Gear Shaft Coupling Sheared

[jamesr777]

I'm not having a great week. Last night I broke my PC and now i've broken my Daf 44 estate.

I was manouvering around a quiet lane's junction when the gear selector jumped out of fowards, as I tried to accelerate and with a great puff of smoke I ended up going nowhere fast!
Now it won't select either forward or reverse at all accompanied by a grating sound.

Thanks to a very kind DHL delivery man I managed to push it back into a nice place along the icey road.

I've found a tiny bit of rubber on road so I can only assume that the propeller shaft coupling / flexible gear selector has sheared.
It's not very clear in the manual how this can be repaired nor can I see a spare on the Daf Hobby website.

Can anyone tell me what sort of job this is like to attempt myself in winter with no garage facility?

Does anybody know of a professional classic car garage that understands Dafs in the Derbyshire / East Midlands area that I can tow it to for repair?

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I'm going to cry into my cup of tea now...

Thanks in advance.

- James Ross
(Belper, Derbyshire, UK.)

[jamesr777]

Thank you for the advice John,

Though I didn't shift from neutral, I shifted from backwards straight to forwards but I don't think it went into forwards properly and must have jumped out when I accelerated. I turned the engine off as quick as I could but it was too late.
From the notes of the cars history I think a previous owner has replaced the rubber drive 'doughnut' (as he describes it) in the past.

On failing to find a repair option I may have to give this car away to another club member. Sadly being a student I have limited money and time - especially with exams coming soon.

- James

[spunkymonkey]

Bob Scrivens on here had a few assorted prop shafts available over the past couple of weeks. Not sure if they've all been spoken for yet (or if there were any suitable for your car) but it might be worth dropping him a line.

The thread about the shafts is here:

dafcars.proboards37.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=640&page=1#4275

[dafdaffer]

Hi James, its paul here who lives in codnor, it does sound like the torque tube has died.

its not a bad job IF you can get another tube. the engine will have to come out or the primary part of the transmission.

i struggled last time to get one,

i have however, seen one done in a strange fashion as where a prop was cut in half and a (possibly) volvo 340 one was sleveid over the top and welded round. it worked ok but would have been out of balance!

i know that i dont have one, if you look on ebay there is a red one being offered with the same problem abeit being a little over priced. the chap also is breaking a 44

there is one being broken on ebay this should have the same one but there are two different tubes for 44's so you will need the right one, theres a big difference in lengh.

if you do decide to part with it let me know and i wil break mine for spares as it has allot of filler in it.

if i find anything out i will let you know.

i am haveing car trouble myself at the minute as the pug 307's clutch is abut to die and the bmw (which i waved to you in at ambergate garage the other week!) is keeping the road de iced with all the antifreeze that is coming out of it.

cheers

Paul

[littlebelter]

L.O. James.

Going back to basics, I can't see how the gear lever jumping out of forward gear would cause the propshaft rubber bushing to part, unless you rammed it in gear again with the engine running or revving.

You wrote " . . .Now it won't select either forward or reverse at all accompanied by a grating sound. . . . "
Now the "grating" sound does not sound to me like a parted rubber bushing.

If you are putting it into gear with the engine stopped you should get no noise at all.
The grating sound is familiar to me because (despite having owned a 33 about 25 years ago) when I got my present 33 last year, I made some wonderful "grinding" noises trying to get it into gear with the engine running, until someone on this forum kindly put me straight. (I've probably weakened my propshaft!).

If you put your 44 into gear and then start it up, what happens?
At tickover there should be no untoward noises. When you increase the revs, if the car doesn't drive and you get the noise, then the propshaft bushing could be the culprit. I can't really imagine it being a "grating" sound though?

I apologise in advance if you think I'm trying to teach you to suck eggs.!

Cheers.

Pete H.

[dafdaffer]

when my 44 went i was going down hill on overrun and it just started to speed up like the clutch had disengaged.

when i tryed to accelerate it made more of a thumping noise rather than grating, like pete said what does it do when the engine is turned off then put into gear and started?

they do just go as rubber splits all the way around and it just spins internally.

the other thing is if the clutch has gone and shoes have fallen off, this also quite common

if you would like me to come and have a look then i could tell you for definate.

