No, it's probably not what you're thinking!
So, a few weeks ago I'm cruising home from work in my 2000 AWD... and while in fairly heavy traffic I make a quick jam on the brakes and suddenly I hear all this crunching grinding banging noises while I slow to a stop! My first thought was something blew in the rear drum brakes. So I slow and come to a stop into a left turn lane to assess the situation, only to realize my speedometer is still showing speed even though I'm now stopped.. and I'm not going anywhere!
Well my next initial impression is that I must have blown something in my new 233 transfer case... the engine is turning but output is not. So I get out to look, uncertain what I will find, only to discover my driveshaft has come out of the transfer case, but is STILL attached to the rear-end... with a small trail to where I'm now stopped!
I'm naturally surprised, and ponder my situation for a moment. The driveshaft had been flying and banging around underneath, denting my muffler and gas tank. It was unknown what damage it may have taken on too.. the yoke was pretty scraped up. Being in heavy traffic on a 6 lane road, I decided I didn't want to stick around and be a sitting duck, and wanted to get off the road as quickly as possible.
Then it occurred to me, that with my 4x4 transfer case, that I could actually put it in 4-wheel drive and have the front end drive me away! Fortunately I had some tools, and pulling the rear drive-shaft requires nothing more than a single 5/16 wrench. So I pulled the shaft quickly, being nervous about being under the vehicle while cars were driving by. Since it was rush hour, traffic was mostly backing up from the traffic light.. and was going past me slow enough.
I managed to quickly pull the shaft, but in the process knocked off one of the caps off the rear u-joint which sent a bunch of the needle bearings onto the road. I gathered them up quickly hoping I had seen them all, and threw all the parts and the drive-shaft in the van. I put the van in 4x4, and got back in traffic and drove to a nearby parking lot.
At this point I figured I couldn't really drive very far without the rear driveshaft yoke in place (in the transfer case) without loosing a bunch of fluid, so figured I would clean things up and put it all back together for the rest of my ride home. I wound up short a couple needle bearings, but it all still re-assembled good enough... and my drive home went smoothly.
The needle bearings I picked up off the road:
Here's my "side of the road" parking lot shot where I re-installed my driveshaft:
When I got home I noticed the yoke was out a little bit further than normal...
It's always been out quite a bit (even with the AWD case) which I thought was normal?
After the 233 case swap, it was out roughly about a 1/4" further than where it had sat before...
but now was even further out than normal.
Here's a photo showing where the banged up yoke had been riding for many years.
For reference: the yoke is 5" long (to dampener)..
..and I had roughly a little more than 2" of engagement with output shaft.
Some measurements for reference:
The output shaft is 1" past seal lip
The seal extends 1/4" past the output shaft:
I took some more measurements and learned that something had moved since the last time I measured it... and that my measurements were not remaining consistent! I discovered my engine had shifted forward (I have bad front motor mounts).. and when I added spacers to the rear mount, I may have inadvertently allowed the position to move forward a little. I also discovered some flex and movement with the rear as well, possibly exasperated by worn spring bushing and excessive lift.
Here's a shot of my transmission mount spacers (added to correct drive-shaft angle alignment with 233 case)
Here's more on that: https://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.p ... &start=109
So I pulled engine back as far as it would go, put a block in place between rear mount and frame, and tightly locked it in place.
Naturally as expected, there will be some additional push-pull on the driveshaft depending on rear height and braking flex in the rear springs... so I jacked up the rear to take some additional measurements.
My yoke has typically been sitting about 2 1/2"s out..
Here it is with the van rear jacked way up showing quite a bit more movement:
So I've concluded.. with the shift of the engine forward, plus the rear motion and flex while hard braking, plus the yoke already not being far enough in.. was enough to eject the driveshaft in a split second! I've never had a driveshaft yoke come out of a trans before in my life... so this was a first for me. Apparently though, it may not be completely uncommon.
---------------------------------------------
I drive my van daily needing it for work, and do a lot of highway driving too.. and can't take chances...
So without knowing how badly I may have damaged my driveshaft and/or yoke... I quickly that evening found another one on Ebay and ordered it immediately. Note: we don't have AWD vans in junk yards in South Florida... anywhere! Finding one so cheap online should have been a clue for me... but $50 (incl free shipping) was hard to pass up, considering most were selling much higher. Ordering it from a junk yard in Michigan should have been another clue!
So here is the rusty mess I bought:
This may look normal to you people up north? .. but I was appalled!
I was planning to send it back.. plus considering the one I banged up was actually doing fine.
None the less, by now I knew this was going to only be temporary, and that I would need to have a LONGER driveshaft made.
I took very careful measurements and determined I needed the drive-shaft to be 2" longer. This would put the yoke 3/4-1" from bottoming out. I found a local company that builds driveshafts and ships online nationally.. and best of all it was right around the corner from my shop in South Florida!
The owner was super nice... agreed with my measurements, worked with me, and informed me I could use the yokes from rusty driveshaft and he would weld them to a new tube. So I had him build my a DS exactly 2" longer than stock.
My shiny new shaft:
The old and new...
For reference:
They also installed high quality solid Spicer joints...
3R U-joint front: 5-795X
1350 U-joint rear: 5-1350X
So here's a picture where it sat before:
(probably going to be the last photo of my little helper.. he's old and not doing well anymore)
And here's where it sits now (below)
The new shaft yoke depth came out perfectly!
I don't think this drive-shaft will be falling out anytime soon!
That's the latest! Hope you enjoyed the story and pictures!
