lost half shaft
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 431
Likes: 22
From: Chester Illinois
lost half shaft
was pulling out of side entrance onto highway and vette stopped in its tracks in the middle of oncoming traffic which was also on a hill. should have seen me running towards traffic, waving my arms to get the traffic stopped and trying to call for help on cell. anyway things worked out ok. what happened was a bolt had came out of one of the retainers that hold the u-joint in next to the rear end and finally over time the whole shaft came lose and got jammed between rear spring and frame and locked the wheel. now i have three sheared off bolts to get out of the yoke. i cant believe how small the bolts are that hold it in. the fiberglass spring is chewed up a little on the edge and i hope i can salvage it. any suggestions on getting these bolts out. would like to take the yoke out of the rear end where i could work on it easier. Buuuuuuut dont you have to take rear end apart to get it out????????? sure glad i wasnt going down the highway around 70 when the shaft came loose, probably would be parting it out now. read on your forums one time that if you wanted something to work on alot, buy a 81 vette. i am beginning to believe that. namvet6869
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 12,679
Likes: 3,130
From: Shamong, NJ
If you've got to pull the yoke, I'd just replace them both. They're probably worn on the inside if they haven't been replaced before. This is pretty common. Did your bolts have the french locks installed on them? With the french locks properly in place, they shouldn't come loose.
