No drive to drivers rear!

[TheScAtMaN]

So after a great weekend visiting the NEC for the classic car show, spending the night in Birmingham and the car not missing a beat me and my brother made the return journey to Cambridge on Sunday. No sooner had we left the city and joined the M6 I noticed a shudder and a loss of power.
I tried to drop down gears but no drive, in any gear. All I could hear was a loud whirling from the rear so I quickly pulled over to the hard shoulder.

I feared the gearbox or clutch but when the recovery arrived he got me to go through the gears while he had a look underneath.
Seems that the drive shaft is spinning to my drivers side rear but not actually spinning the wheel.

I got recovered back to our lockup and have not had a good look myself yet but looking here http://clicks.e-caterlyst.co.uk/email/S-...9YhX0M.%40 I suspect the outbound drive shaft or possibly wheel bearing.

The thing is I had all the wheel bearing changed only a couple of months ago by Chris N due to excessive noise from this area.
When doing the job Chris noticed a previous repair to the (not sure what it's called, it's between 7 and 8 in the diagram above!) where it had been welded up. He cleaned the weld up and replaced the wheel bearing and the noise went away but I have noticed a faint squeal was returning.

Anyway I will try and have a better look over the next week when I get time to go up and see her and narrow down on the culprit!

[Chris Williams]

Hi Stephen
Kris mentioned he passed a DeLorean on the hard shoulder of the M6, seems at least 2 people made the trip in the silver beasts, unfortunately the link seems to be the wrong one. Glad you got home all OK though.
Chris

[TheScAtMaN]

Ah yes! The link should be this: http://www.delorean.eu/catalog/index.php?cPath=19_27_94

Yep home ok, but stranded at my lockup until I work out whats wrong. Hope to get over there in the next couple of days.
At least it's not the clutch or gear box and (should) be something I can fix myself.

[Chris Williams]

As you say until you start pulling bits apart it will be difficult to tell, interesting about the previous repair though, wonder what it was....
Could be one of a few bits broke, or simply the hub nut come undone. Please let us know how you get on.
Chris

[TheScAtMaN]

Had a brief bit of time to take a look this afternoon.
You can see the driveshaft spinning upto the wheel in this video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdq_VPlg-1k[/youtube]
With the wheel off I noticed a lot of play if I grab the brake disc and shake it which you can see in this vid:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYUUsm-mAA4[/youtube]
(Turns out it's hard to hold a camera steady and shake something at the same time!)

So it seems like it *could* just be a loose stub axle nut but unfortunately I did not have a socket or spanner big enough to test the theory.
I need to get the diameter of the nut and a proper socket to tighten and test and if that does not fix it (as I suspect) start removing things.
How easy is it to get the brake caliper out of the way?

[Chris Williams]

Oh dear Caliper is held on by two bolts via gaps in the hub, cant remember the sizes of the top of my head, but you need (IIRC) a fairly long extention. I have a 3/4 socket set if you need to borrow it for the hub nut. If it's easier and we can work around both our shifts I can always pop up to give you a hand if it helps?
Chris

[TheScAtMaN]

That would be great if you could Chris! I'm willing to investigate and get my hands dirty doing jobs but I'm also still building up my tool collection :lol:
I'm fairly flexible on time so PM me when is good for you.

[Chris Williams]

No worries, just returned from a 3 day training weekend so time's a bit short but will look at my rosta and get back to you. what's best days or evenings?
Chris

[TheScAtMaN]

Can do either!

[Rissy]

I don't think the rattely brake disc is your issue here. They're held on to the hub via one or two rotor screws (you can see one at least in your video) and often shear or break away. This isn't a issue because once your wheel is mounted and bolted into place, the disc is held in place (sandwiched if you like) between the hub and the wheel.

You'll need to get that calliper and brake disc off (should come off once the calliper is out of the way. Then you can remove the hub bolt and remove the hub to reveal the bearing etc.

It's almost as if the spline has been worn completely off the outboard drive shaft or it's completely sheared away, allowing it to spin inside the bearing without being locked in play with the hub (and the friction of the stationary wheel) - allowing it to spin freely as seen in your first video....?!

[Chris Williams]

Quote:It's almost as if the spline has been worn completely off the outboard drive shaft

Spot on Chris, I will let Steve post up the pictures when he gets time.
Chris

[stunned_monkey]

Did Chris say exactly what had been welded? The rattle and the lack of drive would be explained by a snapped #7 although this would be more or less unthinkable, unless some sort of enterprising repair has been done in the past.

It's that or a totally collapsed CV joint due to lack of lubrication

[Chris Williams]

Quote:Did Chris say exactly what had been welded?

Probably easier to let the pictures Steve took explain it better, but the splines on part 11 had been stripped resulting in no drive. The bearing had also collapsed. The welded repair was to the outside of the cast hub carrier roughly on the edge where the washer (no10) is., however the bearing fits tightly in the hub. What exactly caused the fault we are not sure as yet, I think no: 7 is distorted myself but could be wrong!
Chris

[TheScAtMaN]

Sorry for the radio silence!
As the two Chris's said part 11's splines had been practically worn smooth on one side:

Here's the outbound shaft (part 7) that appears to be fine to the naked eye:


Here's the bearing housing with half of the destroyed bearing in place and the weld repair that was done sometime. On inspection it seems to be fine with no cracks or rough surfaces and the bearing (whats left of it) fits tight:


So was it the bearing failing that caused the shaft to destroy the hub? Maybe but it is only a couple of months old as I had Chris N replace all of them due to squeaking from this very area. That's when he pointed out the weld repair but never noticed any other damage.
So... is the bearing housing repair causing the bearing to fail or is the outbound shaft out of alignment, somehow causing the bearing, shaft and hub damage? What caused them to weld up the housing in the first place?
Either way something is not right here and I was faced with replacing at least two items but maybe for peace of mind all four.

Chris W found an ebay listing in the states for a complete assembly (everything from 7 onwards) in the states that even with shipping still works out cheaper than buying them all from DMC Europe.

I do have a deadline to try and get her moving again, I run a pub and for this years New Years Eve theme we are hosting an 80's party and guess what was to be pride of place! The shipping tracking info says that the parts are in the UK but I've still not received them, I suspect this will be down to the wire!

[Rissy]

TheScAtMaN Wrote:Chris W found an ebay listing in the states for a complete assembly (everything from 7 onwards) in the states that even with shipping still works out cheaper than buying them all from DMC Europe.

He says confidently until the UK Goverment slap on import tax and the Royal Mail slaps on their handling fee, boosting the overall cost by another 1/3! (I've been hit by this one too many times now)

Seriously though, it's a puzzler indeed.

Probably a good job you're replacing bits for peace of mind rather than guessing through many more similar experiences from now and into to the ongoing future.

I hope you get it all sorted for your theme night.