[DeTomaso] Half Shaft Safety Hoop

Larry - Ohio Time Corp larry at ohiotimecorp.com
Tue Dec 8 12:20:44 EST 2009


Tom,

 

As most have said, lack of care and maintenance is the major cause for the
universal joints to break.

 

You cannot attach anything to the ½ shaft without messing up the balance.
Re-enforce the opening and keeping an eye on them is the way I would go. I
have found the proper way to inspect a universal joint is to remove the ½
shaft, feel the joint movement for binds. Remove the caps for inspection and
lub. Not many do this
 

 

If you are like me this will never happen again.  I had a front wheel
bearing go out on me in the desert 35 years ago. To this day each time I
stop the car during a trip, I feel each wheel bearing for excess heat.
Lessons learned.

 

 

Larry - Cleveland

 

  _____  

From: Thomas Borcich [mailto:tborcich at msn.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 11:46 AM
To: Pantera Larry Ohio time corp; Pantera REALBIG forum
Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] Half Shaft Safety Hoop

 

Larry, that was one of my thoughts. The one thought I have with that is the
hole in the wheel house is half way up the half shaft which still leaves a
fair amount of leverage from a flailing halfshaft and the opening is quite
large still leaving quite a bit of room for half shaft movement. Art Stevens
as we speak is doing something like what you are suggesting, so I need to go
by and take a look at what he's doing. 

One of my fabricators ideas was to bring a hoop right above the frame rail
with just enough clearance to give the half shaft the necessary range of
motion. 

Jack brought up a scenario that I had not realized...the shaft breaking in
the middle, not on the ends. I assumed that they broke at the universals.
That makes me think that a reinforcement band around the half shaft at the
base of the threads with a few tack welds to hold it in place might give
some added insurance and lessen the need for a hoop.  Thoughts?

Tom


> From: larry at ohiotimecorp.com
> To: tborcich at msn.com; detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] Half Shaft Safety Hoop
> Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:13:09 -0500
> 
> Thomas,
> 
> Now that you are having the wheel house repaired. What about just
> reinforcing the drive shaft opening? I would think 1/2" bar stock around
the
> opening would keep the drive shaft in place should it break again.
> 
> Larry - Cleveland
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com]
On
> Behalf Of Thomas Borcich
> Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 11:05 PM
> To: Pantera REALBIG forum
> Subject: [DeTomaso] Half Shaft Safety Hoop
> 
> 
> Not sure how many of you have had a half shafts break, but both of mine
did
> at one point of the cars life. Both of mine broke at the inboard universal
> which can do quite a bit of damage depending on the speed when they break.
> On the inboard half shaft they keep flailing around until the cars stops.
If
> you break an outboard universal all you do is put the clutch in and all
the
> beating stops. Many dragstrip cars have drive shaft hoops so if they break
a
> universal they don't have drive shaft flailing around, it is contained in
a
> steel loop.
> 
> Since my wheel house repair is almost complete, I'm thinking about putting
a
> half shaft safety hoop of some sort to contain the half shafts is they
break
> again. Has anyone else done something similar?
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> 
> 
> Tom
> 
> 
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