Disaster struck now what??

[markiebud]

Ok I need some ideas or help!@! I was driving down the road and all of a sudden rose such a clatter!!

My front drive shaft broke in the middle and slapped the floor board and then beat holes in my transmission and the transfer case was in a trillion pieces!! that scared the crap out of me!
well I put a new transfer case and transmission along with a torque convertor but I havnt replaced the front shaft yet because I cant figure out why the front shaft broke??
The truck made a awful growling sound and squeal before all this stuff let go which I think was the transfer case but why did the front axle twist into?? the front hubs were not locked and i was running about 75 or 80 when this happened, so iam a little gun shy about putting that shaft back in, is it possible this thing tried to lock the hubs going down the interstate and thats what did this from the start? Give me some ideas because I really want to get the 4 wheel drive working again but cant afford another bomb going off under my feet!

[kingranch89]

how bout some pictures

[markiebud]

I have it all put back togethor now.... I meant to take some pics but forgot and now its all fixed.

[JJFLASH]

What does the front shaft look like? Were both ends still in the yokes with it broken in the middle or did it let go at a yoke and slap around till it broke in the middle? Know what I mean?

[markiebud]

OOO yeah I know what you mean it twisted more towards the transfer case but both pieces were still attached one to the front end and one at the transfer case and it looked like hercules just grabbed it and twisted it until it broke and one end was as sharp as a arrow. Thats what is worrying me about putting another one in. I just dont want this to happen again, I didnt think the front drive shaft should be turning if its not in 4wd? so I cant figure out how it twisted in the first place? maybe somone else can give me a logical answer on why this happened and educate my simple mind!

[JJFLASH]

.......that's weird. Just trying to imagine how that would even be possible. Almost would have to be that the hub (or hubs) were locked and then something piled in the t-case? Have seen a couple trucks at the shop with the "vacuum auto" hubs locked even with the hubs manually unlocked. Maybe yours were actually locked? Did you lift the front tires off the ground and physically check to make sure the hubs are not locked?

If your hubs were stuck and you have been running around at 70-80 mph like that for awhile I could see your t-case eventually saying "no more thanks".

[markiebud]

I agree completely!! I have drag raced most of my life and been around cars most of my life and I cant figure it out or even how it happened?

Theory of mine was if the transfer case exploded and mine is a manual shift transfer case then it just exploded but unless the front hubs were locked that front shaft should have never turned much less had enough force turning that it beat my transmission and floorboard, there was so much damage done to the transmission that you could grab the front input shaft and pull it straight out without any force at all. I was just hoping someone else might have a different theory or someone could shed some light to help me with this one!

[markiebud]

I havent actually lifted the front to check yet maybe they are still locked but without vacum and them being unlocked how could they lock?? Is it possible that they for some unknown reason got vacum and engadged at 75mph and that caused all this destruction??

[NoRalPh]

Originally Posted by markiebud

I have drag raced most of my life

Put a loop on it