Bent Cross Member

[toobroketoretire]

Yesterday afternoon I was coming down my 1 mile of dirt driveway and my cross member managed to snag the tip of a boulder that was sticking out of the surface (one of many). The impact bent my cross member backwards a full 2" and it also got twisted about 10 degrees. Fortunately I have a acetylene torch set so I used my big rose bud heating tip and a 12# sledgehammer to get it straight again. When the cross member got bent backwards my parking brake cable got snagged by the spinning drive shaft yoke and it got ripped in half (making a horrific BANG in the cabin). After surveying the damage I think it's a miracle the tail housing on my TH700R4 didn't get ripped off as well. It's just one of the many inconveniences of living on 120 acres out in the middle of nowhere (I have to generate my own electricity) but the benefits of the seclusion FAR outweighs the inconveniences.

What kind of weird mechanical disasters has YOUR C3 suffered?

 

[SVO]

Not weird, but having a half shaft come loose due to using lock washers instead of the GM specified french locks will get your attention. Especially when the banging around is just behind your butt.

 

[toobroketoretire]

Not weird, but having a half shaft come loose due to using lock washers instead of the GM specified french locks will get your attention. Especially when the banging around is just behind your butt.

As the u-joint cups sit DEEP in the yokes I would suspect one of the cups wasn't fully seated in the yoke. My '82 came from the factory with ordinary split lock washers on the fine thread u-joint bolts and it has 275,000 miles on it without any abnormal u-joint trouble.

 

[toobroketoretire]

My Tail Housing WAS Broken

Well, I was wrong about my tail housing as it WAS broken. The left "ear" that the mount bolts to was broken off so I had to get it TIG welded this afternoon. So the rock in the road caused a lot of damage but fortunately I don't have any appointments to go to and I'm retired so I have plenty of time to fix it.

 

[toobroketoretire]

TH700R4 Extension Housings With Mount Pads

I was lucky enough to get one of the very last TH700R4 extension housings that has a mount pad on the underside. The problem is that mount pad is hollow so a good WHACK to my crossmember from a rock sticking up in my driveway was all that was needed to break one of it's ears off. I got the ear TIG welded but to further strengthen it I sandblasted and heated the housing (with a hair dryer) then filled the hollow completely full of new shake proof lock washers and warm J.B. Weld. After curing for 24 hours I know the mount pad is a lot stronger than it was originally so hopefully it won't break again. And from now on I'll be a LOT more careful about where I drive to avoid those darned rocks.