Among the most frustrating of the Tcar's catastrophic failures occurs when when the clutch is released and the car doesn't move, even though you know it's in gear!  Ah yes! the infamous half shaft breakage.  One can't really be surprised at this happening.  The original half shafts are at least 50 years old and have had an awful lot of twists applied through them.  It doesn't seem to be the case that the half shaft will decide to give up the ghost as you begin to back your car out of your garage.  Instead, the is some gremlin whose job it is to assure the said half shaft will break at a most inopportune moment and location.  We then find ourselves in three situations -- Case One, where we can very simply pull the car into our garage and proceed to begin the replacement process; Case Two, where we can have the car delivered to a competent shop so that they can begin the process; and Case Three,  where the job has to be done in situ.  In this section I'll try to see if I can't give some help and information to cover all three of these cases.

 

Before going any farther I want to assure you that my only association with Jerry Austin is as a satisfied customer.

 

Common to the entire thread is the presence of a useable replacement half shaft.  This is an area in which it's worthwhile giving some serious forethought.  New half shafts are available through the usual suppliers of parts for our cars (bless them), e.g., Abingdon Spares and Moss Motors.  IMHO, the best bet out there now are axles being sold by Jerry Austin (jdaustinmg@dslextreme.com).  They are of top quality design and material and are being sold by Jerry at very reasonable prices, around $100US as of July 2009.  'Borrowed' from Jerry's info on an eBay ad:

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An excellent description of the benefits from the design and material of the new shaft has been proposed by Gord Clark.  He writes:"" ... by making the shaft of smaller diameter and of a steel that is designed to absorb mechanical stress, the effects of sudden torque on clutch let-out, allows the energy to be distributed over the length of the shaft, reducing the chance of breaking at the traditional spot - the bearing shoulder.". (Thanks, Gord)

 

If you're in the Case One or Case Two situation you can sit back, open up an OSH, and refer to Section H of the Workshop Manual for instructions on how to replace your broken half shaft.  However, if you're a Case Three'er you might want to click on this link and let's see about replacing a broken half shaft.