Hi all, I am 61 and have done most of my mechanics my whole life and have no problems working on most rear drive cars but this is my first ever front wheel drive. I just replaced both driveshafts in my TR SE auto wagon. I followed the workshop manual to a tee(a bit sketchy) but all went great on removal and instalI. I took it for a drive and at a certain speed, around 60k's, a metalic ringing noise was heard. I limped back home at 20k's(no noise) and I raised the car and started it. I had my wife gently accelerate and the ringing noise seems to be comming from the center bearing dust cap that sits over the center bearing and bracket. It seems to be loose and spins I am able to move it about 3-4mm in and out and the shaft can be moved a little in and out as well. Also, there is now a slow oil leak out of the driver side gearbox shaft seal. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that when I was prying the shafts out they sort of clicked when the retainer clip gave way. Maybe I have not forced the shafts in far enough for the retainer clips to seat the shafts in place correctly and so, that is my main question. Do I need to force the shafts in, (and "how to do this as there is no place really to pry the in?") to make the retainer clips "click" into place and therefore press the passenger side shaft up against the dust cap eliminating the ringing/vibrating, and also, stop driver side seal leaking(will replace if needed). Cheers for any help.

Video to help. I will take another video of cap while in drive if you like, to let you hear sound it makes.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWKayAHbtoI&index=1&list=UUrwG8XwzqenhKbWBNnzXtFQ

dust cover damaged when poster fitted the new CV joints

Cheers, I would think I need to leave the dust cover on as I live in a dusty environment. As I said, Do the shafts need to be force in hard to make the retainer click/seat in place, manual does not state.

interum shaft bearing is fully sealed

any info I gave .... was not required by poster

magna buff, don't take me wrong, I do appreciate your help, but, out of your two lengthy replies, you only gave me one answer remotely near my question, "Do the shafts need to be forced in hard to make the retainer click/seat in place" and that was ......."Circlips, you don't always hear an audible click" and that help me in no way (actually they are called retainer clip/ring, Circlip's are different). Mate, the shafts I put in were new and came with retainer rings and as I'm no dummy around mechanics, marrying up new to old parts before install is a must and I follow that to the letter. Thanks for attempting to help me but I am still sitting here wondering, "Do the shafts need to be forced in hard to make the retainer click/seat in place", or, should I just hose clamp the damn dust cover. And the leak on driver side, was only excess fluid dripping down after I removed the shaft and it seems I parked the car on the exact same spot after the test drive, silly me. Oh yeah, I told my wife you suggested to do without the dust cap and she replied, "that's like removing your wipers because it hasn't rained for a while". Cheers

I may not be much help as it is almost 5 years since I did mine and that was on a TP 1st gen. However the respective service manuals indicate that 1st and 2nd gen drive shafts are almost the same except for dimensions.

I only removed and replaced the passenger side shaft. When putting the new one in, I slid the inner end of the shaft into place, screwed the retaining nut on flush with the outer end of the shaft to protect the thread, then held the shaft as straight as possible while holding a hardwood block against the nut and hitting the block sharply with a hammer. I felt the snap ring click into place or rather felt a slight clunk as the shaft went in just a bit further and locked into place. I remember being concerned about hitting it as I didn't want to damage the new cv joints. However it went in a lot easier than the old one had come out.

I think you'd have been aware if the shaft wasn't locked into place. Until the snap ring clicks in, the shaft can be slid in and out freely. Once it is in place, plenty of force is required to pull the shaft out again, so much so that there could be little doubt. If you didn't use any force at all to put the shaft in, it might be worth undoing the hub again and pulling hard on the shaft to check. It should be unmistakeable whether it is locked in or not.

I did not even notice the dust cap you mention. I tried to get a look at mine this morning but would have to jack the car up and remove the splash trays to see it. As magna buff said, the bearing itself is sealed, so the dust cover is probably to stop small rocks getting wedged in there. I would try to clamp it or secure it with a large cable tie.

My adventures in removing and replacing the drive shaft were in this thread: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73624&page=1&highlight=shaft

coldamus, mate, thanks for your reply. I did exactly as you say, try and pull them out and no matter how hard I "pulled without prying" them did not come out. Never thought to use timber and lumpy hammer to seat in, I'll remember that one, but they are unmistakably secure. With the dust cap, I tried the clamp fix but with no success as the cap was too rigid too tighten, so, I slept on it and woke up with the idea to silicone the cap in place so the cap could not move, waited till this morning to cure and that did the job, no more ringing/rattle. Frustrating as it was, all has ended up fine. I read your link and I did not remove the whole driveshaft, just up to the relay shaft as I saw no reason to do so. Cheers and have a great weekend. Papy