Had my first U Joint Experience

[70DartMike]

I took the car out for a little drive yesterday, washed it, cleaned it up a bit, etc etc. Started to drive out to this guy's place who has an AMC Spirit with a 343 from a Rebel Machine I believe (cool car). Anyways, drive went fine, all of a sudden started to get a rumble from the *** end and then heard 'TING' as one of the caps on my U joint shot into the bushes. So i pull over, luckily a friend was near so he drove me back to my house to grab a few caps to just throw it together to limp home. Limping home, gave it a bit too much gas, 'TING BANG TING BANG TING BANG' as my U joint had exploded and my drive shaft bounced between the pavement and my floor boards :-D
So quick fix grabbed the old U joint just tightened the snot out of everything and limped home in 1st. Only took like an hour for a 15 minute drive. The worst part was, it is my friend's wedding next weekend and this weekend he was having a BBQ for all us guys and some of his fiancee's friends to come to, and I made us all late for it 8). Oh and i also had a few crazy b*tches in ricers ride my *** even though i had hazards on and was pulled over, they thought hey lets ride this guy's *** cause the last thing he needs is for his U joint to explode again.
So ya, I'm sure some of you have had this experience if you would like to share it?

 

[winnipeg dart]

I had to change the u-joints on my 318 dakota, and i didn't seat the retaining clips in properly, (rooky move). I got 1/4 mile down the road and I lost the cap! My word!! I never have been shaken that bad before! Its like getting tossed into a paint mixing machine!
I limped it home verrrry slowly!

 

[George R]

I was backing out of a parking lot at work one day in 2005. When I shifter my truck from reverse into 1st gear, the driveshaft fell to the pavement. Luckily it wasn't on the throughway. Anyway, I went inside the warehouse and borrowed a wrench to take the driveshaft off at the front joint. I drove the truck home in 4 wheel drive using the front axle only.....with the A/C on! LOL

George

 

[68 Sedan]

That was using your head!

 

[64dartwagon]

Lost the caps and the u-bolts in my dads 78 Dodge B200 once. And of course out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Luckily my dad kept some tools in the back and I used a piece of barbed wire fencing to basically tie the center of the u-joint in place to the yoke. Drove it the rest of the way home like that about 25 miles.

 

[George R]

That was using your head!

Every once in a while I surprise even myself!

 

[340 swinger]

I took the car out for a little drive yesterday, washed it, cleaned it up a bit, etc etc. Started to drive out to this guy's place who has an AMC Spirit with a 343 from a Rebel Machine I believe (cool car). Anyways, drive went fine, all of a sudden started to get a rumble from the *** end and then heard 'TING' as one of the caps on my U joint shot into the bushes. So i pull over, luckily a friend was near so he drove me back to my house to grab a few caps to just throw it together to limp home. Limping home, gave it a bit too much gas, 'TING BANG TING BANG TING BANG' as my U joint had exploded and my drive shaft bounced between the pavement and my floor boards :-D
So quick fix grabbed the old U joint just tightened the snot out of everything and limped home in 1st. Only took like an hour for a 15 minute drive. The worst part was, it is my friend's wedding next weekend and this weekend he was having a BBQ for all us guys and some of his fiancee's friends to come to, and I made us all late for it 8). Oh and i also had a few crazy b*tches in ricers ride my *** even though i had hazards on and was pulled over, they thought hey lets ride this guy's *** cause the last thing he needs is for his U joint to explode again.
So ya, I'm sure some of you have had this experience if you would like to share it?

Wow this story runs shivers up my spine. Happened to me 6 weeks ago. Was doing some test tuning with the G-Tech. I was up about 6000 rpm and just about ready to hammer 3rd (727 auto) when it felt like all 4 wheels came off. There was a massive amout of smoke in the mirror. I pulled over to the side of the road and looked under the car. Some of the tranny was on the road. The starter was dangling by the wires. It too was the cap that came off the front u joint. The drive shaft was spinning in the loop and totally ruined my new tranny. When I say ruined I mean RUINED. It came out in 4 pieces. Some of the bell was still bolted to the engine. It even broke the linkage right off the shift kit. $ 2000 later the car is back on the road and working fine but have not dialed it up over 4000 yet. Scared to death to be honest. That was one of the most unpleasant experiences I have had in a while, not to mention expensive. If you are making hp install a $ 50 loop. Tranny's can be replaced but a car jail poking and flipping down the road at 100 mph (no air bags here baby) may be a little harder to recover. Just my .02

 

[rumblefish360]

Yea, here's one for ya;

Tired of driving behind grand-ma vigilanti, I nail it around here while whe waited for the light to turn yellow again before moving. Smokin the tires from behind her all the way around her passing the light and making a right turn in a power slide, WHAM goes the U-joint and bang bang bang goes the drive shaft.

The up side? It happened right in front of a Dodge dealership. I was back up and driving in 20 minutes with a good faith tool loan.

 

[player1up]

Oh, those were the days.. I was 19 and about 40 miles from home, just out for a fun drive in my 73 360, boiled the tires around a corner and thud, klang, thud, klang, thud, klang. After finding a broken cap bolt on the rear u-joint, I decided that I was going to head to the auto parts store that I had past a couple of miles back to get the parts I need......only to realize I had left my wallet at home.............so I used a hack saw blade ( I only had the blade in the trunk) to cut a line in the broken piece and get it out with a flat head screw driver......and gather up as many needle bearings as I could find out in the street.......I had to drive the WHOLE way back on A1A because top speed was about 20MPH, what a rough long ride home.....

Ok I'm off to check my cap bolts now

 

[chryslerfat]

I was in front of the local pool hall when I was 18 and mashed the gas to do a burnout and instead threw the rear joint and whole shaft.