So, a few weeks ago I'm cruising home from work in my 2000 AWD... and while in fairly heavy traffic I make a quick jam on the brakes and suddenly I hear all this crunching grinding banging noises while I slow to a stop! My first thought was something blew in the rear drum brakes. So I slow and come to a stop into a left turn lane to assess the situation, only to realize my speedometer is still showing speed even though I'm now stopped.. and I'm not going anywhere!
Well my next initial impression is that I must have blown something in my new 233 transfer case... the engine is turning but output is not. So I get out to look, uncertain what I will find, only to discover my driveshaft has come out of the transfer case, but is STILL attached to the rear-end... with a small trail to where I'm now stopped!
I'm naturally surprised, and ponder my situation for a moment. The driveshaft had been flying and banging around underneath, denting my muffler and gas tank. It was unknown what damage it may have taken on too.. the yoke was pretty scraped up. Being in heavy traffic on a 6 lane road, I decided I didn't want to stick around and be a sitting duck, and wanted to get off the road as quickly as possible.
Then it occurred to me, that with my 4x4 transfer case, that I could actually put it in 4-wheel drive and have the front end drive me away! Fortunately I had some tools, and pulling the rear drive-shaft requires nothing more than a single 5/16 wrench. So I pulled the shaft quickly, being nervous about being under the vehicle while cars were driving by. Since it was rush hour, traffic was mostly backing up from the traffic light.. and was going past me slow enough.
I managed to quickly pull the shaft, but in the process knocked off one of the caps off the rear u-joint which sent a bunch of the needle bearings onto the road. I gathered them up quickly hoping I had seen them all, and threw all the parts and the drive-shaft in the van. I put the van in 4x4, and got back in traffic and drove to a nearby parking lot.
At this point I figured I couldn't really drive very far without the rear driveshaft yoke in place (in the transfer case) without loosing a bunch of fluid, so figured I would clean things up and put it all back together for the rest of my ride home. I wound up short a couple needle bearings, but it all still re-assembled good enough... and my drive home went smoothly.
The needle bearings I picked up off the road:
Here's my "side of the road" parking lot shot where I re-installed my driveshaft:
When I got home I noticed the yoke was out a little bit further than normal...
It's always been out quite a bit (even with the AWD case) which I thought was normal?
After the 233 case swap, it was out roughly about a 1/4" further than where it had sat before...
but now was even further out than normal.
Here's a photo showing where the banged up yoke had been riding for many years.
For reference: the yoke is 5" long (to dampener)..
..and I had roughly a little more than 2" of engagement with output shaft.
Some measurements for reference:
The output shaft is 1" past seal lip
The seal extends 1/4" past the output shaft:
I took some more measurements and learned that something had moved since the last time I measured it... and that my measurements were not remaining consistent! I discovered my engine had shifted forward (I have bad front motor mounts).. and when I added spacers to the rear mount, I may have inadvertently allowed the position to move forward a little. I also discovered some flex and movement with the rear as well, possibly exasperated by worn spring bushing and excessive lift.
Here's a shot of my transmission mount spacers (added to correct drive-shaft angle alignment with 233 case)
Here's more on that: https://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.p ... &start=109
So I pulled engine back as far as it would go, put a block in place between rear mount and frame, and tightly locked it in place.
Naturally as expected, there will be some additional push-pull on the driveshaft depending on rear height and braking flex in the rear springs... so I jacked up the rear to take some additional measurements.
My yoke has typically been sitting about 2 1/2"s out..
Here it is with the van rear jacked way up showing quite a bit more movement:
So I've concluded.. with the shift of the engine forward, plus the rear motion and flex while hard braking, plus the yoke already not being far enough in.. was enough to eject the driveshaft in a split second! I've never had a driveshaft yoke come out of a trans before in my life... so this was a first for me. Apparently though, it may not be completely uncommon.
---------------------------------------------
I drive my van daily needing it for work, and do a lot of highway driving too.. and can't take chances...
So without knowing how badly I may have damaged my driveshaft and/or yoke... I quickly that evening found another one on Ebay and ordered it immediately. Note: we don't have AWD vans in junk yards in South Florida... anywhere! Finding one so cheap online should have been a clue for me... but $50 (incl free shipping) was hard to pass up, considering most were selling much higher. Ordering it from a junk yard in Michigan should have been another clue!
So here is the rusty mess I bought:
This may look normal to you people up north? .. but I was appalled!
I was planning to send it back.. plus considering the one I banged up was actually doing fine.
None the less, by now I knew this was going to only be temporary, and that I would need to have a LONGER driveshaft made.
I took very careful measurements and determined I needed the drive-shaft to be 2" longer. This would put the yoke 3/4-1" from bottoming out. I found a local company that builds driveshafts and ships online nationally.. and best of all it was right around the corner from my shop in South Florida!
The owner was super nice... agreed with my measurements, worked with me, and informed me I could use the yokes from rusty driveshaft and he would weld them to a new tube. So I had him build my a DS exactly 2" longer than stock.
My shiny new shaft:
The old and new...
For reference:
They also installed high quality solid Spicer joints...
3R U-joint front: 5-795X
1350 U-joint rear: 5-1350X
So here's a picture where it sat before:
(probably going to be the last photo of my little helper.. he's old and not doing well anymore)
And here's where it sits now (below)
The new shaft yoke depth came out perfectly!
I don't think this drive-shaft will be falling out anytime soon!
That's the latest! Hope you enjoyed the story and pictures!