you guys ever fling a driveshaft while driving down the road??

My Uncle once lost a driveshaft off his '76 Impala hardtop. The rear U-joint let go, and the driveshaft came right out of the trans yoke...BUT...as the driveshaft left the Impala, my Uncle happened to be doing about 80 mph in the Florida panhandle on I-10, and the driveshaft slipped under the car, shot out the back, and impaled the radiator of the Florida State Trooper car that was trying to pull him over!!!

Yeah, he got a ticket.

 

1965.......Had a '55 Olds with a hard shifting 4 speed Hydro that would break the rear u-joint yoke on the shift into second about once a month. I got to the point I carried a spare yoke in the glove box so I could get home. Never hurt the shaft or broke a u-joint, just shelled the yoke.

 

Had an 80 model toyota 4wheel drive pickup jacked up big tires.Had bucket seats with a cheap plastic center console and for a reason I can't remember it had a square hole cut in the floor right under the center console right between the seats.Going down the road with my cousin sitting next to me abuot 40 mph when all the sudden the shaft let loose at the tranny end and came up and sent the center console to the roof and about five bucks in change went every direction possible.Scared the living shit out of both of us at first, then was funny as hell.Had a buddy bring us another shaft and went straight to the house and fixed the friggin hole in the floorboard.

 

yup , 3 weeks ago , two miles from a paved road and no cell!! oh yeah good times!

 

I haven't but I saw my friends truck on the side of the road one day. Left rear wheel about two feet in the air, right rear on the curb balanced on the front end of the shaft. This was on a city street so couldn't have been going over 35-40 mph. Scary thought if this happened at highway speed.

 

I hope it wasn't a Pierce truck!!

 

No.. but i got one out back that some one lost, I picked it up off the side of the e-way about 2 years ago..the yoke is good..so is the part of it that aint bent..who knows it might be long enough for my A project. it broke about in half

 

Can I play along with a front U-joint failure in a '62 Chrysler wagon at 110mph?

Some 10 years back, when I also was still young and handsome, now I'm just a bit older I was at an on-ramp, somewhat boxed in with a bunch of slow-pokes all around me, crawling onto the highway.
I got annoyed by the turtle-speed everyone was driving so the moment I was on the 3 laned highway I moved over a lane and floored it.
Took the wagon upto 90, 100mph when I approached a Mercedes in my lane. One lane left to the left of me, so I hopped over and floored it some more since I was on a roll...
The wagon did always have somewhat of a driveshaft-vibration at certain rpm's, but I never got around to fixing the problem. You know how that goes.
Anyway, I flew by the Mercedes with 125 on the speedometer and went back to the middle lane and let off the throttle a bit. For splitsecond I thought I heard a small rock or something hit the bottom of the floorboard, and that's when all hell broke loose!

A tremendous loud BANG followed and the wagon immediatly went into a shimmyshake you wouldn't believe. Not funny while still at around 110mph.
Not really knowing what happened I quickly checked the mirror to move over to the emergency lane on the right, only to see the entire 3 lanes of highway behind me being covered in a white fog... wow..!

I coasted to a stop, got out of the car, took a few good breaths and walked around the wagon to see what was up. Didn't see anything funny or missing so I had a look under the car. First I noticed that everything was covered in transmission-fluid with red drops hanging all over the place. Then I noticed the driveshaft, although still in place, but it seemed off center at the front.
I grabbed the driveshaft and could feel a lot of play in the front U-joint, like one or two cups where missing. That was the knock on the floorboards I heard earlier.
I was lucky as hell the driveshaft stayed in place and 'hung' around during the ride.
Later on I found the entire tailshaft-housing of the transmission had been torn loose from it's bolts and the output shaft was bend by the force of the driveshaft swinging offcenter.

After a while it dawned to me that this was all my stupid mistake because to months earlier I had replaced the U-joint on the wagon, but stupidly had neglected to install the inside clips on the cups. There were just pressed in and forgotten.

