Problem

[nametakennow]

So my friend found the short and got the 'stang running. It's actually a '65, not a '67, as we had thought. Anyway, it now has another issue.

We were driving along, running an errand to give me a chance to drive her, and suddenly the car starts vibrating violently at about 50mph. We pull over into a nearby neighborhood and let her sit, thinking she'd been pushed a little too hard since the car definitely needs some work and I drive pretty hard. Anyway, we get going again and it vibrates just as violently starting at 20mph. A couple stops later, we try to figure out if it's a tranny problem by popping her in neutral on a hill. At 20, she still shakes. We stop and check alignment, didn't see much there. We put her back on the ground and my friend closes the trunk in disgust, along with the keys (oops!). Feeling retarded, another friend's uncle is called to help us out. He unbolts the seats and gets the keys. He follows us as we try to limp to that friend's house. As we're going along we hear a thump, slow down a bit, she's running fine, so we keep going. About a minute later we hear a huge THWUMP! We shut off the car immediately. When we get out and look and notice that the DRIVESHAFT has fallen. Needless to say we weren't getting anywhere any time soon, so we get towed to the friend's house. One of the bearings must have died, on the axle/rear transfer case end, presumably, since the other end was still connected (we pulled it out completely to tow, however).

Anyway, how expensive is a new bearing going to be? How hard is it going to be to put in? And ought we go ahead and get a front bearing and a whole new driveshaft in the process?

 

[68GEETEE]

just need to replace the U-joints, they arent that expensive. Take it to a machine shop that rebuilds driveshafts. Make sure you have the driveshaft balanced before you re-install it.

 

[bnickel]

if the driveshaft hit the ground there is a very good possibility that it is now bent, definately take it to a drive train shop and have it checked ou. if it's not bent then what 68geetee said is all you need to do, however if it is the original 2-piece (shaft within a shaft, insulated by rubber) no driveshaft is going to be able to balance it right, a really good one can it close, but most won't even attempt it, but having them build a new one isn't going to cost a ton of money unless you have an aluminum shaft buiklt for it, a new stock style steel shaft will generally set you back around 100-150 bucks if that. good luck and let us know how it turns out

 

[nametakennow]

Thanks. It was UGLY when it happened. There was a collective F-bomb dropping going on, but now we're laughing about it, so it's all good. I'll be around to tell you how the fix goes.

 

[2nd Mustang]

Going back to a thread a long time ago, remember not to torque the U-joints too much when installing them. Others have said they caused premature bearing cap failure when over torqued.