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Driveline broke !!

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GaryBeu

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So Carla was 20 miles from home yesterday and the MG started vibrating badly just before the driveline let loose. AAA got them home and I haven't looked at it yet. Carla says it's the u-joint. Hope that's the only problem. We'll keep you posted : (
 
Looks like the basic u-joint and fork pieces are about $80.00 and a complete drive shaft from VB is $160.00. Maybe I'm ahead to just buy a whole new one...
 
I certainly wouldn't hesitate to just get the whole thing replaced. Not something you really want to have a catastrophic failure with -- especially for only $80 more.
 
Don't you have a spare you can rebuild? I just re-did a few for a some club members.
 
I don't have a spare...this is our only MG and we haven't acquired any spare parts yet. We think the extra $80 is probably worth the future anxiety issue. It was bad enough having it break apart in city traffic...on the Interstate it could have been really bad.
 
As a general rule, u-joints don't just break, in the load range we have with LBC's. There is a LOT of warning. Vibration, noise.....especially a "clink" when going reverse, then another "clink" as you go forward. If your u-joints have grease fittings, use them regularly. Make it part of your normal oil change service. Make a note of all zerks on you car, and count them off.
For instance, one of my cars has 28, and I count them off as I do them.
 
Catastrophic driveline failure is preceeded (as TOC notes) with plenty of "tells". Buzzing, "funny" sympathetic harmonic vibrations at specific RPM/speed combinations.

Replace the shaft, flanges and bolts. The short bolts are shouldered and fit the "bore" of the flanges specifically. Nuts should be either lock-nuts or NyLock type.
 
Well I finally got a chance today to put Ellie up on jack-stands and take a look. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE !! What happened was that all 4 front flange nuts are missing as well as one front flange bolt. The 3 bolts left are NOT broken...just no nuts. Also,the bolts are in backward. There are a lot of things like that on this car. Do you just suppose that what we've thought was a front suspension vibration at around 55mph was the drive shaft bolts being loose? Huh, Huh??

The rear bolts are, of course, frozen in place so I'm using PB and working on them. The front u-joint only turns easily one direction so it's toast. Think we're just going to get a whole unit from Moss...Oh yeah, how do I tell the difference between a banjo axle and a tube axle?
 
Oops !! Just realized that the VB and Moss drive shaft for $160.00 is JUST the shaft. It looks like everything BUT DOESN'T include the u-joints, etc, etc. Guess we'll keep our shaft and get everything else.
 
At this point the Lord only knows what may be amiss causing vibration. It appears to me that now is the time to check the entire machine from stem to stern for safety's sake and piece of mind. I dropped a driveshaft in a friends hotrod grabbing third on my way onto the freeway and nearly got killed by the shaft.
 
GaryBeu said:
...Oh yeah, how do I tell the difference between a banjo axle and a tube axle?
Click to expand...

<span style="font-size: 11pt">Banjo rear!</span>


And a tube,



And a T series,
 
I think elrey nailed it -- time to look over *everything* on that car. Yikes.
 
OK...I got the drive shaft out. Bentley says just slide the front yoke/flange off after unscrewing the dust cap. Well, of course, mine doesn't have the dust cap or cork collar installed!! I can buy those but the fork/flange only moves ~so far~ and hits a stop point. Should I try to "tap" it off or what? Thanks.
 
So...forum member CZDave rebuilt a drive shaft for us and it should be here on Tuesday. We can't find any torque #'s for the flange bolts. Is this important? Also, while looking around underneath the car I discovered one rear suspension damper link had loosened up the lower bolt and can't be tightened...the whole bolt turns. We ordered and now have two new damper links to install. We'll check the operation of the dampers before reinstalling but a question is...if we (probably will) need to "top off" the dampers, what should we use. The Bentley manual mentions a fluid that we can't get here but says SAE 20W will work. Should we just turn the dampers upside down and drain out whatever is in them and fill with SAE 20W? Thanks for helping a couple of neophytes!!!

Gary and Carla
 
Use mineral oil, Gar. Petroleum oil will fubar the O-rings and seals.
 
And solid KUDO's to Dave!!! :thumbsup:

24~25 Ft/Lb on the bolt/nut driveline fasteners... Use some sort of "LockNuts" for the nut side.
 
Thanks Doc...just use any sort of mineral oil? Any particular name or anything?
 
Gary when I had to top up my shocks last year I went an bought fork oil at the motorcycle shop. Just went and checked and it is 20W oil. I topped mine off on the car - got a syringe from the drug store (free just ask) added some clear tubing and went at it. There is a small plug (it's not the big one!) that you use. NOTE: don't fill it completely as it needs some air to expand into.
 
Thanks JP. I'm going to take the dampers out since I have to replace the links. The dampers need to be cleaned up anyway...IF I can ever get the @!%*)#$ bottom nuts off of the links!!!
 
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