 

Ever see a driveshaft spliced, riveted, brazed, and bondoed?????????? All on the same shaft??????????? Scary shit!
In many cases, if you are listening, you will get some warning signs before failure.
1. Sounds like a little bird chirping under your vehicle when you first take off. It's faster than wheel speed. Why? Grease has broken down, needles are dry and burnishing into the u-joint cross. Might just be one cap making the noise. Observation hint---rust or black colored powder emitting from failing cap. No slack because it's locking up.
2. Vibration noise starting at speed, usually 45 mph and faster. A noise that digs at my ears because of the low frequency.
3. Getting worse---clanking when changing vehicle directons with the transmission, vibration worse. Rotational slack is very obvious, cross sloppy in the cap that had needles, maybe even wear because of yokes rubbing together.
4. Wrecker, driveshaft shop, maybe and ambulance. Stick a fork in it, it's done.
This doesn't even touch self induced failures because of bad u-joint installation or more.
I use this and more to teach driveshaft maintenance and troubleshooting for school bus mechanics at their annual seminar.

 

Not me but my step dad in his 57 chevy hardtop. fuel pump went out in my moms car and he came out to pick us up. On the way back to town he asks me if i had ever seen a 7000 rpm shift with a sbc and I say no, in 2nd takes it to 7000 hits 3rd breaks the welds sn the spring perches rotates the pinoin 90 deg. up I look out the back window and say hey the driveline is following us. so now we have to dead cars parked on oppisit sides of the highway. While we wate for help he tells me about when he ripped the pinion out of the rearend it raised hell with the floor boards and the break lines. good times

 

Broke the rear drive shaft on my '67 IH Scout on the way home from work one night. Through it in the back, locked the hubs and drove around with a front wheel drive Scout for a couple days until the new U-Joints came in.

 

me too......I've never lost the driveshaft but I dropped the tie-rod @ 60 on the highway. Luckily the only mess that ocurred was in my pants

 

49ratfink ... Do you have any photos of that "O/T car"? ... or better yet, of Danny's '40 Ford?

 

Little OT, but was driving an oilfield winch truck(AutoCar) that was about 30 foot long. Guess what, some oilfield mechanic had got tired of changing carrier bearings and replaced both driveshafts with one. I was only doing about 35 in Lafayette, La. when I changed ranges ranges and the next thing I knew I was about to turn over to the right, then the left, and agian to the right. The front u-joint broke! One helluva wild ride. Steven.

 

Picked up on a noise which sounded like I was dragging a small tree branch under the car. Pulled over and looked for it under the car, but nothing. On down the road with the noise, but no vibration. Two lanes merging onto the highway and I'm in the middle of 4 lanes. BANG! and I look behind me to see the driveshaft from my 71 Charger flipping end for end in heavy 4 lane morning traffic. I was able to get to the shoulder on a sleight grade and jamb my hard hat under the back wheel because the shaft took out my E-brake cables on the way out. Picked up my driveshaft further up on the shoulder and no one stopped to fuss or help. Buddy spotted me and took me on to work. Another friend spotted my car coming back from a tow and took it back to the shop. God looks after fools, drunks and children. Don't wear diapers or drink, hmmmmmmm...

 

Saw a local 70 Monte Carlo sitting outside a hotel years ago with the driveshaft/pretzel sticking out of the side of the car. The damn thing looked like a cork screw! Seems he liked to do neutral drops while the car was rolling backwards. One drop too many...

 

I dropped a rear UJ when I was back home driving through Wales. Had to walk to the nearest village and found a pub. Whole place went quiet when I walked in. Had to get a recovery back to home, about 240 miles. Luckily had roadside assistance. Was in a Chevy conversion van which was big in the UK, just about fit on a flatback recovery vehicle. Following day I was down my nearest American parts place. Only damage was a couple of dents in the floor. Another occasion again in the UK lost a rear UJ on a 4x4 78 Cherokee Jeep, that sent the rear of the drive shaft through the side of the transmission. Ouch scrapped that car as too expensive to repair.

