<VV> "clunk" when car is put in drive or reverse

[Edelstein and Payne]

Folks,

     Wanted to update the listserve on the problem that I posted a week or so ago.  Based on comments that I got, I decided the most likely cause of the noise was the U-joints, so I decided to replace the half shafts with some rebuilt ones that were on the shelf in my shop.  So yesterday morning (had to wait for a real cold morning so the ground would be frozen, because with all the rain and snow that we’ve had in Raleigh, the ground is real soft and getting down to and back up from the shop ain’t easy), took the Vair into the shop and put it up on jack stands.

     My son and I did the driver’s side shaft first.  It did not appear to be bad.  We then moved to the passenger side.  I un-bolted the 4 bolts on the outboard retaining straps, then moved to the in-boards ones, and when I got to the last one, for some reason that was not then apparent to me, it was flattened on one side.  Neither a socket or box end wrench would grab it and turn it, and with the half shaft in the way, it was difficult to get anything else on the bolt head to break it loose.  It was getting late in the afternoon and Doran needed to drive the car to work (he works evenings at a movie theater), so we decided to just bolt the passenger side straps back on and complete the job another day.

     Took the car off the jack stands, fired it up and I was driving to try to get it up to the house (the ground was soft by now).  Put the transmission in gear and heard   BANG - BANG - BANG - BANG, and the car didn’t move.  Shut it down immediately.  After taking my son to work, and getting the car back up on jack stands, I found that the passenger side shaft had let go where it attaches to the differential.  With the shaft out of the way over towards the side, I was now able to break the “flat” bolt loose, and took the shaft any U-joints out.

      The cups in the yoke on the shaft not only had no grease, they had no needle bearings!!!  As a result, one end of the U-joint  that went in a cup in the shaft yoke had worn under-sized and somewhat “oval”.  The other end of the U-joint that went in a cup in the shaft yoke, had broken off.  From the looks of the end of it, which had a bit of rust/corrosion on it, it appears that it broke off some time ago (the “clunking" had been going on and getting worse for probably over a year).  That end of the broken U-joint stuck in the cup on the shaft probably less than an eighth of an inch.  From marks on the yoke of the half shaft and on the retaining straps and bolt, it appears that the shaft would rotate when you put the car in gear, and the “clunk” was the yoke hitting the retaining strap bolt.  It’s amazing that the car ran at all, let alone a year, with the shaft like this.

       So I’ve ordered some parts (couldn’t find 65 retaining straps — anyone got some???), and when they get here the car should be back on the road with no clunking.

      Many thanks for all the responses.

                 Travis Payne      65 Monza coupe
                 Raleigh, NC       65  500 coupe