James asked:
...Just out of interest, what does happen if a uj breaks? I imagine one
wheel loses power - and you start going diagonal?...
The short answer is: you don't want to find out!!!
The longer answer - it is MUCH worse than just a loss of power to one wheel.
In fact, if it was just a loss of power issue you would lose power to both
wheels, as any attempt to accelerate would just end up spinning the now-free
flange of the diff (unless you have some fancy limited-slip diff
arrangement!).
Your biggest problem is what happens to the wheel. Think about the
suspension arrangement - the UJ provides a fixed point about which the
half-shaft can pivot up and down, and front to rear. The wheel is fixed
rigidly to the half-shaft (unless you have a Rotoflex GT6), and its vertical
motion is controlled by the spring and damper, its fore/aft motion by the
radius arm.
Lose the connection at the UJ and you still have vertical and fore/aft
location of the wheel. You do not have anything controlling the angle of
the wheel, so it can tip in and out, up and down, it can flap all over the
place. Any attempt to steer the vehicle is merely a suggestion as to the
direction you would like to travel in, not an order, as one of your four
wheels is pointing in all sorts of different directions as it thrashes
about. At 70mph, on a dual carriageway, this is NOT a good idea!
Both times it happenened to me I was lucky that I had no cars alongside me,
nor close behind, so I pursuaded the car to drift to the edge of the road
before calling the AA to come and pick Daffy up.
As I said, you do not want to find out!
Richard & Daffy (hard-top off and roofless into work for the first time this
year today!)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Important Notice:
The information in this email is confidential and may be legally-privileged.
If you have reason to believe you are not the intended recipient, any
disclosure,
copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on
it is prohibited and may be unlawful and you are requested to contact the sender
urgently and dispose of this email
-----------------------------------------------------------exp.
/// spitfires@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|