Prop Shaft Problems

[Guest avongrove1]

Drove my car today and lost all the gears. Prop shaft is loose at the gear box end and not the diff end. Not mechanically minded so what's the worst senario I am looking at? Also, is it easy to source new parts? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Best case is you have broken the clutch plate from its centre, engine out new clutch job done.

 

Worst case you have snapped the out put shaft in the gear box, never known that, even on my rally car I never managed that.

 

I will go with broken clutch

[Guest chris brown]

Drove my car today and lost all the gears. Prop shaft is loose at the gear box end and not the diff end. Not mechanically minded so what's the worst senario I am looking at? Also, is it easy to source new parts? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

What do you mean when you say the prop is loose? Are you saying when in gear there is no output from the g/box? If so then remove the engine and as Ian says it is a fair bet the clutch has given up. Any motor factors will supply a new one you just need to know the year of the donor and size of engine.

[Guest avongrove1]

Mechanic looked at it today. Prop shaft had twisted like barley suger and snapped. New prop shaft is required!

[Guest Techmage]

Mechanic looked at it today. Prop shaft had twisted like barley suger and snapped. New prop shaft is required!

 

Omg, what were you doing, trying to tow your house. Amazed would realy have expected something else to have given up first unless the propshaft was made from cooking foil !

[Joel]

This is far from unheard of - it's happened to several people on here. Just be grateful the prop didn't come through the tunnel and lighten you of a limb!

[Guest Dan_Beeston]

Tis' true!

 

Pic of what happened to mine here:- http://community.rhocar.org/index.php?showtopic=16158

Where are you based? I had Dave Mac in Coventry rebuild mine (new tube welded into existing flange/joints etc)

 

Cheap and Quick

[fry61]

An earlier post said a prop-tube was made of too thin a guage of steel -- is there any easy way to check the prop that was supplied with my 2B+ kit back in 2007?

[Guest turbo]

i would advise anyone with a spare £150 pounds to get a proper one made at dunning and fairbank,probably the best spent upgrade you will get and may even save a leg one of these days.

[Guest Dan_Beeston]

Can't remember the correct terms but Robin Hood used to (and may still do?) make their props out of seam welded tube instead of extruded tube. (Plus their tube was too thin!)

 

If you look at the outside of your prop and can see a discoloroured line running the length of it (from the welding heat) then it is not fit for purpose, in my opinion (and experience!!)

[Guest avongrove1]

Have ordered a new one from Robin Hood yesterday. Their reason for it happening was that I must have dented the metal when fitting the shaft or there was a flaw in the metal but they were not prepared to come and go with me on replacement. Still had to pay full whack for a new one. Will be looking at it very carefully when it arrives!

Edited September 15, 2009 by EddieMcK

[Grim]

seam welded? Arrrrrgggggghhhh!!!!

[Guest Dan_Beeston]

Yep, the opinion of Dave Mac is they were probably making them out of the same tube they use for their exhausts!

[Grim]

It would be interesting to take a look at one of these props, i've just started a new job in failure analysis of metals, but i suspect i'd find out very little information!

[megadodo]

I would go to back to GBS and demand your money back. Under the terms of "The Sales of Goods Act" something has to be fit for purpose. If a prop shaft twists under usage, no matter how hard that usage may be, then it can't be fit for purpose. Any reasonable person would expect the propshaft itself to last the lifetime of the car and be built to resist any twisting force it comes across. It would be up to GBS to prove you damaged it given the fact the car is sold as a kit and it would be expected to undergo reassonable amounts of handling before being fitted to the car.