Removing offside driveshaft

6th July 2014, 17:15

Hi guys,

I'm having some real difficulty removing the drivers side driveshaft. I was going for the 'using the strut as a lever' approach to pull the driveshaft straight out from the gearbox, but it won't budge.

I then tried the conventional approach by undoing the pinch bolt to disconnect it from the hub first, but the hub just spins and it bent 2 sturdy screw drivers and mangled the thread on a wheel bolt whilst trying to undo it.

The near side driveshaft slid out easy enough using the strut as a lever, but it seems like I'm missing something here?

I've already disconnected the drop link, track rod end and pulled the wishbone out from the bottom of the strut, and undone the 3 top mount bolts. The only thing holding the strut to the car is the driveshaft, but it just won't move an inch.

Advice much appreciated.

Cheers, Ollie

6th July 2014, 17:56

Have you undone the mid driveshaft bearing carrier if it's a vtr or s?

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6th July 2014, 18:19

Sorry yes I forgot to mention, it's a vtr and I've undone the nuts on the two eccentric bolts in the intermediate bearing and pulled the bolts out as far as they will go from it. But the bearing won't come free from the bracket. The driveshaft just will not move outwards.

Cheers

6th July 2014, 18:52

My view would be remove the bracket that holds the bearing from the engine and then split it afterwards

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6th July 2014, 21:26

Finally done. I pulled the whole strut out from the wheel arch so it was just attached to the driveshaft at the bottom, then sprayed half a can of WD40 on the intermediate bearing, and yanked it out by pulling the entire strut away from the car.

There's a metal ring around the intermediate bearing that is bent, I think this was the reason it was getting stuck in the bracket.

6th July 2014, 21:29

If your removing and junking it just pry it away.