Robby,

Did you feel any vibrations at any speed before this failure happened? Were you still using the original prop shaft or a slip yoke prop shaft? Do you still have the original viscous coupler? Is it aggressive, ie makes the tires scrub hard on sharp turns in parking lots? Did you have a drive line disconnect installed or was the housing all original? Do you still have a WBX engine or something else?

John Wessels
Scuderia Black Forest
Oakhurst, CA
www.scuderiablackforest.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: robby kilborn <robbykilborn@GMAIL.COM>
To: vanagon <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Mon, Mar 21, 2011 3:35 am
Subject: Output Housing and Shaft broken on Highway

I'm in Tye, Texas... I'm supposed to be enjoying the open roads,
heading toward Guadalupe National Park, enjoying the year long adventure
around the US. from PEI, Canada to PEI, Canada.

I just filled up at the local Flying J and was on I-20 when a
loud compilations of sound and smoke effects appeared from back end of my
Syncro.

The rear output housing got ripped off, as did on of the fittings on the
driveshaft, and the splined  end of the output shaft (the bit that
inserts into the splined sleeve, which also fits onto the drive pinion.)

The drive pinion looks fine.

The output shaft is broken.  The housing shattered.

Pics attached, but if they do not appear, I can pmail them.  Also on FB.

Has this happened to any of you?

My concern is that this may have resulted from some sudden resistance and
snapped the union between the Drive Shaft and Output.  To me, that suggests
something went wrong in the gears.  I don't remember how long I was in 4th,
but I may have just shifted as I was gaining speed from the merge-on ramp.
 Any suggestions on how to eliminate possibilities to identify what it most
likely is?  It could be a simple case of replacing the output, but I have to
figure out what caused it to go.

Robby.