Fallen Drive Axle....Why?????
 

The other day i was driving along and all was well with my 930.
I pulled up to a stop light, and upon engaging the clutch and applying some light throttle I heard a bang and the engine revved up to red line and bounced about 5 times off the limiter. I shut down the engine and pushed the car to a side street. What happened was my drive shaft came disconnected from the transaxle and landed on the throttle cable. I also observed that only 3 out of 6 bolts were remaining. Nothing seems to have broken so I rebolted the existing 3 back on and drove home. All seemed normal so I guess the bolts must have just come off.

Whats up ??? Is this a regular occurence for these 911 cars???
What if one is driving at high speeds and these come off. Could this mean disaster??? Any Ideas

Do a search. This has happened before to other 911 drivers. In fact here is a post on the subject just a few posts below yours! http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=124036What happens is someone either didn't replace the wavy lockwasher (it actually has some technical name) or didn't properly torque the bolts. Nevers hurts to check the bolts a week or so after you torque them and then at least annually.

Interesting! There's another thread about this written today...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/124036-check-your-cv-joint-bolts.html

Your lucky the remaining bolts didn't shear off in the trans flange. Mine did. it wasn't fun getting them out.

Now I check the torque on my CV bolts every month or so. Imagien what would happen if the axle would break free going 60mph and the damage it would cause by thrashing around under the motor and headers.

Jerry,
Had you noticed any extra 'play' in your drivetrain of late? I can say personally that my cv's are in poor shape and need replacing as I have a little 'clunk' heard in mine when I lightly tap the throttle in gear as everything engages. Just wondering if you've had any symptoms like this prior to this happening?
Ryan

I think the loose CV bolt syndrome is more common with the pre 85.5 axles. The 85.5 and later axles has 6 10mm bolts.
-Chris

No I had no noticable play in the shafts and the car responded well right up until this happened

It's hard to tell what the difference is until you replace the cv joints. Then you'll see. I had a cv joint break into pieces just over a year ago. After I replaced it, I could tell the difference, albeit a subtle one.