Bruce,
I taught my girlfriend how to drive a stick in my '65 Midget. Her
learning
the clutch bit and "jerky" starts and shifts resulted in the untimely
demise of the left axle. As it happened it broke at the differential/spline
end. In fact it mushroomed the end such that I couldn't pull the axle out
(and of course couldn't pull the 3rd member). This was in my youth and I
stared and scratched my head for quite a while. A puller wouldn't do, what
to pull from? It had wire wheels and the only solution I could come up with
was to buy a used knock-off, drill it and use a healthy slide-hammer. It
worked very well. As this was before "the list" (actually before computers,
almost before telephones, in fact) I had no one to ask. Is there a better
way to yank the axle when it breaks there? Mike G.'s scenario of the axle
breaking at the wheel is a lot more appealing than what happened to me.
That was the first and last axle I had to deal with. I hope if your axle is
broken, it's at the "friendly" end.
I noticed you recently changed your clutch?....Does it grab a bit?....
Good luck. Peter C
At 08:17 PM 4/21/99 , Mike Gigante wrote:
>Around here you can find 2nd hand axles for about A$60 or about US$35-40
>
>I assume you have steel wheels and not wires....
>
>The shafts most commonly break at the flange (ripping the center
>out of the flange). This is due primarily to cornering loads. This is a
>5-10 minute repair,
>
>1) remove wheel, and brake drum
>
>2) undo 3 phillips head or allen head countersunk bolts and pull off the
>broken flange.
>
>3) using vise grips or similar extract the broken shaft. If you are unlucky
>you may have to remove the good half shaft on the other side and push the
>broken shaft through with a broom handle or similar
>
>4) replace with working half shaft and assembly is reverse of dissassembly
>
>If on the other hand the half shaft has broken at the splines at the
>differential,
>then you really have to remove the diff. You therefore have to remove both
>wheels, drums, half shafts (actually just pull the good one out 6-8 inches)
>so the the diff can be removed.
>
>Note that when you replace a half shaft, you should only use a half shaft
>from the same side of the car. If they aren't in the car, you can tell by
>the
>wear pattern on the splines. The worn edge (deformed, shiny) is the driven
>side. You can figure it from there.
>
>Hope that helps
>
>Mike
>p.s. I'd use new gaskets and o-rings. They are cheap. If you use them,
>pre-soak the gasket in gear oil. You can get by with just silastic - the
>choice is yours.
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