No Drive

[Type28]

First time in 33 years of motoring I haven?t managed to get my own way home! And it had to be in a lotus.
Out for a wee run last night, spirited get away from stand still in first gear- then quick, spirited change, into second gear, then no drive.
The gear box is turning prop shaft, so gear box is working- Car has solid half shafts- they are intact so must be diff related.
Will let you know what I find- I have had a look through the archives of sort of know what I am looking at job wise.
The news above should be good for all other UK DHC owners- now that my cars of the road the sun is guaranteed to shine- so I am technically doing you all a favour.

[rgh0]

If no grinding noises from the diff it is probably a snapped diff output shaft which is not a big fix. However this type of failure is unusual in a Sprint if it has the original diff with the better design later output shafts. If its a stripped pinion gear you normally have noises when it fails as it keeps grinding on the crown wheel.

good luck with the fix - I have a diff in bits currently

cheers
Rohan

[Europatc]

Type 28 thank you for the favour
Good luck with the fix
all the best
Stuart

[billwill]

I had to bring mine home in ignomy on a carry truck like that twice.

Once when the servo failed (?) and I pranged into the vehicle in front of me and wrecked the nose.
Secondly when the clutch hydraulic pipe burst in a traffic jam on the slip road to the M40 in Oxford.


In neither case were the RAC able to mend it at the roadside

[Type28]

Thanks for the advice- sounds like the output shaft as there isn't much grinding until third gear .
I will not get a chance until Monday night to have a look. Will let you know the result.
Enjoy the good weather

George

[MartinH]

I have the same problem currently and posted this in the new member welcome/intro area. Probably the wrong place.
I will be interested to see here your shaft has broken

having read loads of threads about loss of drive and broken output shafts I was well prepared for this and having applied heat the shaft and bearing came out really easily. I was surprised to see where the break was,(see photo) has anyone seen one break here before? Note the twist on the part with the lugs.Also on the same side my Mick Miller solid drive shafts had started to come apart, approx 50% of the bolts were only finger tight. I suspect this was a result of the vibration form this thing starting to destruct.

I took the whole diff out in the end to make it easier to get the end of the broken shaft out and to make sure it wasn't a diff issue that had caused it. All seems fine withe new shaft offered up. (This was delivered in 24 hours by Paul Matty to France, great service as usual.) So now the diff is cleaned and ready for paint and new top mount bushes,(also from Matty) and the new torque rod bushes I have been meaning to fit for ages.

I did mark the prop shaft as per the advice,
thanks.

Martin

I

[rgh0]

...... I was surprised to see where the break was,(see photo) has anyone seen one break here before? Note the twist on the part with the lugs.
I

The early style shafts normally twist at the splines at the end of where they fit into the matching diff female spline just like your have. I have a one with a similar twist but not yet broken.

You need to replace both shafts if you have not done so as the other one will probably have a slight twist and be on its way to failure

cheers
Rohan

[MartinH]

Rohan thanks for the tip to replace both shafts. Any view on the drive shafts coming apart?
Martin

[rgh0]

Photo of the shaft twisting but prior to failure

Photos of a failure at the bearing mount area

cheers
Rohan

[Type28]

Still not fixed so I am keeping the good weather going for my fellow Elaners

I have broken two sets of circlip pliers trying to remove the circlip to allow me to pull out the output shafts . Will need to buy a more robust plier, but I am currently getting things sorted for the Silverstone Classic weekend, so it will be next week now before I can get back to the Elan.

Will let you know how things progress with the Elan.

Cheers

George

[Type28]

Well it has taken me longer to get round to this than I thought it would take.

The diff output shaft is broken. I am going to order a new pair of shafts, bearings and oil seals. Any recommendations on new output shafts? - They all seem to be around about ?180 each (which seems expensive to me?) so really down to best quality.

Where the shafts fitted to my car Sprint shafts, or normal ones?

Cheers
George

[512BB]

Your ones are Sprint ones George, but you will notice that the shafts are waisted, and were only fitted to Sprints up to about 1972. After that, the shafts were uprated, probably due to breakages, and were no longer waisted, but the same diameter throughout their length.

In my experience, there is nothing wrong with the early shafts, providing you do not carry out standing starts, something I ceased in my early 20's, and still run early shafts in one of my cars. But of course, unless you have known or owned your car from new, you do not know how the car has been treated or driven.

If you do not want to go to the expense of buying the dear ones, I have a pair of good condition waisted shafts that I would part with.

Leslie

[Type28]

Hi Leslie

Thanks for the offer of your shafts, but it was such an awkward job getting the diff out that I don't want to do it again. So I will get new shafts, the usual suspects all sell up rated units, but I am not sure who's are the best, they all look the same in their pictures so not sure if they get them all from the same supplier?

Need to order them tomorrow anyone got any advice?

Cheers

George

[rgh0]

I have never had any problems with the TTR shafts

cheers
Rohan

[MartinH]

George
I just replaced both of mine following the same problem as you. Bought mine form Paul Matty, where I get most non upgraded parts. I think they are all solid billet machined now and the TTR are possibly a higher grade steel.
Martin