...

mj1pate

Must be common, as this happened to me too. The PO had a shop rebuild the rear axles. Fortunately for me, I hear the rear axle popping while backing out of my drive way. No bolts had fallen out, so retorqueing them was all required.

LeRox

Andrew, thanks for the kind works......

Wally, I wish it was those 6 allen bolts, don't think I'm that lucky.

I took this crappy picture while trying to hold a flashlight, its the right rear cv boot in background. The band was broken and some small amounts of new greese were observed.


I have not done this yet but suspect that if I lift this wheel off the ground, with car in gear, this wheel will spin. I'll confirm this later.

Some Questions:

1. So, if I destroyed the wheel end cv joint, from what I’ve researched so far, is it correct that I'll need a new/used/rebuilt rear driveshaft (part # 92833203344).

2. Since my 1988 w/ limited slip, it appears that (so far what I’ve researched), sometime in 1982 there was a change where the wheel end of the axle shaft became welded to the drive shaft to the wheel. Therefore I’ll have to remove the 32mm axle nut (336 ft-lb) first, and then work back to the 12 hex (6 each side) bolts to remove the axle?




Could the axle experts please chime in, thanks in advance

Jim bailey - 928 International

It would be very rare for a cv joint to break.... I do have axles.

LeRox

Jim thanks for your response.

Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology, can the CV joints come apart?

Jim bailey - 928 International

It would be unusual for the joint to fail as mentioned the bolts sometimes come loose.

LeRox

Once again, thanks for the reply Jim.

If all 12 hex bolts (8mm, 6 on each side) are secure, what could be the culprit?

When I attempted to move the car after incident, slowly let out clutch, and noise sounded like a loose driveshaft slopping around in a bucket.

Jim bailey - 928 International

could be the driveshaft spinning inside the trans input (5th gear) bad splines... You have to look ..

Rob Edwards

Man, that would suck. New input shaft = $1500+ a transmission rebuild.

Jim- If those are stripped how would the car be moving? Or is it a catch/spin/catch on the remaining splines/spin noise that he's hearing?

Le Rox, if you an get the car on a lift (or on liftbars) safely and the axles aren't flapping around:

There's a rubber cover that hides the bolt that clamps the rear end of the torque tube shaft into the splines of the input shaft of the tranny. Look up in there and see if the splined joint is intact.

LeRox

Jim and Rob, thanks for the reply.

First of all, I would like to admit that I do not know much about the drive train on these wonderful cars. More research (and learning), their are only 6 (8mm) hex screws on the rear transmission side of the rear drive shaft (seams 82 year (and newer) they changed to welding (?)).

Back to the task....

Well, jacked up rear tonight, both rear wheels off the ground, car in first gear and spin the troublesome right rear.... clucking sound. It’s very obvious that the wheel side of the drive shaft (since the cv boot has now slid up and can visually see) is disconnected from the right rear wheel. Tried to take pictures, too dark.

Thanks again.

Rob using your terms.....the axle is flapping around on the right rear wheel side of the axle. Hopefully this is better news!

Thanks again for for the replies.

I would like to attempt this repair, but I need all of your help.

Regards....

LeRox

After taking the 4th of July weekend off from the broken beast, decided to attempt DIY of right rear drive shaft. Removed the 6 hex bolts, pulled and slightly twist drive shaft and its off the car w/out removing the axle nut.

Some pictures of the carnage.


Some parts excaped thru the cv housing.


the boot was not split...here what the end of the shaft looked like


what was left of the cv


any ideas of what may have caused this and what other dammage may be expected?