Paul

[spunkymonkey]

Dec 11, 2008 10:53:36 GMT The Bear 54 said:

James,
There are no repairs for this, except to replace it.
the entire process should not take more than a few hours (if you can find a replacement shaft) but not recommended outdoors in Winter.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

John

I've been thinking a little about the "no repairs" on these and it occurred to me that, with improvements in adhesives / rubber potting compunds since the cars were made it might be possible to re-bond them. For example, you can get self-mix (flexible) rubberised epoxies with shear & peel strengths around 4x that of natural rubber.

I'd imagine the biggest problem would be keeping it balanced rather than the actual re-potting. Wouldn't recommend rushing out to try something like that if you can find a driveshaft, but as they become more scarce it might be worth looking at.

[daf44]

hi.

i have repaired similar rubber bushed drive shafts on motorbikes in the past, so i think it could be done on the daf prop.

as joe said, the problem is balancing and centering the shafts rather than getting the rubber to bond.

i was working in an aircraft engineering unit at the time so had access to machinery but this is not something i would try to "do at home" if a spare is available.

paul44

[Bob Scrivens]

Hi James
It does sound like a propshaft coupling has gone, but I would do a few more checks.
1. Jack up the one side of the car at the rear and put a stand or solid pop under the car, take off the covers to the variomatic drive which is situated under the rear seat.
With the engine OFF, Now get some one to help you and while the clutch unit at the back of the engine is turned,see if the propshaft is turning at the input shaft to the primary unit.
(MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE HANDBRAKE ON AND THE FRONT WHEELS CHOCKED)
if there is no propshaft turning at the primary drive input then the prop shaft coupling has gone.
If you are lucky it might be the belts have broken!!!
As The Bear mentioned I have dropped on some second hand propshafts but you would need to let me know the length.
Hope the above helps.

Best regards Bob.

[starider]

:(Hi.sorry to hear of the problem,as our cars get older the chances of prop. shaft "shear" will increase, so perhaps it may be an idea if we all put our heads together/ask around/pool ideas/talk to those in the automotive engineering fraternity and see if out there somewhere is a company who is able to recondition Daf prop. shafts, otherwise there are going to be an awful lot off perfectly good Daf's being scrapped.As we all know there is no way of servicing or prolonging the life of these shafts,each of us could suffer a failure at any time and not necessarily due to bad driving techniques.
Driving on icy roads can cause problems with ordinary transmission systems,I often had to deal with broken gear boxes,clutch driven plates,prop. shaft u/j's;invariably caused by wheels spinning on ice then suddenly finding grip,putting huge loads on the transmission components,then spinning again,then finding grip,this can happen dozens of times on a journey in icy conditions!! and this with all- metal components!! so what chance our 35year'ish DAF's?.
Lets keep searching for an answer. starider. PS Has anyone got an old prop.shaft or end they could send me to hawk around the motor trade.If you have a good end you could saw off and send? I still have good MT contacts.There will be an answer somewhere

[dafdaffer]

i was thinking something spring loaded, would the uj's make the shaft sag in the middle as there is nothing to hold them rigid as they are not bolted in, would it not start to swing?

the tube needs to move backwards and forwards would it be able to do this?

good idea though ;D

the one that i saw that time must of worked ok as it was fitted on a 44 for near ten years.

Paul

[starider]

:)Hi John,your idea seems feasible,if the prop shaft with the standard u/j had an o/d the same as the i/d of the original aluminium Daf prop. it could be cut off short then pushed into the ally prop. and rivetted in, making the whole thing lighter and probably in balance.I suppose it would acceptable to have the same set up at the primary unit end also.Many of the early cars with standard transmissions had sliding joints at the gear box end,so one of these could be included producing the same effect as the original.The prop.would not sag as the output shaft at the clutch end and the imput shaft on the primary unit would keep the shaft in line.I think John,it should work---keep us informed..starider.