 

A bit O/T, I drove a wrecker for a spell awhile back and had to clear a wreck on the I-10 right in the middle of downtown Phoenix. A Peterbuilt droppped its driveshaft and this thing took out nine cars before it finally got kicked to the curb. The damage varied from a couple dented rims to some pretty serious undercarraige damage. I had to carry it about a thousand feet because Highway Patrol wasn't to interested in having it on "their road". I had a dent in my shoulder for two days...

 

It is, but to be fair it is a '91 with better than 120,000 miles on it. And yes, it is still front line.

 

I pitched one out of a Sunbeam Alpine once... U joint wasn't the culprit, It came loose at the flange.
I walked to a hardware store and bought some nuts and bolts and bolted it back in on the side of the highway right where it happened.

 

We lost one at 60 mph on the highway years ago in a 'Monte Carlo. The front yoke or u joint came apart and it dropped and we caught alot of air. We landed backwards in the median but still on all 4 wheels. That is the only time I have dropped one but have replaced lots of twisted up shafts in heavy trucks.

 

Yeah It's a pretty interesting event - you hear a big WHAM! Then the floors pucker for a second - if you're lucky you get a glimpse of the driveshaft and anything it didn't get along with flying past the side window!!!! Well at least that's how it happend when I did it. Good times!!!! Oh yeah - I forgot to add - In FRONT of the Police Station while Drag Racing just prior to hitting Second gear! Young and dumb

 

1970, took out a front joint in a '66 Pontiac 2+2 at about 75 mph. Snapped the extension housing in half, broke the shifter off, on the way down/out it beat me in the right leg, exploded the bell housing, bent the prop shaft.Bent the transmission main shaft, busted the input and cluster gear and jammed the reverse into engagement. Took off a couple of teeth on them too

Pulled off the side of the road, shaking, engine still running, clanking and grinding to beat all. Called for a wrecker, towed it off I-96. Bummed a ride from the gas station part of the way home. Went past the spot, I emptied the Muncie's fluid contents all over the freeway along with chunks of aluminum.

Final toll, clutch disc, tore out the center, pressure plate, bent fingers, transmission almost no salvageable parts, driveshaft, front slip yoke, rear yoke on differential sprung,bent and broken shifter. All shift linkage bent/broken, trans mount torn out. Exhaust pipes dented, floor pan dented and torn at the front.

 

My brother and I were in my pops '79 dodge van. Couple chickens pull up next to us. For reasons only known to my brother, he thinks these girls might want to see a dodge van do a nuetral drop ??!!?!?!? Only thing they got was the biggest driveshaft ever made launched at their car.

Of course the excuse to dad was that it just happened all of the sudden.

Funny thing was day after it was fixed, I was trying to pull a boat up a hill, but torque converter was shot from that incident too, so it wouldn't go up. My brother-in-law says he knows what to do. Soon as he slid into pilot seat, I heard him rev up and just knew his plan was another nuetral drop. That poor shaft only was in there a few hours, but at least we had someone to blame that time.

 

Way back in the day - in high school - one of my best friends (a Cuban refugee) got a job in a speedometer shop. All dashboard work: speedometers, gauges, 8 tracks, heater cores and the like.

Back then we all had a thing for advancing the timing as much as we could to 'get the most power'. If the car was a manual we'd lug it up a hill in high gear and advance the distributor until it just started to ping. That's where we would lock the dizzy because that was the point of maximum power (or so we thought). If the car had an automatic, we'd put the car in drive, stomp on the brakes and floor the gas pedal. Again, we'd advance the timing to the ping point.

So my buddy is working on this big ass Pontiac with the big ass motor. The car is in for something dumb under the dashboard. Of course, he decides to give the customer a 'power tune-up' as a value add.

