Oops....
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 11,941
Likes: 33
From: Conroe, Texas
You aren't the first to say that, but it happened on a hard 1-2 shift burnout. Truck was hardly moving at all, the shock and missing bolts that backed out due to a friend helping is what caused it. Otherwise the truck would still be going with the stock 2 piece. It explains why the 2 piece broke at the Trans yoke, which wouldn't cause a broken bell housing anyway.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 523
Likes: 0
From: Illinois, as close to "Normal" as I can get...
Was the bolt missing when it broke?
I had the same issue on a 73 Camaro with a big block and TH400, the bell housing completely broke off the trans case. Turned out to be a combination of things, first the right lower bell housing bolt had came loose and fallen out, second the car was converted from a 4 speed to an automatic by the previous owner. Problem was he forgot to shorten the drive shaft about an inch and a half when he did the conversion.
I hit a large dip in the road at about 50 mph, rear end bottomed out, the drive shaft was to long and jambed itself onto the back of the tranny and cracked the housing.
Here is a pic of the broken housing still attached to the block, I literally removed the drive shaft, crossmember, shift cable and trans lines and the tranny came right out
Here was the trans
I had the same issue on a 73 Camaro with a big block and TH400, the bell housing completely broke off the trans case. Turned out to be a combination of things, first the right lower bell housing bolt had came loose and fallen out, second the car was converted from a 4 speed to an automatic by the previous owner. Problem was he forgot to shorten the drive shaft about an inch and a half when he did the conversion.
I hit a large dip in the road at about 50 mph, rear end bottomed out, the drive shaft was to long and jambed itself onto the back of the tranny and cracked the housing.
Here is a pic of the broken housing still attached to the block, I literally removed the drive shaft, crossmember, shift cable and trans lines and the tranny came right out
Here was the trans
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 11,941
Likes: 33
From: Conroe, Texas
I installed the passenger side Trans bolts, a friends did the driver side, and the driver side has several bolts missing. Just hope nothing else is damaged. Won't know till I get the new bell housing and pull it apart.
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yep!!
I broke a front U joint at the track, the shock load of the yokes hitting each other pulled a bellhousing bolt out of the block(near starter), bent my SFI steel bellhousing, tore the trans mount, and destroyed both the output yoke and driveshaft yoke.
the forces on the bell are more than you think, ALL the transmission's gear reduction tq is put on it, plus
I broke a front U joint at the track, the shock load of the yokes hitting each other pulled a bellhousing bolt out of the block(near starter), bent my SFI steel bellhousing, tore the trans mount, and destroyed both the output yoke and driveshaft yoke.
the forces on the bell are more than you think, ALL the transmission's gear reduction tq is put on it, plus
Last edited by 3pedals; Jul 27, 2014 at 06:56 AM.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 11,941
Likes: 33
From: Conroe, Texas
I have seen busted drive shafts do some crazy stuff. This was not the case, although a couple friends argues different, but they couldn't see 4 bolts missing on that side. And I've always seen the driveshaft damage happen at high speed, where mine originally happened at a sitting still 1-2 shift doing a burnout, where the shock of slamming 2nd and missing bolts is my original problem.
On The Tree
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 142
Likes: 0
From: Odessa, Texas
Zones try www.thegearbox.org they have brand new bellhousings that are oem along with anything else that's t56 related.