travelingchick gearbox problem

[dwayne]

Hi pesos happy new year

Just had a call from Sarah she has broken down after leaving the campsite , has called recovery .

Ok symptoms .loud bang followed by loss of drive ,engine revving ,gears engaging , drive shaft ?

Cheers guys

[TravellingChick]

Thanks Dwayne. Auspicious start to the new year eh!!
Recovery should be here in half hour.
Any advice anyone can give much appreciate!
Sarah

[1664]

whereabouts are you broken down Sarah?

[lloydy]

If one of your driveshafts snapped you would lose drive. But if your driveshaft has snapped probably a cv joint has broke and caused it. Would be easy to tell, look underneath and see if both shafts are in one piece. Hope your recovery don't take too long

[Oldiebut goodie]

Sounds like the usual - outer cv bolts come adrift.

[TravellingChick]

I'm on the a120, was heading to Thaxted for the night.
On the truck now.
CV joints were replaced about 3 months ago.
I'd have a look Lloydy but I wouldn't know what the shafts looked like lol.

[jed the spread]

If the bolts have come out you could have taken one bolt out of all the others to get you out of trouble for now. Ah well looks like your on your merry way. I was relayed this time last year from Llangollan with a blown head gasket, I quite enjoyed the ride back and the £50 saved in fuel

jed

[TravellingChick]

Yup, our recovery chap is really friendly and cost saving on fuel is always good
First recovery for a couple of years so can't complain.

[TravellingChick]

Maybe it really is time to move on and invest in a newer van....

[lloydy]

Maybe it really is time to move on and invest in a newer van....

Now that's crazy talk!

[CovKid]

If joints replaced six months ago and you've lost drive, chances are some of the outer CV bolts have worked loose over that time as Oldie butgoodie has said, particularly if allen bolts. You won't be able to fix at the roadside either as remaining bolts invariably get bent which requires an angle grinder to get them off. Replace bolts with proper splined ones and you should be fine after that.

[TravellingChick]

Thanks Cov, will speak to Mike on Tuesday. Wondering if he should charge for the fix as he fitted them......

Home safe now

[CovKid]

If its any help, I was plagued with this problem, stranded as always at busy T-junctions etc. They always go on sharp pull-away in my experience. Mine had allen bolts and VW wanted £1.95 per bolt for splined ones. However, a guy on ebay was doing good quality ones for £15 for all 24 bolts. Had no problems since. You must use the right tool.

Its usually the outside CV joint that works loose as they're harder to torque up properly and people underestimate just how much power is going to those rear wheels. Also, if the friction washers are missing, they do tend to work loose over time. I've roughed up ordinary washers to get around the problem in the past.

Bottom of this page will explain everything: http://wiki.club8090.co.uk/index.php/Ge ... nts_repair" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[icosahedron]

Over the last thirty years I've cleaned and repacked my cv's every five years or so. What I've found is that no matter how careful one is, a certain amount of dirt gets trapped between the faces of the cv's and flanges when tightening, especially the outer ones. The forces that come into play while driving then break down this dirt. I've always found slightly loose bolts a few days later when re-torquing and then none on a second check.

[CovKid]

A five year clean and repack sounds a great idea. The problem with doing driveshafts is you can end up with an earhole full of graphite grease. Its a dirty, awkward, annoying job and the worst bit is finding the motivation to do it