Oh Bugger

[Chris S]

My transfer box let go last night, luckily enough at low speed just as we pulled away from the Garage after collecting a 02C gearbox, two & a half hours later & we are on the way home, courtesy of a low loader & driver, thank you again ANWB (Netherlands AA) so thats more unplanned work for next week fitting a new one then! []

[mk21147]

Bad luck Chris. Lucky you can obtain parts.

[vr6will]

Blimey! bad luck that!

what transfer box and rear diff are you running chris? perhaps i should be a bit easier on mine?!

[wolfyvr6]

sell me yours will

[Chris S]

I wouldnt mind but I had an complete 02C gearbox & 2 020 transfer boxes in the back! & all in working order, we had just collected them & were on the way to Wilco Schimmels (he of Haldex conversion kit fame)
As the motor is only making 125 bhp I was still running the 020 box, I was waiting till the new engine was ready and was going to fit the 02C box at the same time. []

[1.8TsyncroB3]

Bummer that you suffer a failure when you are actually carrying spares that are too complicated to swap on the spot!

When you are at Wilco’s place. If you happen to bump into Marcel, tell him I say Hello! [] I’m working on locating a US spec bumper for him at the moment and I think I’ve found one NIB.

[nutter4x4]

defo bummer mate , know how you feel, say hello to marcel from me too

[meijan]

Perhaps weird question: how many miles (kilometers) had this transfer box done?
Does it happen often that they break relatively easily? I suspect you didn’t perform a full on standing start when it broke

[Chris S]

I dont know as it is not the original one, the original one was swapped out 2 years ago when it was thought to be the cause of a problem (it wasn’t) the rest of the car has 130,000 kilometers on it, thats just over 81,000 miles, and yes we took off quite gently as we had some fragile stuff on board as well as the gearboxes, after a quick look today it seems as though the 2 bearings holding the rear drive flange which connect to the propshaft donut have collapsed, probably caused by lack of oil, after all it only has 1/2 a liter to start with!
I will have a better look later in the week, when I get more time.

[Chris S]

Car back on the road tonight (hopefully)& it wasnt the transfer box after all, the 3 bolts holding the front donut onto the propshaft had snapped clean off! also 1 of the bolts holding the donut onto the transfer box was broken off as well.

The reason? well the right rear motor mount has been a bit weak for a while & I was hoping it would last till the new engine is ready, but obviously it hasn’t and this has stressed the propshaft & flange(through the donut) at right angles to its allowable movement and has eventually broken the bolts.

I wouldn’t mind but I have had the uprated G60 Syncro motor mount on order for over a month & it finally turned up yesterday along with 5 of the 6 donut bolts I ordered.

[ld50]

arg – nightmare chris

[1.8TsyncroB3]

I have seen several of the front donuts fail for no other reason than old age. The rubber appears to deteriorate due to the heat and age, and then suddenly, without any warning, they let go.

Now broken bolts are another frustrating occurrence that I’ve encountered. On the cars that sufferred bolt failure, I have typically found either a bad center bush in the propshaft, or the donut and/or angle drive output flange had wear in the area where they mate together. The 2 parts must fit snugly together with no movement prior to tightening the bolts. The bolts are only to secure the donut to the flange, not to transmit the power to the propshaft. The bolts must also be of the correct grade and properly tightened.

If you do not follow these guidelines, the bolts tend to work loose, then they break. I’ve had it happen on my own G60 syncro, even with locktite on the threads! I found that using parts in perfect order & that fit together perfectly was the only solution.

Since the Golf has several different variations of propshafts and donuts, it is possible to mistakingly intermix parts and encounter a failure. I’m sure that this is not the case with Chris, as he is aware of the differences, so I’m mentioning it here only to help those that don’t already know.

[Chris S]

No the propshaft was brand new last year (from an ex VW motorsport employee in Germany) as was the donut,
btw before I fitted the new (G60) uprated motor mount the motor moved considerably when you blipped the throttle, & on the cobblestoned street where we live the exhaust used to rattle & hit the tunnel, now the motor doesn’t move & there are no klonks coming from underneath. Hurrah

[Author]

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