Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi

While fighting a veldt fire my patrol bakkie's (TD4.2 2008) 4x4 system gave problems.
I engaged 4x4 and then hear a few clang sounds and bakkie not moving. I dis-engage and bakkie move again without the sounds.

I caaried on as I could not stop.

The next morning I found that 3 of the 4 bolts of the 4x4 propshaft was missing and the 4th one very loose.

I don't think they where broken off, can it be that 3 loosen and fell out?

Question:
Can I just buy new bolts and bolt it back on or do I need to do some othere things as well.

I attach some photos.

Thank you

Ferreira

Wow... I have never seen that happen. How that happened, I have no clue. Maybe someone loosened the bolts like a jealous Toyota driver that didn't like you driving in places he couldn't get to..... ... just kidding.

I would clean up the mating surfaces and put a very thin layer of copper grease on those surfaces and fit the two ends together with 4 x new bolts. I don't know which bolt ( high tensile or standard )would be the best though for a prop shaft joint.

Question...

Does that prop need to go back in, at the same orientation as when it came out?? For balancing sake??

No, it wouldn't make any difference, as the prop is/should be already balanced separately. I think due to there only being one nut and bolt on there, it will be sort of easy to see which position to put the prop back on aligning up the 2 clean/shiny holes with each other.

Ek sal n 10 .5 graan bout aan beveel of koop by die agente dit sal die beste opsie wees

No grease on that joint please!

Bit of loctite on the bolts and nuts won't do any harm though.

I agree with Andre, 10.9 or even 12.9 bolts will be best if you can get. Note that with high-grade bolts like this, torquing is very important. The bolt supplier should be able to advise you on the correct torque.

Make sure the graunches don't affect the fitting. The flat surfaces must be tight against each other, with no gap anywhere.

Lastly, try get the orientation as before. As Cedric said, it shouldn't matter, but it might due to the damage it has sustained.

I've seen some propshaft bolts / nuts come undone before, (some well known British 4x4 ) I would torque the bolts up and then check it ever 50 - 100km's depending on the surface of the roads. Lock-tite as Peter says, and if you can fit a spring washer / nylock nut on as well, to be doubley sure.

Peter, I agree no thick grease in the joint, but would copper-slip very thin not be a good idea? I understand that the grease would/could hamper a tight fit, but thought the copper-slip will prevent any moisture from working its way into the joint center.

Cedric, it would do that.

But any irregularity in the film thickness is going to cause some vibration,.

The manufacturers don't use any grease here, and i reckon that's good enough for me.

And in the unlikely event you do get some corrosion in there, it'l just help keep the joint together.

I was advised that spring washers are bad news. Maybe an expert can confirm/deny please. Most my propshaft nuts are lock nuts, so you my end up with a big vibration, but the bolt should not fall out like that.

Sounds to me like that propshaft was binding somewhere when you attempted to pull away. Did it bash around in a big way? I believe propshafts get knocked out of balance fairly easy. May be worth having it checked out, or just wait till it's back and see if you have a vibration.