Rear prop / drive shaft removal?

[johnleddo]

Hi Folks,
I have been experiencing two proplems with my 2003 T2 2.7 tdi with 80000 on it and am hoping some knowledgeable folk on here might be able to help me out.

the symptoms of problem one are a vibration at which starts at about 58mph and dissapears at about 63mph. I have had the wheels ballanced and adjusted the front wheel bearings.

Problem two is a clunk when I re engage the clutch after changing gear. Difficult to identify exactly where its coming from. smooth driving can avoid it and seems worse at lower speeds

I have had a look underneath today and found that the universal joint in the rear prop shaft is in fairly bad nick (rust and very little lubrication) with a fair bit of play in it.

So I'm wondering could the two problems both be coming from the rear prop shaft? And whats it like to replace or refurbish?

Any of you advice or thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
John

 

[zippy656]

if theres a lot of play in the UJ it would make create that kind of problem

 

[rustic]

UJ's available from Milners, if you have to remove the rear propshaft, undo the 4 bolts on the rear coupling but support it well, because if you slide it back, the front of the shaft comes out of the back of the transfer box , and you may damage the seal. So take care removing the front coupling.

I'm not sure of the oil level of the transfer box, as to whether you need to drain the oil, prior to removing the shaft? Just looked, the level plug is below the output shaft.

My UJ's have done 91 K miles, but then I do grease them twice a year, and certainly before towing.

Hope this helps.
Best regards, Rustic

 

[rustic]

If your propshafts have been neglected, then so may have the oil in the rear diff.

Many posts on this, but an oil change on the rear diff while you are at it may be a good idea.

You need LSD oil 2.8 litres, about £5 per litre.
Do a search on the site for this.
The oil will come out thick and grey, if it hasn't been changed before. (or for a while anyhow)

 

[(RIP) PLANK]

I think a 2003 rear diff will have a 1.8L capacity, mine did, and i bought 3L :doh

but it must be LSD oil the comma web site shows which sort and stockists local to you :thumb2

 

[johnleddo]

Thats great advice thanks very much, I think I need to remove and replace the UJ at least then if my problems still exist I can rule it out and continue the search.

Thanks for all your replies
Cheers
John

 

[4x4_Gav]

Can you take some pictures of where the wear and tear is etc as I have the same problem with the clunking and would love to know where to look

Also some piccies of the process might help

Cheers
Gav

 

[johnleddo]

Just had a second look underneath and the play in the resr UJ is worse than I remembered. It looks like the prop shaft exit is above the oil level so hopefully i'll be able to keep the oil in as it has only just been changed as has the oil in the rear LSD.

I'm still unsure how to detach the prop shaft from the transfer box there's dosent seem to be a coupling of any sort. Has any one removed the rear prop shaft and if so how did you detach it from the rear of the transfer box?

Gav as for the location of this wear, if you look underneath your terrano just infront of your back wheels you will see the rear prop/drive shaft linking the transfer box to the rear axel/final drive. This prop shaft has two universal joints on it one at the transfer box end and one at the final drive end. They are the only joints in the prop shaft. hope this helps.

Cheers
John

 

[rustic]

I'm still unsure how to detach the prop shaft from the transfer box there's dosent seem to be a coupling of any sort. Has any one removed the rear prop shaft and if so how did you detach it from the rear of the transfer box?
Cheers
John

Read my post 3 above..I think it just slides out but support it and watch the seal

 

[johnleddo]

Ah right i did wonder if it might just slide out from how it looks and the tips in your earlier post but that seemed to simple!

I'll order the parts i need and give it a go early next week and post on here how it goes!
Thanks for your help Rustic
Cheers
John

 

[makeitfit]

Yep simply slides out but watch that uj as once it starts to go it's done for in a week from my experiance :augie

 

[lacroupade]

Yep simply slides out but watch that uj as once it starts to go it's done for in a week from my experience :augie

...which is extensive in such matters as we know! :augie:lol

 

[johnleddo]

but watch that uj as once it starts to go it's done for in a week

I recon my UJ is well and truly done for, so it must have started going at about christmas! stood up to some heavy towing at the weekend mind. Definately time for some tlc.

