Swelling vibrations ends with a big, loud rattle

[Orion J.]

Hello,

I apologize if this post is vague but I will do my best to describe the facts. Over the last few weeks I've been having issues with steering wheel and engine vibrations at speeds over 55 or so. Pretty much the whole van rattles. It doesn't seem to be due to the quality of the roads. Up to a few days ago it was only at high speeds that this would occur but now it seems like any speed will cause crazy amounts of vibration. The nature of the vibration is to start minor and swell as I give it more gas. Earlier today something major happened, after a long vibration build I heard an abrupt snap sound and a super loud rattle began. This sounded like total banging, as if something was dragging under the car. Luckily I was nearby my house and going about 15 mph. I haven't driven since.

After a ton of reading on this forum I have my hunches. Either a joint or suspension thing, or perhaps a belt issue? I am hoping someone can hear my story and speculate.
I have an 87 2wd
Thank you!

[Orion J.]

Hello,

Can someone help to identify the broken section in the attached pic. Im not sure what it is but I think its part of the drivetrain/differential. The wheel in the pic is the back one.

This post is a follow up to the below description:

Over the last few weeks I've been having issues with steering wheel and engine vibrations at speeds over 55 or so. Pretty much the whole van rattles. It doesn't seem to be due to the quality of the roads. Up to a few days ago it was only at high speeds that this would occur but now it seems like any speed will cause crazy amounts of vibration. The nature of the vibration is to start minor and swell as I give it more gas. Earlier today something major happened, after a long vibration build I heard an abrupt snap sound and a super loud rattle began. This sounded like total banging, as if something was dragging under the car. Luckily I was nearby my house and going about 15 mph. I haven't driven since.

After a ton of reading on this forum I have my hunches. Either a joint or suspension thing, or perhaps a belt issue? I am hoping someone can hear my story and speculate.
I have an 87 2wd
Thank you!

[mr_josh]

Well the broken part looks to be the four bolts holding the driveshaft universal joint flange to the differential flange. I'd wager that you had some work done recently, eh? Either the bolts weren't torqued down properly or they sort of magically came loose (I've never heard of that happening). Anyway, when they came loose, the vibrating (eventually flopping) of the driveshaft sheared the bolts and down she went.

Shouldn't be awful to fix, might actually be a good place to use a bolt extractor (aka "easy out"). Remove the broken bolts, install four new, drive away.

[Orion J.]

Josh,
Thanks for responding, I think you are totally right.
However, I am having a really tough time aligning the holes when Im attempting to fit in the bolts. Is there a trick I am wise to? At this point I can only properly fit one screw in. I would think it would be a bit more straightforward and simple.

Also, I have had the van for 9 months and so far I ve had only engine work done to it. Im not sure what could have happened before.

[thetoaster]

Pull the whole drive shaft and bring it to someone to make sure it's still in balance. Often when a yoke breaks the shaft hits the ground at a high rate of speed and it can easily be bent. Better to find out now then put it back together and find out. Other than that it should be a pretty simple fix.

[Orion J.]

I figured out that I had to turn the shaft piece 90 degrees to align the holes, which required sliding into neutral and moving it manually. I should have know that, but this is my first experience working on a any vehicle. I am not very mechanically inclined.

Anyhow, I drove the van around now and it sounds great. No vibrations at all and I am quite pleased.