Busy with family and work, and no problems with the campervan! (I haven't replaced the voltage regulator yet though)
You need a torque wrench, and to tighten them to the correct spec, plus the special washers and spreader plates. As everyone has said, the pothole wasn't the principle reason for the failure, it just accelerated it. In fact you were lucky it didn't happen whilst overtaking on the motorway so be thankful! The result could have been catastrophic. Make sure all 4 are correct before you go anywhere...
@Lino Fonseca you need to come to this http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/techenders-26th-28th-april-2019-whos-coming.81807/
WOW ... Never seen that before . You were very lucky and an easy fix . As well as the good information about reconnecting the drive shaft I'd certainly suggest checking the other side .. Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk
Rule 1 If you do not specifically ask a garage to look at something they will save you money by not looking at it. It is therefore your fault for not asking them to spend hours at hourly rates checking everything over. Good news a bag of bolts,lock washers and spreaders and a torque wrench and its all good for less than £50 parts and tools.
Had the bolts on our near side drive shaft shear some 11yrs age because they were loose. It happened as we drove from Cornwall to Santa Pod (VW Action) after a 2 week holiday and whilst towing the teardrop (which was fully loaded and is unbraked). Whilst in Cornwall we ended up going up a very steep hill which was signposted as unsuitable for towing up (we were following others and I was clearly over confident). As we traversed the very steep hill I could hear a clicking noise coming from under the van and put it down to worn UV joints in the driveshafts. A week later and some 50 miles from Santa Pod and after setting off from traffic lights (and dropping the clutch too quickly) all momentum was lost and I saw the driveshaft dangling like a lost appendage under the van. We ended up being recovered all the way home courtesy of the ‘AA’ (we use to be with Green Flag till they only covered vehicles up to 15yrs old) and I was lucky enough to remove the sheared bolts from the gearbox hubs with the help of a very small cold chisel and patience. Don’t buy cheap replacement bolts as they will shear when you try to torque them up and consider using some thread lock as well as the serrated washers as they can (ask me how I know) come loose again. Also regularly check they are tight. I did try to drill small holes through the heads in the hope of using wire to add additional locking, but they are hardened steel so the small drill bits kept breaking.
I think you can get grade 12.9 M8 socket head bolts for about £10 from Kays fasteners on ebay for enough to fit all 24 bolts needed. And the proper m8 Schnorr lock washers for a few quid more When torqued up proper scary tight they do not come undone by themselves.
Not scary tight. 28 lb ft, from memory, which isn't much. If everything's in place, they're not going to come undone. Why would they?
Bentley says 25ft/lb for the T2, 33ft/lb for the T25 - with the same bolts. I use 30ft/lb and loctite.
No need for lock tight and I think you will make them near impossible to get back out, torqued correctly they don’t fall out
