Front U Joint failure

[richard100t]

I was out for a nice relaxing ride last night when I started to hear this weird ratting sound. I was only doing about 50mph and not hot rodding at all so I thought this is odd, did I run over something? Then it got real bad real fast. I pulled over to the side of the road to find that my front u joint had broken, taking the cover with it and pretty much trashing the front shaft yoke in the process.

If anyone has, or knows where I can get a new shaft please PM me.

I'll post pictures of it later, its hot and I'm still pissed about it. I greased that *^&^%*%* joint every damn year.

[Tracey]

That's hard to take, how many miles on your bike now? I'm in town for a while if you need a hand...

[richard100t]

That's hard to take, how many miles on your bike now? I'm in town for a while if you need a hand...

Hi Tracey,

I have 40k on it now. I appreciate the offer of help, but I kinda need the replacement shaft before the bike will go again. Send me your phone number in a pm, I cleared out my phone and I should have written down my contact numbers first!

[felix42o]

Do you have a driveline shop nearby? Maybe you could have them look at the carnage and see if there is any viable substitute?

[pete roper]

My mate Jon Margrave has one off his very low mileage LeMans available. PM me and I'll put you in contact. He's on holiday in Mexico at the moment but will be back in LA soon. His price will be very reasonable.

 

Can I ask? Is your driveshaft aligned properly? If not that will be what killed it. Make sure when you install the next one it IS aligned properly.

 

Pete

[stefano]

driveshaft alignment? my '02 le Mans has alignment marks on both halves of the driveshaft.

three punchmarks, with a paint line over them. wierd thing is, they were put together 90deg off by a PO. (that is, one half will have marks on top, the other half will have the marks on the side. someone would almost have to do this on purpose, as the marks couldn't be missed.

90 degrees off will actually put the crosses in alignment. seems to be fine, although i intend to install with the marks lined up after tires change which will happen soon. (or i may discover why they aren't in alignment)

i've had the bike for a year, 3500 miles, all the maintainance appears to have been done right (except the driveshaft?)the bike looks & rides like new with 18000 miles now.

i really like the bike, and would buy it again.

stef

edit.. of course, this was done at the factory, (it is an '02) as someone already mentioned

[gstallons]

driveshaft alignment? my '02 le Mans has alignment marks on both halves of the driveshaft.

three punchmarks, with a paint line over them. wierd thing is, they were put together 90deg off by a PO. (that is, one half will have marks on top, the other half will have the marks on the side. someone would almost have to do this on purpose, as the marks couldn't be missed.

90 degrees off will actually put the crosses in alignment. seems to be fine, although i intend to install with the marks lined up after tires change which will happen soon. (or i may discover why they aren't in alignment)

i've had the bike for a year, 3500 miles, all the maintainance appears to have been done right (except the driveshaft?)the bike looks & rides like new with 18000 miles now.

i really like the bike, and would buy it again.

stef

edit.. of course, this was done at the factory, (it is an '02) as someone already mentioned

 

Please explain the 2nd paragraph? The 90 degree one............

[stefano]

driveshaft alignment? my '02 le Mans has alignment marks on both halves of the driveshaft.

three punchmarks, with a paint line over them. wierd thing is, they were put together 90deg off by a PO. (that is, one half will have marks on top, the other half will have the marks on the side. someone would almost have to do this on purpose, as the marks couldn't be missed.

90 degrees off will actually put the crosses in alignment. seems to be fine, although i intend to install with the marks lined up after tires change which will happen soon. (or i may discover why they aren't in alignment)

i've had the bike for a year, 3500 miles, all the maintainance appears to have been done right (except the driveshaft?)the bike looks & rides like new with 18000 miles now.

i really like the bike, and would buy it again.

stef

edit.. of course, this was done at the factory, (it is an '02) as someone already mentioned

 

Please explain the 2nd paragraph? The 90 degree one............

the u joint cross's have 4 bearing caps at 0-90-180-270 degrees apart.

i guess our driveshaft halves have splines that allow them to be assembled in miss-alignment. which wouldn't allow them to work at all just 1 spline off. but i guess they have the correct number of splines to allow them to be assembled in 4 right angles, which are like mine, 90deg (or 270 degrees) off. BUT the crosses are in perfect alignment, which works fine.

