Hi guys i thought i would share this with you. Right my car is off the road having work done so i am driving my grandads 340 but the prop gave up the other day causing catastrophic damage.
the prop came off the rear spline doing around 5k, so you can imaging a swaling prop!!! Broke an exhaust rubber, finished off the blowing exhaust, dented the floor, bent gear linkage guide pin and obviously killed the prop itself!!
We cant really work out why it came off other than it wasnt on the rear spline far enough!!!
Anyway pic!!!
Adam

that's nasty. I've heard of clamps failing etc and props coming off, but not this type of thing.

thanks for the heads up.

I had almost this exact problem. My dad's D-reg 340 (which I now drive) had an intermittent idling noise. When the clutch was in or the car was in neutral, there was a slight judder and metallic graunch coming from under it.

All the garages said it was fine - it had been doing it for years - but one afternoon the prop went. It turns out that the juddering was the splines wearing down on the gearbox and the prop-shaft itself, the only thing holding it together being the bolts at either end - which finally sheared off.

It now has a new gear-shaft and prop, and the noise and juddering have gone. Hopefully it's as good as new now....

It's slightly unsettling to think that it was doing this for about 12 years....

Ahhh, arse... Fake makes a nice metallic rattling when she's under load... Might go under and have a look. It's only when under load, i.e. hills and stuff, but it's been annoying me for a while. Anything blatently obvious that I'll see?

Not that I can tell - after 12 years of services and MOTs nothing came up. It was only when the prop actually came off that you could see the damage.... The splines were almost mirror smooth.

Had a chat to Adam about this one, its different to yours. The gearbox and clutch splines were absolutely fine, all he needed was a new prop. It appears the prop just slid off the rear splines.

As Adam will know I have had the prop slide off on Vicky's car a few times. With the original prop it started comming of quite often and it stopped doing it for ages after I swapped the prop.

The prop was slid alll the way home and the clapms tightened correctly. The splines on the box and bell housing were all in good condition.

What seemed to be happening is the prop would just gradulay slide forward. Engine braking is what would normaly finish it off. This is probably because of the sudden change in direction of loading.

That makes a lot of sense - the noises did occur when engine-breaking and at idle. Methinks I'll be driving on eggshells for a while now, ears pricked!

could worn engine mounts also help cause this ?,
might be worth checking them as well ,
if the engine is moving unnatrually due to soft engine mounts that might put more strain on the drivetrain and the resulting flexing could damage the splines etc

in other words

check your mounts are tight
or you might get a fright
when your prop drops off
in the middle of the night

its quite perplexing
that all that flexing
could damage your splines
when you aint expecting

so check your nuts
and tighten your shaft
or you might be left standing
in a cold winters draught

sorry !!!!!!!!!!!! couldent resist it

Bravo!

The most unexpected noise I heard was a mud flap blowing off at speed because I didn't have a clue what it was even after stopping to have a look straightaway afterward . 360 = prop+torque tube = ????

mickt

Mick Redline... you really are getting to much practise in Mickt, yup, 360 is the torque tube, I never properly looked at how thats all bolted together on my '60.

I ripped my mud flaps off the other day, makes a horrible grating when both rears are resting on the tyres .

Soggy engine mounts will make the problem worse but the mounts on Vickys car are solid as they are polly ones and the engine just does not move.

I suppose the mounts on the box could be soft

More to think about

mickt wrote:The most unexpected noise I heard was
a mud flap blowing off ,mickt

blame the mud flap eh , never thought of that one, worth a try after a curry

" no love that wasn't me , must have been a mud flap " lol