Flex joint destroyed?

[NickFerrell]

Driving on the interstate this morning, I heard a suspicious "clunk." A half mile later, another one. This was followed by a horrible clicking and shaking. I stopped immediately, and this is what I found. Obliterated flex joint, right? I'm still new to spiders, so forgive the dumb question if it's obviously something else.

[4uall]

This might help with the ordering

http://www.autoricambi.us/product/DR5-4 ... t--Guibo-/

hope it all works out

[RRoller123]

Obliterated flex joint "guibo" Yes! Good thing you stopped immediately. The failure of these has been known to cause tremendous damage under there.

[sptcoupe]

Don't try to move the car. Lot's of damage can occur even at slow speeds. Check out this video to see what can happen when one goes just cruising along. Go to 1:45 in the video to skip the earlier part of the video if you want to get to the carnage immediately. Drive shafts and other components have been know to come through the floor and injure passengers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQYT7UXjNG0

[NickFerrell]

Yikes! I guess I got lucky.
Have any of you had luck at a local vendor (autozone, carquest, oreiley, etc) finding this part? Would love to have her back on the road this weekend.

[chrisfiat]

the guibo will come with a steel band around it, do not remove the band till it is installed, this keeps it compressed or proper bolt alignment

[toplessexpat]

Your local parts store won't hold these - that link to Autoricambi is where I get my spares (I've got two if you can believe it!?)... and once a year at least (and normally every time she's on the lifts for some reason) I take a good look at the guibo - any chips in it... it'll get changed.

Glad that things weren't more serious for you.

A

[SoFlaFiat]

I was just recalling that same story! Yep, happened to me too! We all have to learn about our guibos someday!!

[toplessexpat]

... and while you're under there... make sure the driveshaft bearing is good (and securely attached to the car).... ask me how i know ...

[SoFlaFiat]

"Ask me how I know"
That only came up a few times in conversation today! Experience is the mother of all teachers!!

[NickFerrell]

Got my part in the mail from http://www.autoricambi.us
He was incredibly helpful and lightening fast with the shipping. The quality of the flex joint looks GREAT!
I haven't seen a pictorial on the forum for removal of the driveshaft, installation of the flex joint, and reassembly. Can it be done by dropping the shaft from the tranny, or must the entire shaft be removed?

[azruss]

I have run with damaged guibos for years with no issues. My current came had one with 3 chunks out of it. As you can see, once it fails the drive shaft is loose to mash anything in its reach. They are cheap and not a big deal to install, so better to error on the safe side. Leave the band on until installed. Jack up one of the rear wheels and put the tranny in neutral so you can rotate the drive shaft for access. As I recall, you just need to drop the center carrier bearing to get enough room to install. Check the bolts for condition. I think those are at least grade 5 if not grade 8 bolts.

[NickFerrell]

Easy enough! I'm gonna do a pictorial tomorrow, since it's a common issue!

[4uall]

this might help

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Flex-Donut-Disa ... 632/g.html

http://124racer.wordpress.com/2012/05/1 ... -replaced/

[NickFerrell]

After much sweating, cursing, and wishing that I owned nicer tools, I finished the job. I didn't take pictures along the way like I would have liked to, but I'm thinking of donating my old guibo to science.