I'll make a long story short: 55mph in my Galaxie, just gently cruising along coming back from a bike show in Colorado. Rear drivers side shaft snaps behind the hub and rear wheel/hub detaches. Sparks. Car all over the road. Brakes fully fail due to single chamber master cylinder and that wheel failing. E-Brake destroyed when undercarriage hits the road. No seat belts. I'm basically screwed in every way and death is patiently standing right behind me. I can't even fathom how the hell I walked away from this without hitting anyone, flipping the car off the road or killing myself. Absolutely incredible. Anyway, I called the insurance company today and they say "we dont cover normal wear and tear". If I wasn't so thankful just for being alive right now I probably would have thrown a fit. Whatever. The claims adjuster comes next week and I'll speak more about it. I don't know the focus of the post, I guess maybe to just remind folks that stuff like this does happen. We all saw the posts about what happened to Megan here on the HAMB. I guess it was my turn to go say "hug your kids/wife/husband/other" and be thankful. I sure as hell am.
I would think that if you have full coverage, they would have to ante up and pay. I fix cars all the time that have busted ball joints and ripped up fenders, and the insurance pays. If the axle broke, that's not "normal" or wear and tear. Just hitting a small pot hole just right could cause the damage you described. Sure glad to hear that you made it without injury/death. Keep us posted. Good luck. Stu
funny, they never complained when they were taking your money all these years? I had m***ive brake failure in the 53, now I have a dual m/c and disc brakes. i don't have insurance yet.
Sounds like the worst case scenario of a Wheel Bearing failure. Congratulations on your good luck and survival. We had a buddy who visited our pit in Bonneville and avoided a similar fate by changing out his bearings before heading home.
Yes, what he said, POTHOLE!! It was a POTHOLE! Remember the POTHOLE when you talk to the insurance geek! I've always wondered about the normal modern non-floating axle design, with the actual axle shaft supporting the car's weight and sticking out several inches beyond the last support and retention--seems like a really dodgy design, and yet this particular failure is pretty rare.
Glad to hear you are ok. You had an angel on your shoulder, thats for sure. With regards to the insurance questions others have brought up... You have to look at the *cause* of the loss. What caused the 40 year old axle to break? Wear and tear. Age. Mechanical breakdown or failure. All those things are excluded from an insurance policy. Insurance is not intended to cover maintenance issues. As for them "taking your money all those years", if you have a covered loss, they will pay. Someone hits you = paid. Tree falls on car = paid. You fall asleep and run car into ditch = paid. I'm not trying to piss on anyone's (your) day, but you can't expect insurance to cover something that it is not intended to cover, or something that excluded from the contract you purchased.
Holy **** --- glad to see you on this side of the etheral plane. (LOL!) Seems like the HAMB is giving quite a few guardian angels some overtime duty. Every time I see an accident or scary story with cars with single brake system . . . it gives me a bit more incentive to figure out all the bugs in my new setup. 10 lb. residual valve on shelf waiting time for me to get it on . . . gotta rent the tools again. ugh!
I know how you feel! My 62 Ford wagon broke an axle with my camper on the back. It was a wild ride. Check out the bad end to a good weekend post. Clark
"We don't cover normal wear and tear". Hmmm...well I wonder if the gig is up for all of us who run ch***is components with more than 100K miles on them? Steel, as in axle steel, should be strong enough, that it falls below what is termed the "endurance limit" for it's size (diameter) and application (Vehicle weight and torque). Too much horsepower? Too heavy a sled? Maybe, but still, if your car is light and the tires reasonable (are you running 10 inch wide M&H's???...4.88's) The axles, if sized for the application, would not normally fail. Fatigue failures happen when we ask more of the component than the endurance limit will support. A few hits at a high load, or many 100ks cycle at a moderate load will nudge you over into the potential failure mode. What is the "insurance" definition of "normal wear and tear"? My own particular craft is machine design. FJP
The only non drag race axle failure I seen in 35 years was caused by a ***** (me) who tacked welded a axle bearing retainer on.I would like to know the real cause of the failures.Do not even put heat to a axle shaft unless you really know about metal.