He drops the car into gear, hits the brakes, stomps the gas --- and --- the frigging driveshaft unwinds like you were twisting open a container of dinner rolls.

Needless to say the boss was pissed and the customer was pissed and my bud near lost his job. But we all laughed about that one for a long time after.

Unfortunately, Lou - my friend - was not long for this world as a couple years later he got into trouble on the BQE late one night. He was a very fast driver and thought the cops were after him; turned out to be Transit cops on their way to a something or other. Lou hit a punk-ass piece of concrete jutting out of the ground in the middle of nowhere where there should not have been anything to hit, jumping off the highway at Metropolitan Avenue. Put the motor in the front seat and broke his jaw really badly plus internal injuries. Ambulance took him to the worst hospital in the city - what the F did we or his family know at the time - and the asswipe resident who wired his jaw f'd up the job but good. Lou got a massive infection, his temperature soared, his brain cooked and that was that.

Lou was all right, though. He could run a new set of tires down to the cords in a week.

 

Yes, in an old landcruiser, when I was 16, with a keg in the back, on the main drag in Yuma Arizona.

 

In my 1956 F100, built 390, c6, 9". I had just pulled out of my driveway, with my non running 1981 wideglide harley on the trailer behind the truck. I was coming up a hill from a stop sign, and bang, clunk,clunk. I had to call my best friend to come pull me home, nothing else I had was running, or was not at my house. Unload harley, unhook trailer, push them 50' to the last driveway I passed. I was on a hill, with no shoulder, it sucked.

The truck had about a 1000 miles total on it, I had just finished it. I remembered when I was rebuilding the drive shaft I could not get a non greasable ujoint for the rear, and I just put the greasable joint in with no zerk fitting. I never use greaseable joints, something I got stuck on when I was racing. I remember thinking I will remember to swap the joint. The shake down run in the truck was to a great friends funeral, so yeah I never greased the rear joint, and it had no zerk fitting. I figured this all out before the truck stopped rolling.

 

Times 3,all during my high school days,and all in my 57 Chevy sedan delivery.
First was the rear u-joint when a mustang was playing around behind me.
Dropped a gear and let her rip only to hear that awful noise and glimpse
said driveshaft in the rear view while the mustang took evasive action.
Second was with my $5 junkyard shaft,a couple of girls walking up the street
that I was so going to impress. Timed the 1-2 shift to be beside them and
the junkyard shaft twisted in two where the diameter necked down about
a foot forward of the rear u-joint. Damn rustbelt parts! The girls were more
scared than impressed and of course they laughed at me as I walked back
to retrieve what was left of the driveshaft. Worse yet the foot long stub
still connected to the rear axle had absolutely destroyed a pair of week old
turbo mufflers. Sometime after that I noticed at the track it felt kinda
funny on the gear changes, like it was stepping out a little. The next week
I went to grab second cruising through Harvey Firestone Park and it broke
again,locking up the rear wheels. Apparently broke a spring perch weld at
the track and then the other one in the park. The pinion rotated up,breaking
the u-joint then when I went for the brake it rotated down,breaking the
brake hose then locking the brakes as the E-brake cables wound around
the axle tubes. I was stuck in the middle of the road with 10 feet of
black marks leading right up to my rear tires. The cops that showed up
before I could get it towed were sure I broke it doing another burnout
in the park.

30 some years later it has a 57 Olds axle with cal-tracs and fully welded
spring perches,solid Lakewood u-joints front and rear, and a real heavy
duty driveshaft,so I hope to never repeat.

 

My brother had the center hanger bearing go on his 1-ton GMC pickup late one night. Somehow the shafts stayed together, but it beat the absolute crap out of the bottom of the bed and tore out all the wires to the back of the truck before he stopped. He had to hitch hike home, grab some tools and a ride back to push the truck home.

Bob