Thanks for confirming the prop slides out Makeitfit saved me some head scratchin time

 

[johnleddo]

Right, Universal joint is now changed!

Thank you all very much for your help and advice without it would have been much more difficult. If any one is thinking of replacing the UJ in their rear prop shaft heres a brief description of how it went.

1) I reversed the car up some ramps for more room to work.

2)before removing the propshaft I marked the position that it was in when attached to the rear axel and also marked the position that it was joined together at the UJ (not sure if this is requied but I know the propsahft is ballanced so didnt want to risk putting it back together in a different position and getting more vibrations because of it)

3) remove rear prop shaft (not as difficult as it sounds!) Support prop shaft from underneath I used blocks of wood, then undo four bolts that attach it to rear axel, two 17mm spanners did the trick

4) With the prop shaft resting on the blocks of wood carefully slide prop shaft back until it comes away from the gearbox.

5) Be very careful not to damage the end of the propshaft that eneters the gear box whilst woring on the other end. Theres a doughnut shaped collar at the gearbox end that I managed to bend, easily re shaped with a hammer and peice of wood!

5) now with the propshaft out you need to remove the 4 circlips that hold the UJ in place (this took some doing, i bought a good quality pair of circlip pliers and soaked the clips in wd40, even then I had to cut the tips of the circlip pliers right down so there was very little give in the tips and eventually the clips came out)

6)I then pressed the joint in a big ish bench vice there are a few videos on youtube of how to do this i found this one useful

7)The UJ i removed was totally knackered the bearings in two of the arms didn't exist any more and the two arms with bearings were drying out. I bought my replacement from Milners 4x4 supplies it cost £22.00 and came with a grease nipple which will be much better for future.

8) It would be best to remove the said grease nipple before fitting the new UJ as I found out to my cost (and refit when the UJ is in place), they are easily damaged! If you do damage the grease nipple as i did a size M6 replacement is what you need!

9)after removing your old UJ installing the new one using the same techniques seemed fairly straight forward & working with a new part helped.

10)before you refit the prop shaft I'd recoment that you clean the seal at the back of the gear box with a clean rag. (I fitted the prop shaft and test drove it only to find oil leaking from the seal around the prop shaft) cleaning it up has fixed the problem.

11)re fitting the propshaft was the reverse of removal ensuring all of my markers lined up.

12) happily drive car with no vibrations and no clunks when changing gear. It cost me £22 for the UJ £12.50 for some circlip pliers and £0.50 for the replacement grease nipple and a fair bit of time, would be much quicker if i needed to do it again.

This is quite a brief description but I hope it might prove useful, if anyone would like to know any more just let me know.

All the best
John

 

[solarman216]

a very good description of this job, all we need now are some pics, you did take some?, and no need to mark the prop against the diff flange it will make no difference at all to balance, Rick

 

[4x4_Gav]

Thanks for the step by step etc mate, very useful.

I will have a look after I have finished this mammoth stretch of shifts at work rofl (Overtime FTW).

This might explaint the squeeking noise I also get when driving around left hand bends - maybe the prop is wobbling or something?

 

[Fez_uk]

Did it stop the clunk noise when changing gear?

 

[rustic]

I'm glad you sorted it, I thought it slid out from the back of the transfer box (Post #3).

Greasing the prop shaft is essential, 2 nipples on the rear, 3 on the front driveshaft.

You were very lucky that you changed the UJs before they completely broke away.

Moral of the story:
It's worth grabbing hold of your shaft now and again and checking it out for any play... Keep it well lubbed of course.

 

[johnleddo]

Sadly I dont have any pictures I was pushed for time and didn't do any picture taking.

What I can do is post a picture up for 4x4 gav and Fez because you want to be sure thats where your problem is. The wear on mine was obvious (I could hold the UJ with the prop shaft in place and move it 2-3mm) and i would say you could determine if the UJ was worn by using a leaver in the joint and checking for movement even if it was less worn than mine.

Fez as for the clunking when re engaging the clutch when changing gear it has completely gone, as have the vibrations I was getting.

Again appologies for no pictures
Many thanks
John

 

[Fez_uk]

Next on my list then. cheers