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Thread ID: 72246	2006-09-05 12:24:00	How much for my latest accident?	george12 (7)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
482804	2006-09-07 11:06:00	What tweak'e said- and don't drive it again until you've had it checked! From the sounds of it, you've damaged one or more components of your car that hits the road- do you wanna find out the hard way that your steering/ suspension/ brakes are stuffed? :D Well, that scraping was a one-off. It won't do it anymore. Now it just wobbles and, coincidentally (:D), I found something that looks very much like a balancing weight sitting on the road exactly where my wheel hit the curb. So I'm going to drop into a tyre place. It actually drives quite well, I simply need a bit of a grip on the wheel. But if a rebalancing doesn't fix it, your advice holds and I won't drive it again until someone can have a look at it. Everyone I've talked to has said balancing so far though.	george12 (7)
482805	2006-09-07 11:11:00	by the sounds of it its throw the alainment out, if your lucky nothings bent or broken. an out of balance tire just vibrates a bit.	tweak'e (69)
482806	2006-09-07 13:01:00	That's all it does, although the alignment does seem out to me. I can't imagine it not being!	george12 (7)
482807	2006-09-07 13:56:00	Now how did you manage that? A broken half shaft means there is no way of transmitting power to the wheels. TomThe right-hand side shaft was broken, but the left-hand one was ok. So power was getting to at least one of the rear wheels.	Greg (193)
482808	2006-09-07 20:28:00	aha a limited slip diff there lucky you	piersdad (5644)
482809	2006-09-07 22:34:00	The right-hand side shaft was broken, but the left-hand one was ok. So power was getting to at least one of the rear wheels. Ha NO! That's not possible. The purpose of a differential is to divide the available torque - but if one half shaft is broken then the torque that side can handle is zero. And unfortunately the other side can itself now only handle zero. Hence no go. I do remember 40 odd years ago working in a very large design office and one of our clerks broke a half shaft on the way home then had a huge row with his garage who towed the vehicle in, as he pointed out to them that the other side still had a perfect half shaft. He was a bit disconcerted when the rest of us all burst out laughing. To be honest about it I would imagine the majority of people would believe a car could still drive with one half shaft. Well it will if you can somehow or lock the broken one so it will not move. But that's a bit tricky and risky. Tom	Thomas01 (317)
482810	2006-09-07 23:05:00	Ha NO! That's not possible. Well it will if you can somehow or lock the broken one so it will not move. But that's a bit tricky and risky. TomWell there you go then. I don't know what kind of mess there was, but after the crash I certainly drove the car, and the garage that fixed it for me charged me for replacing a broken half-shaft.	Greg (193)
482811	2006-09-07 23:18:00	Well there you go then. I don't know what kind of mess there was, but after the crash I certainly drove the car, and the garage that fixed it for me charged me for replacing a broken half-shaft. Well it's possible the garage were literally taking you for a ride. But probably they decided that the half shaft was damaged and needed replacing. A buckled or bent half shaft should be replaced. Tom	Thomas01 (317)
482812	2006-09-08 01:14:00	probably they decided that the half shaft was damaged and needed replacing. A buckled or bent half shaft should be replaced. Precisely. Buckled, bent = broken... it sure made a bloody ghastly noise and juddered horribly while driving!	Greg (193)
482813	2006-09-08 03:38:00	Precisely. Buckled, bent = broken... it sure made a bloody ghastly noise and juddered horribly while driving! Yep - in practical terms and money laid out there ain't much difference - apart from actually being able to get the beast to move that is. It does remind me of advice I haven't seen for years that in my early days got me out of trouble. If you are stopped somewhere (ie just off the road) and find on trying to drive out that the car will not move, it may be because one driving wheel is on snow or mud and just revolves. The effective torque is zero on that wheel and of course also zero on its partner. Now I am talking about a normal 2 wheel drive vehicle (back wheels driven). Just stick a brick or something under the wheel in the mud and in trying to climb over it - some torque will be transmitted to the other wheel. A simpler and often more effective way is to apply the hand brake. Now the spinning wheel has a lot of friction to overcome and so transmits a fair bit of torque. As we have all found out most cars can overcome brake friction relatively easily so now the other wheel will pull away - simple!	Thomas01 (317)
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