Tomorrow I am going to open it myself and see what is inside
Drive Shaft / Propeller Shaft Service - Detailed
- Thread starter Overland Tailor
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Update on my clunk problem. It was not about prop shaft. It is flange bolt on transfer case. It was not tight enough. I tighted up and clunk gone. Does anyone know how much torque should tight that bolt? I would like to tight it correctly
bloc
SILVER Star
127Nm or 94ft-lb.. though these numbers are for a US market cruiser. Not sure if your case is the same..
Glad you found the source. Seems strange to me a factory-pinned nut isn’t tight enough, but if that cleared it up, good.
Thanks for info. I hope it is same for diesel in Europe. I found for RAV 4 is 90ft-lb... Green marker was spot on, dot in dot. But after long day my last hope was to tight it bit more. Result is in photo. It is not green on green anymore. But there is no clunk anymore. I have to tight it with torque wrench tomorrow. I have photo of open rear diff and drive shaft. If someone need it maybe for some reference or something...
bloc
SILVER Star
Just make sure you stake the nut in the new position or I think it will loosen up again.
Yes. I will. I have been waiting for torque info. Thanks a lot
Wondering how hard it is to pull the driveshaft to (a) clean and inspect the slip joint, and (b) check for the loose nut @Darije had. Yes for (a) I know it's a total of 8 bolts but in particular I'm thinking about access to it lying on my back.
Also, anyone know if there's a part # to replace the grease seal in the rear driveshaft slip joint? Either the dealership waaaaay overgreased mine about 1500 miles ago, or mine is leaking. Definitely a sh*tton of grease flung around that area. Also explains the burnt grease smell I've noticed (which I thought was because I'd hit the exhaust with some of the fluid film back in November, but apparently not). It was greased around the beginning of November so the fact that it still smells makes me think the seal is bad but I've only found a part for the complete driveshaft.
Also, anyone know if there's a part # to replace the grease seal in the rear driveshaft slip joint? Either the dealership waaaaay overgreased mine about 1500 miles ago, or mine is leaking. Definitely a sh*tton of grease flung around that area. Also explains the burnt grease smell I've noticed (which I thought was because I'd hit the exhaust with some of the fluid film back in November, but apparently not). It was greased around the beginning of November so the fact that it still smells makes me think the seal is bad but I've only found a part for the complete driveshaft.
bloc
SILVER Star
You won’t have any problems with it given what I think your skill level is. The nuts are very tight, use good combination wrenches and I usually have to double them up on the nut. Also very difficult to set a torque value on the nut side due to clearance.. I just get them as tight as I reasonably can with a wrench each on the nut and bolt and squeeze those two together hard in one or two hands and haven’t had a problem.
Note that the centering ring on the shaft fights snug into a pocket on the flange, so even when the hardware is out you may have to pry a little on the flange to get it apart. There is an obvious spot for this on the side.
I don’t think the seal is replaceable. If you don’t want to remove the shaft you can just remove the zerk and go drive around.. it’ll make a mess but will definitely get excess out. If you do this put some weight in the back of the rig and find a dip to compress the rear suspension.
Last edited:
Thanks for the pro tip
. Thanks. At this point I suspect the excess is out, it's been 1300 miles. My concern is that some of that grease in the photo looks fresh, and so at this point if it's still coming out when it warms up and still getting flung around I'm thinking the seal itself isn't really holding grease anymore like it's supposed to, though I'm not really inclined to drop $600 on a new driveshaft until there's some driveline slop.
And it looks like the end may be on the horizon for a quiet exhaust. That’s a pretty big chunk of rust pipe on that pipe.
bloc
SILVER Star
I personally suspect the seal is more to keep dirt, water, and contamination out than grease in. Even without the seal the grease has to migrate out the splines, then turn 180 degrees and work out a very tight fit of smooth section before it gets to the seal. I’d assume there is just plenty of fresh grease in there and it’s slowly working its way out.Thanks for the pro tip
Thanks. At this point I suspect the excess is out, it's been 1300 miles. My concern is that some of that grease in the photo looks fresh, and so at this point if it's still coming out when it warms up and still getting flung around I'm thinking the seal itself isn't really holding grease anymore like it's supposed to, though I'm not really inclined to drop $600 on a new driveshaft until there's some driveline slop.
FrazzledHunter
SILVER Star
I lubed the U-joints and drive shaft for the first time at 7335 miles. I obviously can't speak for the shafts but those U-joints appeared to me to be dry. It was 5+ pumps of a good quality lever-style grease gun before ANY grease came out of those joints. I lube them every 12-18 months; basically every other oil change.
You'd think so but it looks waaaaay worse in that picture than it is. That bulging spot is a weld. I have no idea why it's there unless the sections of pipe have them out of the factory for mounting the hangers (is it the same pipe as is used on the other side maybe and they have 2 spots and get flipped over?) or perhaps it's excess that ended up on there from welding the hanger onto the muffler? The black stuff looks like a huge chunk of rust flaking off but it's just the flashlight casting a shadow, there's virtually no lip on that. And it's orange from moab/utah mud that baked on there... the section to the right is a much better example of the actual condition.
Chicago salt is pretty hard on exhaust so I have little doubt that the vehicle will outlive the factory exhaust system, but given the thickness of that weld slag I'd be t$5 that spot will be the one hunk of metal left. And honestly I suspect given the overall condition it's got another 100-150k in it easy.
