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Driveshaft joint removal mistake help!
Thinking about it - 3/5/07 at 01:47 PM

I have dismantled my driveshafts in order to get them shortened. But I have made a fatal mistake. I have forgot to mark the the joint position on the shaft, so that the joints are aligned properly on re assembly. they are drum brake Sierra shafts.
Are the joints aligned so that the bearing on one end is inline with the space between the bearings on the other end? Any ideas or help please.

[Edited on 3/5/07 by Thinking about it]

turbodisplay - 3/5/07 at 02:16 PM

Don`t quote me, but i thought only the propshaft should be allined.
Cv joints i thought were not a problem, as their name implies : Constant velocity.

Darren

Thinking about it - 3/5/07 at 02:40 PM

Perhaps I was a little unclear in my post.

Each driveshaft has a joint on either end which fits onto the splines on the shaft.

If the joints are fitted on randomly, could this cause the shaft to be out of balance?

As the manual suggests to mark the relationship of the joint to the shaft on both ends before dismantling, I guess there must me a correct alignment of one joint in relation to the one at the other end of the drive shaft.

MikeRJ - 3/5/07 at 05:08 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Thinking about it
If the joints are fitted on randomly, could this cause the shaft to be out of balance?


No this won't be a problem, the CV joints and driveshafts are not balanced as an assembly AFAIK.

James - 3/5/07 at 06:57 PM

I do remember an article on Rorty's page that said to make sure you get them the right way round.

I didn't do that with mine- lost the markings during cleaning and in nearly 2000miles on a heavy (but only Pinto powered car) they haven't unwound and snapped- yet!

Cheers,
James

[Edited on 3/5/07 by James]

t.j. - 3/5/07 at 07:39 PM

No poblem,

UJ have to be in line
CV have no line.

Grtz

MikeRJ - 3/5/07 at 11:23 PM

If this was important, what are you supposed to do when you fit a new CV joint?

Thinking about it - 3/5/07 at 11:42 PM

See what your saying when you replace a joint. I'm thinking of the position of the joint on the shaft in relation to the position of the one on the other end.

MikeRJ - 4/5/07 at 11:11 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Thinking about it
See what your saying when you replace a joint. I'm thinking of the position of the joint on the shaft in relation to the position of the one on the other end.


This is very important for universal joints because the output of the joint does not turn at a constant speed when it is running at an angle. Two joints on a shaft must be positioned correctly in order to compensate for this.

However, a CV (constant velocity) joint does not suffer from speed variations when run at an angle, so the relative positions of the inner and outer joints are of no consequence.

iank - 4/5/07 at 12:08 PM

I think the problem rorty was talking about was about keeping the wheel end and diff end the same. If you run them backwards with lots of torque they can snap as they get a slight corkscrew twist over the years and unwinding it is a bad thing.

No idea if sierra driveshafts have identical splines at both ends, but I've heard of it happening on MG midget halfshafts.

Haynes book of lies says to mark the position of the joint spider you remove and align the replacement to those marks, but I've no idea why that might be critical.

Thinking about it - 4/5/07 at 05:03 PM

Thats just the answer I wanted. Thank you all.