Imp transaxle spiders

This subject is probably unknown to many Impers?

Only the very early transaxles had the captive spiders as far as I know, just as well, its impossible To service the seals without taking the large nut off on those boxes, I wonder who thought that idea out?

Note the differences on the corners, the one next to the camera has sharp corners which are best removed if serious hard work or rough roads are expected, as the sharp corners will bite into the rubber drive coupler.

An early Imp drive spider, note the groove at the end of the shaft, the groove held a circlip which stopped the shaft from being removed from the transaxle, only the early Mk1 boxes had this?

The later shafts looked like this and could be removed from the transaxle so that the lip seal could be replaced.

The early shaft with its circlip groove.

Roy

A comment in from an expert is below:

Roy,

I have seen some of the spiders with the the large nut to hold them together.

The spider is also locked into the transaxle by a circlip cut into a groove on the inner spline.

I hope we are not getting confused,over this.

My warning was about the end of the half shaft coming from the rear suspension to the donut.

The end has sharp edges from the way it was forged.

Because it moves in relation to the donut, the sharp edes cut into the donut.

Donuts usually break when the car is accelerating hard, putting a lot of load on the donut, then the donut is also twisted by a lot of compression or droop on the suspension.

The other circumstance is rally stuff, where one wheel is say dropped into a hole and spins, then suddenly finds grip.Then the sequence above kicks in, and the donut shears. The sharp edges will cut and nmake this happen sooner.

So make the end of the drive shaft look like the middle spider and not the one nearest to the camera.

PS Also avoid racing, rallying or anything which might cause exceitement..............life gets so boring.

   

Regards, 

Colin

Colins picture, which was what started the discussion.

You can do this with the shaft still on the car easy enough with a mini grinder and suitable disc, wear the correct eye protection!