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hi guys

regarding my Hotshot rebuild i have noticed one of the rear drive shafts has a loose pin in its end and when the car is bieng driven it tries to work its way out of the drive cup . it would eventually work its way out and be lost luckily i noticed it before it departed!! i have had a look around and apparently the drive shafts for these are hard to come by. does anyone know if its possible to repair the original and by what method i can refit the pin?

regards

Yes, the original Hotshot dogbones are hard to find... so a repair might be a good option.
I assume the dogbone originally was heated to fit the pin, but now wear and tear has ade the pin loose.
I have never repaired one of these, but maybe Araldite glue would do the trick?

-Lars

i think i will take a look and see if re-heating the dogbone and inserting a new pin would be possible for a proper repair. failing this ill go down the araldite route. thanks for the advice and great website by the way i have used your site countless times for accessing manuals for my re-builds so cant say thank you enough for the help. your collection is very impressive and your resto's are inspiring.

Yep, replacing pins is usually possible, I've done loads for various models. Best way to pop the pin out is to find a bit of tubing that will fit over the pin one side, & is about 2x longer than the sticky-out bit. THEN wop it in a vice, with the tubing agaist one jaw & a bit of ally plat between the other pin end & the other vice jaw. Being careful to keep it all square, gently crank the vice up & the pin should press out - when the pin end is flush with the end of the driveshaft, open the vice a bit & insert the new pin, then crank the vice up again to press the new pin in & the rest of the old pin out at the same time. Points to note - if you really have to use heat, be gentle as excessive heat will undo the hardening process to the ball end & pins will be a sloppy fit & fall out. If the pin isn't that tight, it's a good idea to put superglue or threadlock on it before you press it in. If you do this, make sure you press the pin in quickly & DON'T STOP or it'll jam & be horrific to get out again. ALWAYS use something soft between the vice jaw & pin end or the pin will 'mushroom' & you won't get it out. I Scratch make my driveshafts nowadays...

Another trick for sloppy pins is to pop them out, slap it in the middle with a blunt cold chisel & small hammer (To make the middle portion slightly not round) then press it back into the driveshaft with a drop of stud/bearing fit or JB weld/instant metal etc. If you HAVE to use araldite, use the slow set stuff cos the 'rapid' really is pants & never sets particularly hard. Superglue won't work for this as it sets with the ABSENCE of air, & if yer pin ain't round, there'll be an air gap