Lucky for you, thank the car god's!! I however wish you could have posted this yesterday. I couldn't find a two chamber mastercylinder to replace the one on my Henry-J so I just dropped $100 bill on a single chamber replacement today. You make me think I wish I would have scoured the local yards a little harder for a double! Oh well it is going to get me off the jack stands this weekend for the first time in months . Glad to here you could "DALE EARNHARDT" it to a safe stop.
escaped without a scratch,you had luck on your side,now i hope the insurance pays up for you but, dont count on it without a battle.
when i was a claims adjuster we did'nt cover normal wear and tear either. meaning the axle would'nt be covered. the resulying collision damage would be. if you need help p.m. me. what company is it through?
I'm glad I'm ok too. Body wise, the car is not bad at all, the wheel well lip is messed up where the wheel was flying around. Just sitting in the yard now you really couldn't tell what is up. When I get it jacked up on jack stands I'm sure the read carnage will be seen. The rear bumper is jacked on the bottom, the bellflower tips are pretty bent and flattened on the bottom. The left side tip is ground down pretty hard. The reciever hitch on the back is bend to hell, as is the rear cross member behind the bumper. I'm guessing there is far more damage under it, but won't see that until it stops raining and I get it up in the air for the adjuster to see what is up too. Yes, be VERY thankful you did the dual chamber MC. I'll never own another car with a single again. Ever.
Since you're not using the seat belts can I have them? Sorry, It was a funny story I heard when a slingshot driver went off the end of the dragstrip and burned the engine up in a huge fire. After the fire-truck doused the flames, several guys were saying "Since you didn't use the chute, can I have it?" and another guy said "Since you didn't use the fire extinquisher, can I have it?" Sorry for wreck, really, as who really knows why an axle breaks!!
My mind has been in survival mode for the past 24 hours and I'm now able to actually sit down and really deeply think about what happened. It was 10:30 at night and I was being somewhat careful about making the trek home, driving slower than usual. I had a problem with the front drivers side brake earlier that night and was being cautious about it. I remember coming around a gentle corner and I looked in the rear-view mirror to make sure the trailer and the chopper on it were tracking ok and that the bike wasn't trying to escape. I remember hearing a loud BOOM and the back end of the car jumped up and then slammed down on the pavement. All I could see was sparks everywhere coming out the back and the car was all over the road. I fought as hard as I could to keep it under control. It fishtailed right and left and I damn near lost it initially just had to keep correcting left and right and keep pumping the brakes. Brake petal was at the floor, dead. I hit the e-brake about the 2nd fishtail, e-brake went to the floor dead. The car skid for probably a good 200 feet or better and came to rest on the side of the road halfway on the shoulder. I got out of the car and walked around to the shoulder and about threw up. Took a good 10 minutes to find my way back to reality and back to the car. I flipped on the hazard lights -- dead. Strangely though, the running lights on the trailer still functioned. I got out a small LED pen light I had and looked at the rear wheel. The hub was still attached and it was jammed infront of the axle ****eyed. I peered around the back and the rear of the tire is gone and the rear of the wheel is toast. The bellflower tips are bend up and the rear bumper is bent, as is the hitch. I'm sure the under side is just a mess, but won't see that til later. So, I stood off to the side of the road a few feet (didn't want someone hitting me) and waved my penlight around trying to get someone to stop. There is no cell phone service in that canyon and my cell battery was damn near dead anyway. An hour goes by. Cars and semi's race past, some honking and just keep going. Finally a gal on a motorcycle who saw my car at the show earlier stops. She hands me her cell phone and the keys to her bike and I go off to get help. It took nearly an hour to find help, get through to the highway patrol (who basically told me to go screw myself and that it was a "waste of resources" to have an officer show up at the scene or file a report) and call a wrecker. I showed back up at the car and her and I waited for the roll deck to get there. She offered to let me drive her bike back home with her on back because it just so happened she lived in the same town. The wrecker showed up and it took a good 90 minutes to load the car and hitch up my chopper trailer and get going. The driver cut me $200 off the cost to tow it 65 miles north to my front yard, instead of back to the towing facility. The gal on the bike gave me her cell number and headed back home too. We got back to town with the car about 2 hours after that and got it unloaded in the front yard. My girlfriend was hysterical and actually left on her own that night to go looking for me in the ditch all the way down the highway. I got ahold of her and she headed 50 miles back up to the house. So, today I talked to the insurance company and then had a gift certificate for a nice restaurant and a small bunch of flowers sent to the office of the gal on the bike who stopped. No good deed goes unpunished and I couldn't NOT thank her again in some way for all her help. It just floors me that she even stopped and without even knowing me handed me her cell phone and motorcycle and stayed alone at my car to make sure the chopper didn't get stolen. Incredible. Anyway, wild night. More info and pictures to come.
