Halfshafts falling off - WTF??

[thornado327i]

Here's an interesting issue - upon replacing my exhaust, I noticed that bolts holding halfshafts to the diff were a bit loose. So I tightened them and forgot about it. Figured that I must have forgotten to do that when I was putting the diff (a year or so ago).

But that was 2 months ago.

Yesterday, my left halfshaft fell off... I jacked up the car, took the wheel off and noticed all bolts were just hanging there along with the halfshaft itself... Got loose and fell off completely this time. One bolt got bent making it a bitch to pull out of there...

The halfshaft itself looks ok. The rest of the bolts seem fine too. So WTF?? Anyone had any problems with that? Never happened on my previous two diffs (open ones - my car ate them with delight).

Any ideas how to make them bolts hold? Glue them in there or what...

I got so pissed I forgot to check the other side too - will get under there on tuesday.

[Jesse30]

use some loctite. it'll fix that problem. i've had this happen on a few of my cars now, pretty annoying. just keep an eye on it after tightening them back down to spec

[thornado327i]

Thanks for the reply. Exactly what is "loctite". From the sound of it I assume it's some sort of compound for "binding" bolts... Correct?

Please give me some details about it. I'll have to look or some sort of equivalent of that on our market...

[eric (^__^)]

torque wrench

[Naplm00]

http://www.henkel.com/cps/rde/xchg/henkel_com/hs.xsl/12165_COE_HTML.htm

http://www.international-auto.com/wurth-blue-threadlocker.cfm

I prefer the Wurth stuff, i thik the Blue meduim strength would do the trick, the RED high strength would be a bitch to remove with out torching your seals

[thornado327i]

Ok. Had to wait for a descent wether.

Got under there, bolted the halfshaft in place. Still need one more bolt - currently running on 5. Didn't "glue" them yet - will do that as soon as I get the missing bolt.

BUT

I took a car for a drive up and down the street to check stuff, and... At about 40mph there's a silent "thumping" noise comming from the back. When I put more pressure on the left wheel (turning right) the sound gets louder.

Any ideas? Hub bearing? Halfshat? Diff? (God forbid - try to get a descet LSD here).

[LEANE30]

take a close look at your diff mount, look for any hairline cracks that may be forming. you don't want to learn it's toast the hard way.

it seems that only the driver's side half does that on occasion, i think it's just the direction that the wheel spins that it has that tendency. ..i've only experienced it with my lsd, never had the issue with any of the opens. - blue locktite. use it. even if it's torqued down, it can do it, i think it only happens if on installation there is any oil residue on the threads (highly possible) - so whatever you do, on reinstallation, hit all the threads with brakecleaner first

as far as that noise your discribing, i can't make a assertion based on just the info given - at what speed where you traveling when the half shaft fell off? (cruising the neighborhood or flossin the highway?) cause at highways speeds that loose half shaft acts like a wild mace down there

[Gnarles]

This happened to me a few months ago. Driving down the road and hear a big clunk. Get out and the driverside halfshaft was hanging down below the diff. Most of the bolts were still in the halfshaft flange, but had just backed themselves out. Scared the crap out of me...

So I bought all new bolts and made sure they were torqued appropriately and locktited down when I reinstalled the halfshaft.

[2002maniac]

same thing happened to me and it shattered the rear diff cover.

Loctite

[thornado327i]

at what speed where you traveling when the half shaft fell off? (cruising the neighborhood or flossin the highway?) cause at highways speeds that loose half shaft acts like a wild mace down there

Was on my way home - just 2 blocks away. Speed - something around 40mph.

Noticed yesterday, that the one bent bolt left me a present - a fucked up thread in the diff flange... Things just get better and better.

About the noise - the thumping is similiar to old laundry machines starting to swirl. thump-thump-thump... I really don't know how else to describe it...

[asubimmer]

same thing happened to me and it shattered the rear diff cover.

Loctite

+1

[scabzzzz]

My left halfshaft fell out once too.. Weird. Never heard of it happening to anyone else in the E30 scene until now.

I was driving, not hard, just cruising and huge thumps came from the rear. It bent 1 bolt like the OP's. Had it towed to Treehouse, and fixed it there. Was a bitch. Made me super late for work.

[MacBudd541]

Do you still have the little brackets that go in between two of the bolts? (3 on each shaft) if those are not in place the bolts WILL back out, something about those little brackets help the bolts from loosening themselves.

[thornado327i]

Do you still have the little brackets that go in between two of the bolts? (3 on each shaft) if those are not in place the bolts WILL back out, something about those little brackets help the bolts from loosening themselves

Yeah, still got'em. Except one because of one bolt missing, I decided not to leave one hanging. Come to think of it, a bolt without that bracket might be a bit too long, and maybe that makes the noise...

[Collin]

use some loctite.

+1 for the red stuff, I have a free sample tube I'll sell you.

torque wrench

+2