Hi all,
Long time no talk to.
So, last Saturday after going to a car show, my wife and I went to a surprise birthday party for one of our friends. It was out of town and we took The Beast.
When things died down I took one of the people for a ride, or started to...
We got in and I went to the end of the short street , turned around in the caldersack and as I went past the house with everyone outside watching, with cameras, I Pushed in the clutch , reved it up, popped it and .....
Nothing happened except high revs!
Long story short, sorry, I looked up under the rear end and  I saw that on the passenger side where the half shaft connects to the "a" arm spindle, all the bolts were missing!!!
2 of the bolts were gone, 2 other were sheared off.
Found 1 of the bolt heads in the road were I popped the clutch.
Well I went to the hardware store and replaced the 2 that were not sheared off and that got me home OK.
Thankfully I was able to just take a screw driver and tap turn them out without having to drill.
Now , when these were put on the car I used lock washers on them all. I did not use the French Nuts as the original diagrams call out for. Well, I now have the French nuts and I think I will loctite them as well.
I am just glad it happened at a convenient spot.
Of course I was embarrassed when it happened!!!
The picture shows the sheared off bolts partly backed out.
Joe

At first, I thought by the title that it should have been posted in the Anything Goes Forum, but after reading, now I understand.  Glad you got it fixed OK, just make sure you used the proper bolts as well as nuts.  Hate to see those bolts shear off again. 

Man that stinks, em Joe. No other damage? I put the french nuts on mine when I had them off but couldn't see how they would stop them bolts from turning if they wanted to. I think I did use Loctite. I aint got near the torque your beast has.

Larry, the reason the bolts ended up shearing was do to the fact that only 2 were holding it on and judging by the bolt lengths that I pulled out both of those were about half way out!!!
Joe

Nope, thankfully no other damage other than my pride when it broke down !!
Joe

I wuz gunna say that the bolts had to have been loose to do that. I hate it when that happens.....
And, btw...they're called "French locks", not nuts, and they do keep the nuts from backing off...as long as they are tight to begin with. They're also used on the exhaust manifold bolts, for the same reason.
Yer dang lucky nuttin else wuz damaged, Joe. Usually when the halfshaft comes loose, and flops around, it takes the floor of the storage compartment out. I've fixed many cars with that kind of damage. At least it was only yer pride that wuz hurt....it would really suk to have done major damage under there, after all the hard work you've put into that car! 

Wow Joe, talk about embarrassing, but as others said - could have hurt a lot more than your pride.  Timely info for me since I have the whole rear suspension out of the car!  However I looked into those "french nuts"  (sorry nuts sounds better than locks) and my car does use them cause it has the "heavy duty" shaft attchements.  Do these have an equivalent lock or should I just use lock-tite or perhaps Stage 8 makes a product?

ALL half shaft outer flanges came with the French Locks on them from the factory...
Lock-tite is otay to use on the bolts/nuts, if ya want....just don't use too much....."a widdle dab'l do ya!"

Was away the last few days.
Yes I was lucky there was no other damage.
Adam, yup you are right, they are locks not nuts. Must have read it wrong :-)
I got the French locks the other day and will be putting them on tomorrow.
Get the Beast back on the road !!!!
Cant wait.
Joe

What about the inboard side connecting to the diff yokes?  I went out and bought the french nuts....er locks and they come in a set of four.  Do all four go on the outboard flange two per side, or do two go on the inboard side.  Not sure if there is clearance, havent looked yet!  Thanks.