BUT the trunions on both halves of the driveshaft are also off by 90 degrees.(crosses still in alignment)

so if the shaft was assembled 180 degrees off (think punch marks on top on one half, punch marks on bottom on the other half)then the crosses & the trunnions would be perfect just the same as if the marks were lined up.

i hope this makes sense, i'm a machinist & work with indexing fixtures, & machining in degrees every day, but i sometimes am not able to articulate it in words.

i haven't had the driveshaft apart, but rest assured i will when i take the wheels off soon for tires.

it sure is a mystery to me why someone would assemble it 90 deg off, when the alignment marks stand out like a diamond in a goats ass.......

stef

[Paul Minnaert]

driveshaft alignment? my '02 le Mans has alignment marks on both halves of the driveshaft.

three punchmarks, with a paint line over them. wierd thing is, they were put together 90deg off by a PO. (that is, one half will have marks on top, the other half will have the marks on the side. someone would almost have to do this on purpose, as the marks couldn't be missed.

90 degrees off will actually put the crosses in alignment. seems to be fine, although i intend to install with the marks lined up after tires change which will happen soon. (or i may discover why they aren't in alignment)

i've had the bike for a year, 3500 miles, all the maintainance appears to have been done right (except the driveshaft?)the bike looks & rides like new with 18000 miles now.

i really like the bike, and would buy it again.

stef

edit.. of course, this was done at the factory, (it is an '02) as someone already mentioned

 

Please explain the 2nd paragraph? The 90 degree one............

the u joint cross's have 4 bearing caps at 0-90-180-270 degrees apart.

i guess our driveshaft halves have splines that allow them to be assembled in miss-alignment. which wouldn't allow them to work at all just 1 spline off. but i guess they have the correct number of splines to allow them to be assembled in 4 right angles, which are like mine, 90deg (or 270 degrees) off. BUT the crosses are in perfect alignment, which works fine.

BUT the trunions on both halves of the driveshaft are also off by 90 degrees.(crosses still in alignment)

so if the shaft was assembled 180 degrees off (think punch marks on top on one half, punch marks on bottom on the other half)then the crosses & the trunnions would be perfect just the same as if the marks were lined up.

i hope this makes sense, i'm a machinist & work with indexing fixtures, & machining in degrees every day, but i sometimes am not able to articulate it in words.

i haven't had the driveshaft apart, but rest assured i will when i take the wheels off soon for tires.

it sure is a mystery to me why someone would assemble it 90 deg off, when the alignment marks stand out like a diamond in a goats ass.......

stef

 

I'm not shure if you can only change one part, if the splines aren't welded per set? Then you won't get them right.

 

I would like to see the damage and the boken parts, this is the first one breaking I know of. Pictures please!

[richard100t]

I'd like to post the pictures but I think I'll need a moderator so that I dont have to crop them down too small. If one of the moderators will pm me I'll send all the pics of the damages for viewing here.

[gstallons]

I'd like to post the pictures but I think I'll need a moderator so that I dont have to crop them down too small. If one of the moderators will pm me I'll send all the pics of the damages for viewing here.

 

 

Richard....... Do this: go to an automotive parts store, ask to look at any two identical U-joins. Take them out of the boxes and stand them up about 2' from each other. You see that the caps are matching at 3-6-9-12 o'clock positions. Your driveshaft HAS to be assembled this way to be "in time". Now the yokes at the ends of the driveshaft HAVE to be in the same position as you would touch both your thumbs and middle fingers together.When you have all of these as thy should be, the driveshaft will be "in time".

Do this as you are sitting at your computer to understand this concept.

You will probably find something is not kosher with your driveline.

[richard100t]

I'd like to post the pictures but I think I'll need a moderator so that I dont have to crop them down too small. If one of the moderators will pm me I'll send all the pics of the damages for viewing here.

 

 

Richard....... Do this: go to an automotive parts store, ask to look at any two identical U-joins. Take them out of the boxes and stand them up about 2' from each other. You see that the caps are matching at 3-6-9-12 o'clock positions. Your driveshaft HAS to be assembled this way to be "in time". Now the yokes at the ends of the driveshaft HAVE to be in the same position as you would touch both your thumbs and middle fingers together.When you have all of these as thy should be, the driveshaft will be "in time".

Do this as you are sitting at your computer to understand this concept.

You will probably find something is not kosher with your driveline.

I appreciate the advice, BUT I need a whole new driveshaft at the moment because the old one got mangled up with the bits of the broken u joint. Unfortunately there arent as many v11's out there as there are Hondas, so it will just take a little longer to get the used parts that I need. When I do get them I'll definitely keep all of you up to date.

[gstallons]

Google driveshaft or u-joint repairs for V11 ...........After a better look, that is messed up !

[richard100t]

Yeah theres no fixing it. I just have to find a used replacement part.

[gstallons]

In the MGNOC classifieds; U-joint rebuilds. John P Chicione. Russell,Mass. Cell# 413-454-8002. e-mail jchicione@verizon.net.

He might not be able to rebuild your shaft ( send pics) but he might have or be able to fix you up with one.