Broke u joint and bent drive shaft..Help!!

scottstoy

scottstoy

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I just put in a valvebody from dusty at htc transmission, drove it a block got on it and bam,, snapped the u joint and droped thedriveshaft off, any had this problem, what cauesed it, how do i fix it, there was a big spring w the kit that the stock valvebody didnt have we put it under some plastic peice on tranny does that have antthing to do w it ,,any ideas ???
 
We also adjusted bands and changed fluid and put in GM conversion at same time, is that big spring we put in for second gear shift, thats when everything flew apart..
 
damn dude, you should've called. Kyle and I were at the Hooters staring at "wings" in NLR. We would've come over and stared at it with ya.

Did you get it home? Let me know as I'm still in NLR until tomorrow afternoon for drill.
 
im in ky man..i dont think i have your number man youll have to send it to me..
 
I have to think that the transmission shop may have neglected to tighten the nuts on the u-joint...if it flexes under hard acceleration it can snap easily. See what they say. The universal joint is the weak point and if the joint has any loose nuts it will flex and break.

Gentlemen, this is one of the reasons everyone should consider having a drive shaft loop installed. Should the front of the drive shaft impale the asphalt a condition (known to boaters as 'pitch poling') can occur.

It usually causes death...imagine the rear bumper coming over the head of the cab and the truck in a forward roll down the highway.

You are very fortunate that it was the rear of the drive shaft that hit the pavement...had it been the front of the drive shaft...it could have been all over.
 
Prof said:
I have to think that the transmission shop may have neglected to tighten the nuts on the u-joint...if it flexes under hard acceleration it can snap easily. See what they say. The universal joint is the weak point and if the joint has any loose nuts it will flex and break.

Gentlemen, this is one of the reasons everyone should consider having a drive shaft loop installed. Should the front of the drive shaft impale the asphalt a condition (known to boaters as 'pitch poling') can occur.

It usually causes death...imagine the rear bumper coming over the head of the cab and the truck in a forward roll down the highway.

You are very fortunate that it was the rear of the drive shaft that hit the pavement...had it been the front of the drive shaft...it could have been all over.
Click to expand...
This happened to the son of some members we met at the Bakersfield gtg in 2006. He was a lucky boy as it did not cause an accident, however, it sure messed up his truck, they had to have it towed. :eek: :eek:
 
im deffinently getting driveshaft loops..that thing banged on the gas tank and everything..i guess i was lucky i wasnt going very fast..
 
scottstoy said:
I just put in a valvebody from dusty at htc transmission, drove it a block got on it and bam,, snapped the u joint and droped thedriveshaft off, any had this problem, what cauesed it, how do i fix it, there was a big spring w the kit that the stock valvebody didnt have we put it under some plastic peice on tranny does that have antthing to do w it ,,any ideas ???
Click to expand...

I posted a while back about how hard this tranny shifts with Dusty's kit. You might find it interesting.

http://www.vtcoa.com/forums/showpost.php?p=715782&postcount=56
http://www.vtcoa.com/forums/showpost.php?p=716171&postcount=59

You will definitely need to loosten up the TV cable, or it will shift really hard. The big spring under the plastic thing (second gear accumulator) actually makes it shift a little softer (you will want to keep this in, but you might remove the green inner spring that is on top of the accumulator if you left it in there). The stiffer spring that replaces the one in the 2nd gear servo (not the accumulator spring above) makes it release the front band faster when coming out of 2nd gear in order to reduce 2-3 overlap (keep this in). The washer block-out thing that goes in the smaller inner piston piece thats inside of the 2nd gear servo makes it shift harder into 2nd during part throttle, but will have little affect at full throttle (don't know if you installed this peice or not). I think I am going to remove that mod and put that little peice back to stock to make my light-throttle 1-2 a little nicer.

You could reduce the line pressure some; that will make it more reasonable too. Then you could firm up the full throttle shfts by tightening the TV cable up as required.
 
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Prof said:
I have to think that the transmission shop may have neglected to tighten the nuts on the u-joint...if it flexes under hard acceleration it can snap easily. See what they say. The universal joint is the weak point and if the joint has any loose nuts it will flex and break.

Gentlemen, this is one of the reasons everyone should consider having a drive shaft loop installed. Should the front of the drive shaft impale the asphalt a condition (known to boaters as 'pitch poling') can occur.

It usually causes death...imagine the rear bumper coming over the head of the cab and the truck in a forward roll down the highway.

You are very fortunate that it was the rear of the drive shaft that hit the pavement...had it been the front of the drive shaft...it could have been all over.
Click to expand...

Would love a driveshaft loop but nobody makes them for our QC's. It sucks, I dropped my driveshaft under light acceleration and it scared the shit out of me.
 
amtrucker22 said:
Would love a driveshaft loop but nobody makes them for our QC's. It sucks, I dropped my driveshaft under light acceleration and it scared the shit out of me.
Click to expand...


Suggest you pm Justin...get him to design one for the QC's. We know it would be killer if he did it!
 
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I have tried with Moes and I think it has something to do with our driveshafts being in two pieces.
 
Well, I guess we just have to step up and get him more sales!
 
what i have learned..

Well $500 later i got my drive shaft rebuilt new yolk and u joints...ive learned not to try to take the cheap way out even if it worked for some and to listen to the most logical advice..the helper spring removal was a bust..after i put in the valve body it shifted so hard and i got so much wheel hop that i tore up my drive drivshaft and yolk...i will be putting my helper back on or getting some airbags springs cause my rearend has dropped an extra inch since i reomed them besides what the original removal dropped it..now my front end is higher than the rear and it hops like mad if i get on it too bad...no more cheap mods for me...
 
glad you found the culprit. now get some caltracs and you can still keep the lower height and not wheel hop anymore
 
scottstoy said:
Well $500 later i got my drive shaft rebuilt new yolk and u joints...ive learned not to try to take the cheap way out even if it worked for some and to listen to the most logical advice..the helper spring removal was a bust..after i put in the valve body it shifted so hard and i got so much wheel hop that i tore up my drive drivshaft and yolk...i will be putting my helper back on or getting some airbags springs cause my rearend has dropped an extra inch since i reomed them besides what the original removal dropped it..now my front end is higher than the rear and it hops like mad if i get on it too bad...no more cheap mods for me...
Click to expand...


Interesting analysis.

Modifications on suspension are critical not only for performance, but every suspension change has safety consequences.

Careful friends as Scott says, it can be very dangerous...you get what you pay for.

You might want to consider the suggestion of leaving the overload spring off and getting CalTracs.
 
scottstoy said:
Well $500 later i got my drive shaft rebuilt new yolk and u joints...ive learned not to try to take the cheap way out even if it worked for some and to listen to the most logical advice..the helper spring removal was a bust..after i put in the valve body it shifted so hard and i got so much wheel hop that i tore up my drive drivshaft and yolk...i will be putting my helper back on or getting some airbags springs cause my rearend has dropped an extra inch since i reomed them besides what the original removal dropped it..now my front end is higher than the rear and it hops like mad if i get on it too bad...no more cheap mods for me...
Click to expand...

What is the cheap way out you are referring to? Are you talking about the helper spring removal?
 
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