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Re: Wear part? Posted by magalar [Email] (#1325) [Profile/Gallery] (more from magalar) on Wed, 8 Jul 2015 06:27:51 In Reply to: Wear part?, Stephen Goldberger, Wed, 8 Jul 2015 04:59:13 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
On my ex-1983 Quattro, the 2-piece propshaft was also "not serviceable"... unless you were handy. Both ends CV joints boots were from a 944, the center u-joint from a Suzuki 4WD and the center bearing/support from a series-7 BMW. One could rebuilt the (expensive) shaft for less than 120$.
The single center u-joint was doable on the bench with simple hand tools, like a c-clamp and some ingenuity. Then, you remove the yoke from the shaft by removing a bolt and just slip out the yoke on its splined shaft. Grab the bearing with a puller, and reinstall the new one with an appropriate-sized tube and hammer. Very easy.
After that, balancing was suggested, but not mandatory. The u-joint was centered in the yoke via circlips so it was roughly in the same place as the old one. In fact, none that I did were balanced. I never guessed such a job was doable by a specialty shop. And I'm quite sure it's the reason propshafts are not "officially" serviceable : even if the shop can replace the wear parts, balancing must be completed before returning the car to its owner. Overall, counting the parts, the dealer's time, the shipping charges and the balancing process, with no guarantee at the end, a new shaft makes sense.
The first one I did (mine) was not perfect but the other two, for friends cars, didn't vibrate at all. I guess I was the guinea pig...
Trivia fact : that u-joint, on these 1980-91 Quattros, was the single greaseable part on the whole car. Obviously, nobody cared so it was forgotten and in need of replacement once or twice during the life of the car.
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