I am a luck SOB

40 min in to my drive to work. Music jammin wind flying im in the fast lane (big trucks all around the place) and WHAM I loose the transmission, still in 5th gear but car is in neutral. And the exhaust is noticeably louder....

I put my signal on to coast 3 lanes as the trucks try to spped up and not let me over I am loosing momentum. Finally I see a break and coast onto the shoulder. Kill the engine. Ready to call the towtruck. It was a bad clunk.

I look over the car engine transmission when i notice the drivers axle sitting on the heat exchanger All four bolts were still there A nice dent in the top of the heat exchanger. I thread the bolts on by hand and get the allen wrench, tighten everything back up. IN THE RAIN. and my hands are thick black CV grease

Got to work 5 min late.



p.s. I bought evils saftey bolts and forgot to put the wire in

The joys of 914 ownership. Glad you're OK.

Holy crap! You are so lucky!

You have a rush-hour commute that allows you to go 85mph? In Maryland????????

In 38 years of 914 CV joint installation, I've had ONE fail bad enough to prevent the car from moving under its own power. Never used safety wire. Must be the fact I do it right, every time. Or maybe not ........................

where's "The Cap'n"

Just curious were the bolts switched over to the allan ones or the original 12 point ones.

P.s. Glad you and the 14 was ok.

crazy... but I'm glad it worked out and you were able to keep the 914 running.

They are the Evil allen bolts .

I was just forgot to put the wire in.

Torque wrench is your friend.

Who are you and where's the real Cap'n?

For those of us in the "great unwashed" group....just what is the torque setting, I just wind 'em up until the wrench handle begins to bend....

or maybe...

jaysayre914, don't you work in a "head shop"... just sayin'

I cant tell you how many time that has happened to me in my baja bug. way too many times!!!! even once the left rear trans bolt came out which left the driver side of the trans resting on the cv joint. found the bolt, walked 5 miles to buy a wrench and put it back in with no problems. joys of owning old cars...

and being the consumate professional I'll bet you torque them. I say this after retightening mine several times I read about using all new parts and torqueing them. I was amazed at how under torqued I had done it before. It's scary tight.

Well, that was probably the sound you were hearing.

I'm glad you were able to get it fixed roadside.
If you are reading this, I'm still sick so you probably don't want me helping tonight. Just my luck finally having a week off and being sick. I'm not getting much of anything done!

Zach

Thanks anyway Zach,

I believe the sounds i was hearing was a combo of loose cv, bad bearing, and exhaust leak. All will be fixed tommorow


Good news is i can turn the stereo up lound enough that all the sounds are gone

RJMII makes the kits now. For those that have not needed them good. For those that argue that they are unnecessary, all I say is:

I have been driving cars for many years and never needed my air bag.....

Cheap insurance that works. Period.

Torque is 30 ft/lb

Car is in the shop gettin the rear bearings done.

Tony checked the axle for me and noticed that i lost the cv gasket and both pins that line it up.

He is also going to fix the horrible exhaust leak the axle caused

I did consider these, the wired ones, for a bit....just cause I too lost an axle once.

then I spent the big dollars and bought new washers and a gasket.
Simple todo...and it has held for 10 years...no issues.

Seems all my cars have CV joints now and no wires.
Probably just using the right parts and the right torque is all that is needed.


I think alot of us may re-use the washers and they are really one time only use.

The wires are insurance, but I always suspect how much potential weakness the system has created in the head of the bolt...considering how hard I have had to get on these sometimes with vice grips...I have been worried about two holes becoming an issue...

Dunno, if I ever have a problem again, I will probably go for the wire, or nuts on the back...

That comes from a guy that is full of Sh#$ so keep that in mind...lots of people would agree with that statement about me....

I have owned over 20 aircooled VW/Porsche cars.
I have worked on them non professionally, total shade tree for 30 plus years now.
All of them have CV joints....well most of them...some had swing axles (which I hate)
In all those cars, in and out with the transmissions....none have failed EXCEPT the 914.
Must be more vibration or stress on something.

I am no Cap'n, nor would I ever claim to be.
Certainly have my days that I would respond in the same Crusty like manner...but as I get older I choose to walk away from the site at that point...




RIch

Is it worth a re-troque after an initial drive, sorta like some lug nut/wheel combinations? If so how many miles would be good?

I'm glad that your damage (and your cars) was not severe.

I once had the same thing happen in my 85 Merkur XR4Ti heading south (east) down the GW parkway into DC, in the snow.

I lose all forward propulsion, pull over, expecting the worst and perhaps death as there is no shoulder on the GW parkway. Was able to squish under the car enough in the snow and a small stream of water to see what went wrong.

Amazingly, all 6 bolts were still there and after some finger tightening, I got to the next place to pull off the road. Sure, I was soaked by the time I got to work, but I was alive and avoided a big tow bill. Hell, if the car had been towed, all the bolts would have been lost (maybe the axle hurt as it smashed around the wheel well) and some Merkur parts are INSANELY expensive (just try to buy a replacement rear hatch glass)!

I am still amazed at that one. It goes down in the book as one of my 5 "Someone is smiling on me" moments of Car ownership.

Hey jsayre914,

I has the same thing happen, but luckily JUST after stopping at a stop sign.
So Glad you didn't tear out the whole rear of your car!!!!!

I was also able to bolt my 1/2 shaft back to the trans flange. However, the 1 thing NO ONE has mentioned is the IMPORTANCE OF PUTTING BLUE LOCTITE ON THE THREADS! Since using it I've never had a problem in 8 years.

My car is a Chevy V8 w/ 930 trans and I run it on-track....I REALLY don't want things coming loose at those speeds! I've had the engine/trans out and back over 10 times and ALWAYS use BLUE LOCTITE.

BTW: A bit of engineering 101 I've learned from a friend: The torque is transmitted via the strength of the CLAMPING FORCE between the 2 flanges and NOT the SHEAR-STRENGTH of the attaching bolts! Thus it is CRITICAL to torque the flange bolts!!!

Keep that good luck going!

Terry

Got to love 83 in the morning... if you go 75mph you get left in the dust

glad you are ok

Some things you should just not admit to.......ever...............