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MG MG Y Type - Replacing half shafts - YA

I am sure I am not unique in this respect!

I have just removed my off-side half shaft from the rear axle and it is sheared off at the splines.

Does anyone wish to post an A, B, C guide as to what to do next?

Please make it as simple as you like, include which seals etc to replace, what oil to put in the diff when finished as I have not done this job before and will welcome tips from those who have!

I have already located another half shaft (and the rest of the axle so the blindingly obvious of "Get another one" - I've already done!

Cheers and thanks

Paul
Paul Barrow

Paul,
If the the broken portion of the shaft is still in place, this can be removed by giving a really good belt on the shaft flange ON THE OPOSITE SIDE. Just be sure that no-one is on the other side when you do it, they might wear it when it comes flying out.

The only other thing to replace is the jointing seal between the shaft flange and the bearing hub. You can buy the seal or make it yourself out of oil-jointing. A coating of gasket-goo will help to ensure it sits properly.

This should be all very straight forward & easy. My father once performed this task at an intersection in the middle of the city after his half-shaft snapped. Those jackall's really came in handy then.
Bob Simpson

Has anyone just swapped out the entire rearend with
say an MGA or MGB rearend. Then made up some alloy adaptors so the wheels will bolt up. Or even switch to wire wheels. Wouldn't this put an end to the half shaft wear once and for all?
WM

Don't MGA & MGB halfshafts wear also?
Mark

Bob,

How did your Dad get out of the intersection after that? Presumably after the shaft snapped, he would have had no transmission? What is the follow on? Did he manage to get home on one shaft - or recovery truck?

Egarly looking forward to the follow on! Thanks for the info so far. I will keep people posted on how I get on.

Keep the ideas coming

Paul
Paul Barrow

Paul,
My recollections go back to 1976! The YA that I owned at the time snapped a half shaft outside the house that I now live in. Anyhow, the car was towed back home the AA fixing the front wheels so that the car could be pulled on rear end to the tow vehicle.
I had access to a local garage who lent me a commercial trolley jack and left me to it. I decided to withdraw both half shafts, marking which one came from which side with a blob of paint.
I then was advised to disconnect the differential covering, draining the oil first of all, to ensure that there were no bits of metal lying about. However, I guess it is very much at which point the half shaft is broken. If it is half way along the shaft then dont do what I have said but just remove the other half shaft and if you have a spare steel shaft then yes give it a thwack and the broken shaft should come out.
Do make sure that you are able to remove the shaft that you used to drift out the broken part!
I would still recommend that you drain off the rear axle oil to ensure that there are no bits of broken metal otherwise you may have problems in the future.
Dont overfill with oil otherwise it will find its way onto your brakes and contaminate the lining. Seals as recommended by others. Pretty obvious I guess but do ensure that you have the space to withdraw the shaft. Ordinary domestic garages are far too tight to enable you to take both shafts out when the vehicle is in situ.Make sure that you fit the correct shafts when re-installing and dont move the crown wheel during the removal/installation stages of the operation.

Hope that's of some interest.

Jerry
Jerry Birkbeck

Spot on Jerry. Make sure any replacement half shaft comes from the same side as the one broken. Otherwise you will only break another due to the stress reversal of the shaft.

Neil.
Neil Cairns

I thought the difficult bit would be getting a half shaft. It is proving more difficult to get EP140 oil to put in the diff!
Paul Barrow

What is the proper modern oil to put in the rear end and the gear box of a Y? When I changed both on my Y the clearly smelled like hypoid gear oil. Is that correct?
wm

Hi Warren

According to the operation manual EP140 for both gearbox and rear axle are specified. Penrite Oil actually have a 140 grade oil so guess what I am going to use? Penrite!

Penrite's website is at www.penrite.co.uk and if you click on their product range you will get a full profile (look under transmission oils). There is a tab on their home page for non UK customers.

Happy hunting.

