Center Support Bearing Bracket Snapped On One Side

[EViS]

Around 35 miles from home today the rear end of my truck started to judder at low speed (traffic, junctions, etc). To get through the judder, I gave it some power every time and it smoothed out. Once I got above 15mph, it didn't feel too bad and the motorway didn't feel any different. Got home to find that the bracket from the Center Support Bearing on the driveshaft had snapped (corroded) on one side. This pushed the shaft down and off-centre towards the petrol tank, thankfully only rubbing on the heatshield and not having got to the plastic tank just yet.

What are the chances that this may have bent the driveshaft or at the very least damaged any bearings? Or is the chance pretty much nil and all I need is a new bracket?

[EViS]

Steve_D said:

The bearing is alongside a universal joint. The joint is to cope with changes in alignment so no damage will have occurred. The bearing bracket breaking off completely would be a whole world of hurt and would do significant damage.

Steve

Thanks Steve. There's another UJ at the diff and one behind the tranny. But, can UJ's cope with a driveshaft throwing itself all over the place like I assume it must have done?

[EViS]

Thanks for the replies .

Unfortunately Ford do not supply the brackets on their own, or even the bearings, they can 'only' sell me a new propshaft with bearing and bracket (!).

Who should I approach to either repair or preferably make a new bracket? It seems like such a small job I'm not sure if a local metal fabricator who makes gates/beams/etc. would be interested...

[EViS]

I unbolted the bracket and the piece which was still attached to the chassis (as in the photo). Upon loosening the bolt holding the piece up, it dropped to the floor into two pieces - sheared straight down the middle of the bolt hole! I popped over to a local fabricator who welded the pieces back onto the bracket and strengthened both sides with some gussets.



Gave it a good clean and a coat of primer which highlighted this crack on the other side of the bracket. This is the side which did not break off and was still holding the shaft up, albeit pretty bent up. Would it be worth welding this split, or will the extra heat potentially make the metal more brittle/form more splits and the gussets are sure to hold everything together anyway?



Before I bolt it back up and forget anything ever happened, and short of removing the driveshaft and taking it to a specialist to pop onto one of their balancing machines, are there any 'home mechanic' things I can do / look out for to determine whether there is in deed anything funny going on with the shaft?

Edited by EViS on Tuesday 28th February 22:39

[EViS]

GreenV8S said:

Have you got enough access to do the bolts up?

Yes, checked before the plates were welded on .

[EViS]

Have made the most of the good weather and jacked the truck up to check the propshaft for any obvious signs something's amiss. Centre bearing is free and there's no play, and the u joints also seem ok to my (untrained) eye. However, I made two videos of the shaft rotating, does this look ok or is it out of balance?

Propshaft at idle video
Propshaft in gear video

Edited by EViS on Thursday 2nd March 16:51

[EViS]

PositronicRay said:

Difficult to tell from the video. Can you rig a pointer up, just touching, then try it to see if it runs out of true?

That's a great idea. Will get the jack out another day and give this a go .

[EViS]

stevieturbo said:

You'll never see balance in a video !

You could try touching the support with your fingers and feeling if it is smooth running....with extreme caution of course.

If you use the still parts of the vehicle as a reference, does it no look like it's moving up and down ever so slightly?

[EViS]

finlo said:

You'll know as soon as you drive it.

I took it for a drive already. It feels no different to how it's always been. How subtle could a vibration be from an unbalanced shaft (steady on!)?