Just a note to describe my excitement when the left U joint on my GT6+ gave
way last week.
One thing I always say about Triumphs is that they rarely break down without
warning, and they rarely leave you actually stranded. My burnt exhaust valves
still allowed me to limp home; in fact most of my problems have been such
that I wasn't left on the side of the road.
The problems that HAVE left me at the side of the road had given me ample
warning, and I can only blame my own laziness for my predicaments...
For the past several months I have heard a squeak from the rear of the car,
toward the left side. It was most prominent under acceleration, and I was
fairly sure it was the U joint. It would kind of come and go, and it lasted
so long I learned to live with it.
Also for the past several months there has been a noticeable noise from the
rear at high speeds. I thought it was excessive backlash in the differential,
but now I'm not so sure.
Anyway, I was highly suspicious of the squeak, figuring it was the U-joint,
but too lazy to get under there and do something.
Then, last week I used the car for the first time since returning from
England. I visited a friend, and as I was driving home, I felt a horrible
vibration above 45 miles per hour, and a noticeable clunk on starting from a
stop. I knew something was giving way so I attempted to limp home. About 1
block from home, the final clunk-clang came and I moved no more.
I trailered it out to my farm and pulled the axle. The U joint had separated,
and in the process the yokes on the intermediate axle and the flange were
hopelessly mangled. VB listed the axle as $150 and flange at $25; TRF didn't
have them in stock.
I visited the local boneyard and the owner went to his dungeon of parts and
immediately located a good intermediate axle, complete with U joint, flange,
and rotoflex attachment yoke. I paid $75 for it (gladly) and dropped it off
at the machine shop to have a new U joint pressed in.
While I was at it I removed the rear sway bar (PO's idea), and I'm putting on
new shocks, too.
Oh, and the spinning mangled yokes grabbed the rear handbrake cable and broke
it too, so I've got to replace that, too. So all the parts are now on order
from TRF.
The axle will be done tomorrow, and the parts will come from TRF on Thursday,
so I plan on spending Friday evening putting the GT6 back together. If I had
gotten to this when I noticed the noise, I could have done it in a day.
But I'll bet it runs well Saturday!
Larry
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