Hey all,
Would anyone be available this weekend to help me change out the DriveShaft Carrier Bearing and Flex Discs on my Crossfire Roadster? I am hoping that this will fix a vibration issue that I have had for quite some time now, but I have never had to work on a driveshaft before.
Thanks,
Chris
I’ll be there late Sunday afternoon for an adult daycare meeting around 4pm
-Sometime after that Id be happy to give you a hand.
is your Crossfire originally from this part of Texas?
Thanks Tom.
It spent the first year of its life in Florida and then it came here to the DFW area after that.
I’m assuming you are asking about how rusty and corroded things are underneath. Not much of that at all really.
Chris
Yes, exactly that!
I’ve not removed the prop shaft from a Crossfire but since it is essentially left of Mercedes parts it will be similar. The question is - does the exhaust have to drop first?
From what I have read online in the Crossfire Forums, we should be able to get the part swapped out without having to drop the exhaust, although it might give us a bit more room to work.
I have some notes from a few of the folks that have done this on their cars previously if you would like to read through them. I don’t know much about cars, so much of it goes over my head. lol
No biggie, the Guibo joints and the prop shaft are straightforward and usually easy.
The bolts for the Guibos (flex disc) are usually a fine thread with a self locking nut in a relatively confined space - which can make it more time consuming than it would appear from the casual eye. The center support is easy.
Any idea when you adult daycare shift will be over?
It will depend on the amount of kleenex tissue needed.
Not long I hope
Chris,
It was nice meeting you and helping you last night !
A shout out to Alan Wan as well - the help and humour was greatly appreciated.
Let me know when you want to replace the control arms and I’ll make the time to help you.
Did the exhaust get dropped?
Inquiring minds want to know…
Negative on the exhaust.
Good thing he texted me about needing the inverted or female towx sockets. I brought them from home.
The toughest part was removing the center shaft bearing. This was enlightening…we could use some 13mm press plates for tight clearance items - have to plasma cut those. The selection of sub par 3 arm pullers is about worth their weight in scrap. Friggin useless - but they are shiny and like new (because they don’t work on anything and go unused - great plan) - Time to shop for a variety of great to very good pullers,
Part of the exhaust will have to come off (left pre cat) in the future - if we can drum up someone that would be willing to TIG the crack on his cat - stainless.
We worked around the exhaust by removing the plate that holds the xmsn mount and a small plate in the rear of the tunnel - that allowed enough movement for the two part shaft and replacement of the front and rear guibo joints.
Note, none of the above parts were worn out - they had signs of wear but were still serviceable.
It was a good lesson in propeller shaft maintenance on a European car. and Good for Chris with the intro to air tools, swivel sockets, getting into tight places with air tools instead of hand tools & more.
13mm?
I’ll tig it up. I make no guaruntees but I’ll be happy to give it a go!. Didnt know this was not done!
really? that would be great!
A big thank you to @malcolmputer and @hon1nbo for getting me certified a week ago! I wasn’t checked out on our equipment previously
13mm thick - yes. and plates with similar cutouts - but they would have to span our press and probably need stiffeners under them.
Thicker plates are NOT always the answer’
The pleasure was all mine @TLAR. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to push through to get this done if you had not been there to offer morale support and to give me tips along the way.
I usually start something like this and then end up second guessing everything and never getting anything done. Having you there helped me just push on through knowing that you would have the answers that I needed when I got stuck.
Thanks @yashsedai. Good to see you got certified on the equipment.
I tried to put some muffler putty on it, but it did not hold. Cat’s get way hotter than the rest of the exhaust evidently.
I guess we can talk scheduling next.
Remind me again, is it still attached? Also, next time you can, see if you can get a magnet to stick to it. This way we get the right filler.
I believe the DMS filler we have that is silver in appearance is 302 stainless.