cgregs32
12-18-2018, 07:46 PM
The story..
Driving uphill a long way from home I hear a PING and some destruction coming from underneath the van. Pulled over knowing this was not going to be good. On the side of the road I looked under the van to find the drive shaft hanging (broken at the front most u-joint). Damn... I thought to myself.. This is the shaft that connects the drivetrain to the rear wheels. I wonder if the front wheels still spin. Got inside and the van still moved! I turned off the van, removed the now hanging shaft, and thought I was good to go! Tried to start... nothing.. Turns out after the shaft broke it spun freely and destroyed the starter :dizzy:. Got her towed to a local shop and they (thank goodness) had the starter in stock :clap:. I could not believe it!
This was about 1 month ago.
I have been driving the van ever since without the front drive shaft. I am talking about the front drive shaft for the Alltrac previa. Not the SADS (accessory) shaft.
If Im not mistaken there are 2 drive shafts that enable Alltrac, front and rear. But Im not too familiar with the details.
I have about 1000 miles on the van after this incident.
Here are my observations for running an Alltrac in FWD:
Highway driving: Seams to be completely unaffected, she runs great actually.
City driving:
This is where I have some questions of what the heck to do.
Accelerating is not the same (expected I suppose). There is a winning noise when under normal acceleration (I assume Alltrac is trying to engage). I imagine that bracket ( that would be attached to the shaft is now spinning freely. Perhaps sending power to the rear?
As a result, accelerating is SLOW, maybe dangerously so.
As Im accelerating from a stop I try to be verrrrrry gentle as to not engage the spinning sound (alltrac?). I don't want to F'up the van any further...
On one occasion I experienced this behavior that I read about on this thread (http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/showthread.php?729-Disabling-AWD-on-95-AllTrac).
That shaft will whir like an A-10 until the coupling in the t-case decides to lock up. It does it sitting still in drive and unless I really give her a lot of throttle the vehicle accelerates like there's no fluid in the torque converter. Once it locks up, the whirring sound goes away and she's off like a rocket.
This is where I get lost. I am curious about if this behavior is sustainable? On the thread listed above, they talk about locking the transfer case. I am wondering if this will be a solution for running the van in RWD. What is the solution here?
What to do... what to do...
Questions / feedback is very appreciated!
Driving uphill a long way from home I hear a PING and some destruction coming from underneath the van. Pulled over knowing this was not going to be good. On the side of the road I looked under the van to find the drive shaft hanging (broken at the front most u-joint). Damn... I thought to myself.. This is the shaft that connects the drivetrain to the rear wheels. I wonder if the front wheels still spin. Got inside and the van still moved! I turned off the van, removed the now hanging shaft, and thought I was good to go! Tried to start... nothing.. Turns out after the shaft broke it spun freely and destroyed the starter :dizzy:. Got her towed to a local shop and they (thank goodness) had the starter in stock :clap:. I could not believe it!
This was about 1 month ago.
I have been driving the van ever since without the front drive shaft. I am talking about the front drive shaft for the Alltrac previa. Not the SADS (accessory) shaft.
If Im not mistaken there are 2 drive shafts that enable Alltrac, front and rear. But Im not too familiar with the details.
I have about 1000 miles on the van after this incident.
Here are my observations for running an Alltrac in FWD:
Highway driving: Seams to be completely unaffected, she runs great actually.
City driving:
This is where I have some questions of what the heck to do.
Accelerating is not the same (expected I suppose). There is a winning noise when under normal acceleration (I assume Alltrac is trying to engage). I imagine that bracket ( that would be attached to the shaft is now spinning freely. Perhaps sending power to the rear?
As a result, accelerating is SLOW, maybe dangerously so.
As Im accelerating from a stop I try to be verrrrrry gentle as to not engage the spinning sound (alltrac?). I don't want to F'up the van any further...
On one occasion I experienced this behavior that I read about on this thread (http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/showthread.php?729-Disabling-AWD-on-95-AllTrac).
That shaft will whir like an A-10 until the coupling in the t-case decides to lock up. It does it sitting still in drive and unless I really give her a lot of throttle the vehicle accelerates like there's no fluid in the torque converter. Once it locks up, the whirring sound goes away and she's off like a rocket.
This is where I get lost. I am curious about if this behavior is sustainable? On the thread listed above, they talk about locking the transfer case. I am wondering if this will be a solution for running the van in RWD. What is the solution here?
What to do... what to do...
Questions / feedback is very appreciated!