Have you ever broken a flex plate???
 

OK If you have broken a flex plate, let's hear from you. Was there any damage? if so what kind of damage was done.

I'm thinking the broken flexplate causing massive damage is an old wive's tail (tale really :silly: ) No offense to any old wives reading this post (or any new wives that feel like old wives,,,,)

It's actually called a flex disk. It's the front disk that would cause havoc if it fails. Crawl under there and take a look. There is nothing to keep the front of the driveshaft up in the event of total failure. Use your imagination at 70 mph, and you will get the picture.

Steve

He is talking about the Flywheel. lots of mechanics call the auto tranny flywheel a flexplate due to dodge's coining the term.
John

The flywheel, when it breaks is usually held to the crank on it's hub, and to the TC by it's bolts. I have had ring gear shatter, I have had centers torn out, and I have had simple cracks make noise. worst damage was to the starter. I can see how severe damage could be done, but I have never seen any.
John

on the auto tranny, there is actually a thin, sort-of triangular plate (er, hence the name 'flex plate' i guess) that bolts to the torque converter. mine cracked, and made a hell of a lot of noise...but no damage. i guess if it broke the right way and was really flinging around in there, it could cause some damage...but like i said, it's pretty flimsy.

Softconsult,,, you are right,,, I meant flex disk. I've removed them to transport cars, and they are sucha PITA to remove I figured if one broke it probably wouldn't do much damage. thus the poll.

I had the plate that bolts to the torque convertor crack. Took me a long time and help from the forum to figure out what the hell that noise was.

I had a flex disc break on my wagon. Luckily it broke while I was accelerating from a stop. It bent my shifter rod, pulled out the shift bushing, and dented the tranny mount.

What happened was one of the bolts broke and the stress pulled the remaining two bolts completely out of the disc. What was left was the disc on the driveshaft and two bolts with their metal inserts on the tranny flange.

there are pics (on this forum, iirc) of damage caused by a failed flex disc. it's hair-raising.

I bought my 240D with a blown out flex disc. There are pictures of it(along with the spraypaint some idiot decided I needed on my car too) if you click on the 240D link in my signature. Fortunetly it the PO was going ony about 30 when it happened. It put a hole in the transmission tunnel when it started flailing arouind. It tore out the shift linkages(manual trans), bent the centering cone on the driveshaft, and bent the rear transmission mount carrier. I got it fixed for under $300. The shift linkages from the dealer were going to cost me $400 new. Fortunetly I found some used ones for much cheaper.