Regards

Paul
Paul Barrow

As a new owner, I'm curious. Has anyone ever done a root cause investigation on half shaft failure in Y's? Is the shaft undersized for the massive torque output of the mighty XPAG? Is it a shaft material problem? If so, has anyone had new shafts made up from a more moderm material? It might cost, but a decent machine shop shouldn't have too much trouble making up new shafts. Any comments?
Paul Briggs

Paul; Abingdon Spares offers YA/T half shafts but at $327, I think each, they are expensive.At that price one would expect that they are made from the highest grade steel known to man. About 25 years ago I got a used pair from NTG and have carried them in the boot since. So far, touch wood, I have never had to use one no doubt because the gremlin knows there is a spare. They are marked by NTG nearside and offside and to keep that straight I have to remember how I used to mount a horse.
I agree that any good machine shop should be able to make them. TC half shafts are available from between about $40 to $100 from specialist suppliers who either make them or have them made and they are made from modern steels so Y shafts shoudn't be much more expensive. Terry
Terry O'Brien

Terry, the TC half shafts are relatively cheap because the are really only a piece of high quality bar stock with splines cut in both ends. The YA shafts have splines at the inner end but the outboard end is a large forged disc which would be difficult to reproduce.
Hugh Pite
Hugh Pite

Paul,
My dad always carried a spare half-shafts with him, so he just replaced the broken one and was on his way again. Good thing too, as he was under the scutiny of an irate policeman for blocking the intersection in peak hour. A lesson well learnt, I was able to pick up two NOS half-shafts some years ago when a local dealer was having a clearance.

Just to add further to the above, if you ever take out a half-shaft, mark its position so that you can return it to the same spline position (I just spent my new years break replacing a rear wheel oil seal - entailing removal of the half-shaft).
Bob Simpson

Hugh: I think you could use the old disc from a broken shaft. My YT is in nice warm, dry winter layup so I cant easily get to check but my recolection is that the discs are welded to the shafts so it should be possible to remove and recycle them. Terry
Terry O'Brien

Gents

What you are saying is very interesting and I have been thinking about looking into this very thing.

I am sure the price of $300 is too much notwithstanding the disc and grease cup on the end. I am sure that the old ones can probably be reused - it is just a matter of how to get them off.

I am going to look into this as eventually the source of second hand ones will dry up anyway (even though I now have a spare n/side (RHD) h/shaft. Thanks for the motivation to do it! (Dont hold your breath though!)

Paul
Paul Barrow

Well, the diff is back in, both shafts are in, 1 1/2 pts of Penrite's Mild EP is in and guess what - it works!

However, as soon as I put the wheel hubs on the offside stops going round although the nearside does! I suspect that I have brake bind - please tell me what you think. If I have this will be setting up resistance that the roadwheel then has to overcome putting stress and load on to the half shaft and then SNAP - we are back at square one - I think!

Thanks

Paul
Paul Barrow

Paul,
Just finished replacing the rear oil seal on the other side of my car. I found after putting the bearing hub back on that the bearing had moved out and was binding. Just required a tap to relocate correctly. Whilst I don't think you removed your hubs, you may want to check that some dirt/grit didn't find its way into the bearing while the half-shaft was off.

Useful tip. The nuts locating the bearing hubs that require a special spanner to remove can be replaced with octagonal nuts used on an MGB.
Bob Simpson

Jack Murray suggested that I hold the rotating wheel to stop it and, unless the other is really bound, it ought to start rolling. This seemed a good idea, but the battery was now flat! I have left it a couple of days while I charged the battery, jacked the car up on the Jackalls (rear), and fired up, slipped into gear, and guess what - both rolled!

All I have to do now is put the interior of the car back together again!

Thanks guys, I guess that wraps this one up!

I may well come back when I have looked at remanufacture possibilities as B&G and NTG don't seem interested! That means it's worth looking into!

Paul
Paul Barrow

Good to here you're rolling again.

You could start a business for remanufactured MG parts. My suggestion, Y-Type over-riders. Seems to be lots of YT's & YB's with either TD over-riders or missing completely. My 2c worth.

Bob
Bob Simpson

Bob

At a risk of changing thread the Y Type Register commissioned some Y Type overriders a couple of years ago. They are manufactured in brass (sorts out the rust problem) and chromed. The problem is that they were/still are expensive at approx £60.00 each. I have some fitted on my YT I can let you have pictures. Other remanufactured parts include door stays for YTs, Sidescreen Frames (YTs), spotlamp brackets, spare wheel Clamps etc
David Pelham

I can vouch for these too.

If you want them they are worth it!

Paul
Paul Barrow

This thread was discussed between 27/12/2001 and 11/01/2002

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