Would failure to preload a CSB cause immediate failure/damage?

[Hal900x]

I had been hearing a worsening clatter from directly below my handbrake/center console area while under torque. Sure enough, the CSB bracket was cracked and the crack had run into the actual assembly a bit too.

After replacing it and the Guibo, the same issue except the sound was now higher pitched and different in tone, but similar symptoms. The same cadence, if you will, and mostly when under torque. For whatever reason it has never occurred in reverse gear. We scratched our heads a bit and decided I had bad U-Joints that were either responsible for the sound themselves (at least in part) and/or immediately damaging the new CSB and thus the repeat symptom.

Tonight my buddy said he had the answer, which is that we failed to preload the CSB and it had shredded itself. We simple centered the bolts in the slots and tightened them down, when we should have pushed it forward and then tightened. I would like some input before I order another one and go through the whole mess again. Do you think a failure to preload would cause immediate major damage to the CSB? What kind of damage would you expect? He felt that not preloading would shred the rubber, but the old CSB was cracked mainly in the bracket and a bit into the assembly itself.

Thanks a lot for the feedback.

[jlevie]

In almost all cases a failure of the CSB will be the result of bad drive shaft u-joints. It really sounds like that is what is happening here.

The life of the CSB will be less if it isn't pre-loaded, but nowhere near this short. Replace the drive shaft.