Drive shaft servicing

[mbarjbar]

Has anyone serviced the the two driveshaft sliding sections? Is it difficult? Can it be done without taking off the u-joint? My u-joints seem fine but the in and out motion seems stiff. The manual says to service every 50,000 miles.

Mike

[moogrr]

I just disassembled/reassembled mine. One was bad - ripped boot and the balls/races were pitted badly. I replaced this with a donor shaft. The donor shaft had a pressed-in convex plug in the big end, however, my originals had a flat plug secured by a snap ring. No difference. You could take them both completely apart without removing the u-joints, I did to service the u-joints anyway. You can do it without harming the boots but the boot clamps will need to be replaced.

All my u-joints were original and all were as good as new so I just cleaned them and repacked them with grease. Any EP grease will do although synthetic is cheap and works great. Grease fittings are not needed.

To "rebuild" the sliding part I would say snap ring pliers and a good vise is all that is required, other than basic tools. A plastic or dead blow hammer wouldn't hurt. One of mine was tough to pull apart. As far as parts, all you need is good grease and two boot clamps. Pull them good and tight, and secure them with a sharp center punch or drill bit. Cut off excess with diagonal cutters.

Put EVERYTHING together exactly as it was taken apart. Clean everything.

It really is not that difficult of a job, but a lot of force can be required.

If you have a big C-clamp, you could do the u-joints as well.

I could post a few pics if you like.

Ted.

[mbarjbar]

Moogrr,

Great post. I have finally undertaken this job. Just as you described. Here is an early picture. When it is all done, I'll post the final result.

Mike

Edited March 28, 2010 by mbarjbar
forgot picture!!

[mbarjbar]

Here are some pics.

[mbarjbar]

OK, I did it! What a bitch to get those balls and spacers back in! Here is the finished piece.

Mike

[tlorber]

Nice pics-shameless plug for the Valvoline.

[mbarjbar]

Thanks, I like the Valvoline, except that it is gray-black. I am going to tackle the other one. This time I think I will try to replace the balls and spacers to the groove they came from.

Mike

[Walter Moore]

Not to be picky, but isn't that technically a half shaft, not a drive shaft?

[mbarjbar]

Well, Datsun called what we and the English would call the half-shafts, the drive shafts. What we call the drive shaft, is the propeller shaft to Datsun.

Mike