The other night one of my rotoflexes broke (inner on left side). It happened on start so the damages were not to bad, although the handbrake rod on the left side winded up itself around the driveshaft…
I have now disassembled the driveshaft on the left side to be able to push the car.
My question is, can I drive (of course in first gear and very slow, at low speed) with only one drive shaft?
Can I drive up a steep garage driveway, about 10 meters long? My plan is to drive a short distance to a place where I can put the car while waiting for spare parts and time to fix it.
I forgot to tell it is a 1968 +2 (which I have driven for 16 years without any big problems).
I think it is all original back there. What type do you think I have? I suppose I can just try it? If it works it will, or do you think something will break if I try?
I had a diff output shaft shear taking off on a roundabout. I came to unglammorous stop in the middle! You won’t be going anywhere without one drive shaft.
Would love to know how old the Rotoflex coupling that failed was if you know. I just put in new ones from R Dent a couple years ago on my 67 FHC, and they are so far holding up well with 2,000 miles on them.
As pointed out above, only having one driveshaft connected will allow the disconnected diff output shaft to spin, with no drive going the remaining driveshaft.
Depending on how desperate you are to move the car under its own power, finding some way of locking the disconnected diff output shaft (perhaps a wooden block wedged against the frame or a length of flat bar drilled to match a couple of the output shaft boltholes resting against the frame?) will allow the remaining driveshaft to be driven.
Very much an ‘at your own risk’ suggestion - the standard diff and driveshaft arrangement is not all that strong and wasn’t designed to accept loads like this, but I doubt you will be accelerating hard into your garage.
Thank you all for info and suggestions! How the diff works is obviously not my speciality…
I would guess that the rotoflexes on my car is at least 20 years old. I have had the car for 17 years and I have not changed them (I probably should have done that). Actually, I am not shure that the rotoflex itself broke as I found a broken bolt on the ground where it happened. It could indicate that the broken bolt was the initial cause of the “disaster”.
Towing a +2 without damage to the bodywork seems to be hard, but not according to everyone. Any more input on that topic would be appreciated.
with reference to towing a +2, the problem is where do you attach the tow rope.
If you have a Spyder chassis, then there is a tow loop on the underside leading edge of the front crossmember/vacuum tank, this allows a rope to be attached that with care won’t damage the underside of the nose/front valance.
The original pattern chassis doesn’t have this, but maybe you could attach the tow rope to a block of timber then tie this to the crossmember so that the tow rope stays as low as possible.
If you don’t have enough strong neighbours, get a cheap hand-operated winch (eBay UK has them for £30 max - must be something similar where you are), bolt it low down on the garage wall or on the floor, attach ropes to each anti-roll bar front mounting so as to clear the underside of the nose, and haul it in.
Essential to get a helper to sit in the car ready to apply the brakes in case of some unforeseen disaster.
Ian
Again, good advice. Thanks a lot. It is an original chassies so I dont have any loop to fasten a rope. Timber is a good idea, it might work. I have come to the conclusion that it is probably best if the car is picked up by a workshop with a trailer. Well, I will not have the rotoflexes ever again. Regards Magnus
The differential gear at the back will simply let the unconnected stub output spin without allowing any power to the wheel that still has a drive shaft.
If you could somehow prevent the ‘free’ shaft from spinning you might be able to move the car slowly, but it would be very dangerous.
Or as mentioned above with acronyms, if you had a limited slip differential gear iin the rear box you could probably move it slowly, but such diffs are not normally fitted on road-going cars.