Just minding my own business, driving thru Glendale, about 40 mph on the 134 E. All of a sudden, BAM!!!!...rattle, rattle, tinkle, sheenk. Exhaust note changes and no foreward momentum when given gas. Luckily I was able to get over no problem, and more luck, one of those Metro towtrucks was not too far behind me and saw the whole thing and towed me off the freeway. Looked under, no more driveshaft.

Wierd thing is...no vibration or anything prior. Just BAM.

After I got the car home, took a look. The rear u-joint broke out of the rear flange and the shaft fell out the tranny. Oil all over the freeway and exhaust too!!! On the way out, the shaft must have bounced back up because one of my magnaflow presilencers is crushed almost completely (4" round smashed to about 1"). Drove back later and saw the shaft on the side of the freeway...there's the reason for the change in exhaust note...almost made the motor sound blown.

Anyone got a good place to go to get a really beefy one made up?

 

Driveshaft Specialist in Asuza. Off Foothill between Costco and the old CarCustom. It will run about $250 but he will use larger u-joints and such.

 

Guess I know where I'm going tomorrow....thanks Mel.

 

The Damage...even found some of the shaft on the freeway!

 

He can replace the main also OR you can bring a FB and extend it but retain the orig pinon flange. If you have Kevin's # (light blue RX-2), give him a call. Driveshaft Spec worked on his driveshaft last month; a day before D/S shortened my RX-3 SP driveshaft (much thicker than the FB/RX-2/non-SP versions) and extended the non-SP driveshaft for $48 each.

 

My buddy has a huge driveshaft for his rx2 that's not running...I'll probably borrow it and have it matched.

 

Sounds ******* dangerous. I live pretty close to the 134 and 210, let me check it out

 

Ouch!

 

Man, that sucks. Hope there was no major damage done to the car. Several months ago we were inspecting the driveshaft on my RX-2, and one of my front u-joints was totally worn down (nearly gone) and the two shaft halves would actually hit each other when turned. Luckily we caught it in time and put a new u-joint in, but I'm sure the same thing would have eventually happened. Only mine would have fallen off from the tranny end and pole vaulted the car, heh. I still have that joint somewhere around here, maybe I'll snap a pic of it so you guys can see how bad it was.

Mike

 

Nice funny name.

 

dang thats insane, good thing u were able to pull over safely

how often do the joints and stuff connected to the driveshaft need servicing to prevent such a thing from happening? or is it on an as-needed basis where its just good to keep checking underneath like other maintenance?

 

The guy at Driveshaft Specialist told me he CAN'T use larger U-joints and he can only make me a shaft like the one I had, with small joints. I only have the stock pinion flange, said he couldn't do a larger one. Pisser...I hope it holds up.

 

Then bring a 81-85 driveshaft and upgrade the RX-2's pinion flange. If you need them, let me know. I have extra.