What have I done to my poor VeeDub?

Well on the way home from work tonight (after getting the right rear axle nut loosened by the local tyre place), there was this sudden loud bang followed by constant shuddering from the rear left hand side of the car. When it happened my first thought was "Oh God the axle nut's come off and I"ve lost the wheel" (obviously an irrational thought).

After more thought, my dad and I concluded that it may be the gearbox or the diff, but since it was raining and dark we just abandoned the car and got a lift home. Anyone else experienced this or have a clue what it could be? It definitely seems to be coming from the left rear side of the car, and as you roll it with the car in neutral, the car rolls a bit, then siezes, then rolls a bit and so on at regular intervals. It's a '74 swingaxle Beetle.

Did you still have drive or no drive in any gear .

We didn't actually try driving the car on the basis that if we don't know what's wrong it's better not to risk further damage by driving the car. I'm going to go back out to it in a little while so I could check that.

mmm drive shaftbolts come loose/out, this happened to me a while back, sounds familar, andy

A Westwood wrote:Did you still have drive or no drive in any gear .

I've just been back to check on the car and block the wheels (no handbrake, which is why I was getting the rear axle nut loosened). I still have drive in first and reverse. I didn't check any other gears but I assume they'll work too. I think it was in third when it originally happened and we still had drive then too. Interestingly the problem appeared to have gone. Before we couldn't roll the car in neutral without it shuddering, but I managed to move it backwards and forwards under power without any sign of the problem. It'll stay there for tonight. Tomorrow I may jack it up and get right under it. If it stops raining

And the plot thickens.

I just managed to drive the car home without incident. I was taking it pretty easy, travelling at 40 most of the way.

My dad thinks it could be heat related. He was driving it pretty hard at the time, though it could just have been the stress that caused it.

Anyway at least now it's home I can get it up in the air and have a good look at the underneath.

Okay I think I've solved the problem. I think it's directly related to the reason that I'd had the other axle nut loosened and that was that the right hand side handbrake cable had broken.

So when I got the other drum off what I saw was a bit of a relief actually: the handbrake cable bent and mangled but by the looks of it, no other damage. Apparantly once the tension had been relieved from the cable it had worked loose and must have got caught in something while we were driving along.

The good news is that it's an easy fix, and I have to replace the brake cylinder for that wheel anyway.

So let this be a lesson to everyone. If one of the handbrake cables snaps, it's not just an inconvenience, it can cause a fairly dramatic problem.