A BROKEN AXLE STORY (by JG)
I was stopped one day at a junction, slightly uphill, in my 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook. When the coast was clear I carefully disengaged the clutch and began to move forward, when the car suddenly gave a tremendous heave and made an ominous clunking sound. I pulled over to the side of the road preparing to engage my usual solution to these things - wait a minute and hope the problem goes away! When I tried to move off again the Plymouth wouldn't move at all, just clunk clunk clunk with a slight swaying motion at the rear. I'm not a mechanic by any means but deep inside I knew it was a rear axle. Despondently I rang the RAC and said "Don't bother with the serviceman, send a tow truck".
Everyone I have ever known saw the poor Cranbrook being towed home that day. "I Saw your car on a truck - did you break down?". I know it is a conspicuous car but did everyone have to be nearby at once? When safely home I thought about how to fix it - I had never tackled a broken axle before. The first job was, of course, to get that brake drum off. Every Plymouth-Dodge-DeSoto owner knows how tight they get themselves on. However with the aid of a puller they came off without too much trouble. Next it was the inner hub and bearing assembly that had to be pulled. I had to get a special puller made up for that - after taking some measurements and a diagram to a local engineering shop I was the proud owner of a Plymouth hub puller. Out came the outer end of the broken axle and the inner end could be seen down inside the axle housing, infuriatingly just out of reach. "How the ....... am I going to reach that?".
After a couple of hours trying everything from barbecue tongs to long bits of wood I gave up in disgust and went inside for lunch. Afterwards, refreshed, I came back out for another go. Almost immediately I spotted the metal extension tubes from an old dead vacuum cleaner on the shelf, complete with slightly flared ends which looked about the same size as the axle shaft. I grabbed one of the tubes and shoved it down the axle housing. BINGO the flared end tightened itself beautifully onto the axle, enabling me to pull it straight out!
That vacuum cleaner tube has now become a permanent and valued part of my tool kit, should the same thing ever happen again. That was the only only time my Cranbrook has ever broken down during nearly 30 years of ownership! Not bad for a car over 55 years old.
Copyright JG 2007
