Names

[Tailshaft_Tim]

G'day Martin  & Co.
 
On the day the FC threw the tailshaft, our club was returning from the 1994 Yass Show.  We were just about home, heading downhill passed Ginninderra Village (with a tailwind probably) when all the EH's & HR's in the club took off.  Not to be outdone on one of my first club runs, I planted to foot to see if the FC would keep up and reach the "factory claimed" top speed of 86mph...  it was just under 90mph when the 'inbuilt' speed limiter kicked in and all hell broke loose.  The tailshaft dropped out from the front and thankfully bent at 90 degrees in the middle before flying out from under my car (taking a bunch of parts with it) and over the bonnet of an FB that was behind me.  I've still got it at home, looks like a boomerang.  (Think I threw out the pants I was wearing).

[nicko]

gees Tim your lucky they dont have the tailshaft Tim memorial run  now as i had a front uni joint fail in Bundaberg QLD several years ago,i was heading out of town on the hi way when lights went orange ,now usually i would keep going but as my kids were in car i did the right thing,when lights went green i moved off and was doing about 50 kmh when uni fell out and i remember looking down at the mrs feet and kids toys falling on my back as the car was lifted up into the air the back of the car was actually about 10 feet off the ground almost upright luckily it fell back to the ground without flipping over and we all got out with just a few bruises and bumps to the car and me .if i had been doing hiway speed we would have all  been dead or maimed,i learnt a valuable lesson that day NEVER use Super Cheap parts when restoring your car.i only buy brand name uni's and brakes from that day on.oh yeah i dont run the orange light anymore either onless im on top of it  and cant stop safely

[zulu]

I can relate to your story Tim, back around 1969 I was rapping my 1st car, a singletone white FC along the not long opened F3 Expresway on my way to Gosford.
90 mph + (slightly downhill) & BAAANG, the extension housing on the gearbox CRACKS, what a rackett, not quite as serious as your near disaster but equally tuff on the trousers.
I was able to limp into Gosford & find a wrecker for the part!
Cheers, Gary

[Tailshaft_Tim]

G'day Nicko/Zulu - scary stuff.

At age 17, I think I was young enough not to have thought about all the "what ifs".  Mind you, I knew I was in trouble as soon as my view thru the windscreen became nothing but a close-up of the highway (ie everything went black).  Scott, the guy in the FB behind me, swears he saw 2-3 foot of daylight underneath the front end of the car and nothing else but the undercarraige as the tailshaft boomeranged over his bonnet.  If the tailshaft hadn't have bent in half when it dug in, I don't think I would be here...  (FC didn't have seatbelts).

Later, I think we all worked out that the diff must have seized (or something) coz the tailshaft had twisted and pulled out of the rear of the gearbox (coz the uni's were intact).

Cheers, Tim.

[Martin]

That's what I was thinking when I saw the photo, Tim.  The front of the shaft appears to be complete.

I had a similar experience to Zulu in my FB (true to "initials", it was a mongrel of a car) in about '68/69 near Tailem Bend on the Adelaide to Melbourne highway.  60mph and bang - extension housing - but it was the subsequent viabration that got me.

Martin

PS:  nice looking car, Tim.

[Spinner]

Tim,

I've related the story of how my tailshaft ('inbuilt speed limiter' lol) failed.  Yours appear to have done the same as mine did, and that in a HG 'Van that I was passenger in some years later.  In both cases, the tailshaft failure was preceded by very severe and prolonged vibration, sounding like plastic pieces (cut up icecream containers) pegged to your pushbike frame to make 'engine noise' in the spokes.

The diff & back axle remain serviceable but the tailshaft developes an out of balance whip or bend which makes the end drop out of the gear box.  When the front end hits the ground, you get vertical as well as lateral acceleration.

In my FC, all that I had left (besides the memory of being able to see over the roof of the car we were overtaking at the time) of the tailshaft were the two caps bolted onto the diff flange.  There were holes punched in the floor, in an arc, showing the the tailshaft either snapped ot folded about 2'6" from the rear uni joint.  The gearbox snapped off its cast in bellhousing and the input shaft snapped off immediately behind the first bearing.  The car was pulling just in excess of 5,000 rpm in top when it happended.

At least you had a very 'appreciative audience'.

After I got it back, I put another gearbox & tailshaft in.  Two months later, whilst driving to work, accelerating away from a set of lights, the car dropped its shaft again, at about 10 mph.  In this instance, the welded on brackets holding the diff in place failed, allowing the diff housing to rotate thus pulling the tailshaft out of the gearbox.  I think that the high speed catapaulting cracked the welds and a bit more use caused them to let go.  When these were welded up again, the car was not quite the same.  It used to throw rear gearbox oil seals at any speed over 40 mph.


Cheers

Brett

[Martin]

Holy cow!  Brett.

Major $$$$s - and what a ride that would have been - all over in a few seconds, but bloody bumpy and noisy.