Clark - I went back and looked at the pictures in your post. I tell ya, its damn near the same thing on mine - snapped off right behind the hub and the hub is still attached! Scary.
i hit one of those famous "detroit" potholes after autorama last year....it knocked the car out of gear....popped the p***enger door....and shot me across the parking lot.....never saw it....was probably running 20 or so thru the lot....later that night ....around 12:30 am ....the p***enger axle broke on my anglia.....same deal ...sparks ....and a a short wheel base car making sudden moves across the express way ....haha after looking at the axle ...it had been fractured for some time....it did take care of that slight vibration that i always thought was in the driveshaft....... tell your guardian angel thanks.....i know i did......several times....brandon
Mine made no warning sounds. I'm gonna check with Terry (38Chevy454) if having axles magnafluxed is a good idea. I'm not worried as much with regular cars but with the cars I tow with. I've had other axles break including on my 48 and it's not that bad of a ride. The trailer is what pulled me out of control. I'm pretty sure it was my fault the axle broke on the 48. I had taken the truck to California and on the way a axle bearing let loose. I'm guessing that the axle got hot and caused a fracture. It was about 2 years after the axle bearing went that the axle busted. Not sure what caused the wagons axle to go. I've only had the car 3 years and haven't put too many miles on it. Glad you came out OK too! Clark
Yes, it is... When I wanted to get my old Racer out of the Mothballs, I had the Rear Stubaxles Magnafluxed because I heard stories of them braking sometimes. And when that happens it usually makes a real mess... They were full of hairline cracks, and the Left Rear was about to go. ( Most Road Race Tracks are clockwise ) I thanked the guy for saving my Car.
Clark - You don't happen to have any of the build info on that wagon decoded from the VIN do you? What is scary is that your wagon is the same base and top color, same Country Sedan style, etc. It's pretty curious that the two guys on the HAMB with nearly the identical car have the same axle failure -- your's on the right rear, mine on the left rear. Looking at the photos, its exactly the same breakage. Very strange indeed. There were no warning signs at all. I was checking out the trailer in the rear-view and then I hear a loud boom, *** end jumps up in the air and then slams down. The wheel was lodged infront of the axle when it came to halt, so I don't think it was the car pogo sticking on the dislodged wheel. I don't know. I'll get it up in the air today now that its stopped raining. Might find pieces of something that I hit possibly. Maybe not, we'll see. In June I completely rebuilt that rear end before I took all the road trips this summer. Everything was inspected and was just fine. New center section, new seals, new gear set, new carrier bearing rebuild. The outbound bearings behind the retainer all looked fine and there was no visible damage at all to any of the rear axle ***embly. I never changed those bearings because they were just fine. Mel - please don't think twice about the dual chamber MC on your Dodge, just do it. My perspective on everything has changed totally, no way I would own a car myself without one now I don't feel its worth the risk on a car that is driven regularly. With the one wheel in the back losing all braking, everything was dead. The road took out the e-brake too. Bad bad bad.
I'll 3rd that...it's cheap "insurance", I had mine done at the same time I had my spindles done. I told a guy that I work with that I had dropped them off to be magnafluxed, he snickered and asked me if I was planning to take jumps! Same guy swapped a rear end into his truck because the leaf perches were "really close" from side to side, I asked him about the pinion angle...once again the ****y, "What?"...anyway he's constantly changing u-joints. I can't wait for the front one to break so the hot-shot can possibly have the ride of his life! Anyway, if you have to question it and "is it necessary?" No it's not, but you did question it and give it thought. Why put "questionable" axles into a vehicle that you've put ALOT of time, money and YOUR LIFE into.... Mike
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