derekdee Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Hello everyone. I bought an 88 Subaru GL about three months ago making it my DD instead of driving my 06 STi. I bought it for 500 bucks, yet have dropped in new wheel bearings, cv axles, front and rear brakes, pads, shoes and rotors, new ball joints, a new tie rod, fuel filter, plugs, coils, distributor and rotor... I could keep naming parts, but the part in question is the driveshaft. When I bought it, initially at high speeds, in fifth gear, the shifter would rattle. Within the past couple months, it has progressively worsened. And this week, the shifter rattles in every gear. I got under the car today after cutting out the gearbox, and using the driveshaft to pull myself under the car, noticed it shifted about an inch upon pulling on it. I discovered that the front ujoint has one of the pins missing to hold it centered. Therefore at speed, it spins unevenly and is hitting the shifter. My question to all of you would be: can I simply slam a roll pin in there or will I need to replace that third of the shaft? I called the dealership, they mentioned that I would have to replace the shaft costing 500 bones. No thanks. Also read on this site that people are replacing the ujoints specifically, how? Gonna hit up my buddy who is a mechanic tomorrow and also call the pick and pull to see if they have this specific portion of the shaft. Any help is appreciated, mainly because I blew my motor on my sti running 26 psi, 406 whp on the stock block. rod bearing and a ringland. My luck with cars this year is horrible, granted I'm learning alot doing the work myself, but could definitely use a couple of no maintenance months in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Rockford driveline sells replaceable ujoints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 The u-joint you want is a #430-10 and they run about $30 a piece and any driveshaft shop can get them. The driveline you have doesn't have serviceable u-joints..at least they're not suppose to be. Here's instructions on how they are replaced http://rockforddriveline.com/Staked_Instructions.htm If your u-joint has been rattling around in the yoke, you probably needs a new yoke, which means you may as well get a new driveline from the JY. I just bought the whole thing last month in great shape for $60. If its the rear part of the shaft(carrier bearing back), you can remove your driveshaft at the flange behind the carrier bearing and at the rear diff and drive it around just fine, just don't remove the part from the carrier bearing forward or you'll lose your tranny fluid at the slip yoke. If it is on the front half of the shaft, get it fixed soon or find another ride till it is fixed...if your shaft breaks on the highway say goodbye to your floor pans..worse case scenario, you lose a driveline and it plants itself in the ground and you flip over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekdee Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 Ended up getting a used driveshaft from the pick and pull for 30 dollars. Figure I can repair the ujoint on the broken one and have a spare just in case. Also scored a perfect driver's seat for a grand total of 70 bucks. Now I just have to figure out what the creaking noise while the wheels are turning. I replaced the front wheel bearings, ball joints and a tie rod on the passenger side. One other question, I was looking at thread for the guy who recently bought an 88, noticed he had two belts running on his accessory pulleys. I'm positive that I only have one running, power steering pump and alternator. Is this most likely the reason why my AC isn't working? Are these three accessories ran on separate belts? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Ended up getting a used driveshaft from the pick and pull for 30 dollars. Figure I can repair the ujoint on the broken one and have a spare just in case. Also scored a perfect driver's seat for a grand total of 70 bucks. Now I just have to figure out what the creaking noise while the wheels are turning. I replaced the front wheel bearings, ball joints and a tie rod on the passenger side. One other question, I was looking at thread for the guy who recently bought an 88, noticed he had two belts running on his accessory pulleys. I'm positive that I only have one running, power steering pump and alternator. Is this most likely the reason why my AC isn't working? Are these three accessories ran on separate belts? Thanks. Nice, for the price of a u-joint you got the whole thing! Is the creaking noise coming from the front, back, under the car? Right after I replaced my front bearings, a new squeak developed. I put the front of the car on stands and put it in gear to watch and listen to the tires turning..no sqeak..Lifted the two rears and turned the driveshaft by hand and found my bad u-joint. The seal was compromised on one side and the other was too stiff and squeaky, so it could be your u-joints. I'd also check to make sure your hubs are tight One belt is normal, but I think you need two to effectively turn the A/C compressor Welcome to the USMB:grin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekdee Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 It's a clunking noise that only seems to appear at slow speeds. It's especially obvious when coming to a stop. It's coming from the front, right side. Thinking its the axle I already replaced less than a month ago. It's definitely a clunking noise though. This car is killin me, every week its something new. Thanks for the help though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 It's a clunking noise that only seems to appear at slow speeds. It's especially obvious when coming to a stop. It's coming from the front, right side. Thinking its the axle I already replaced less than a month ago. It's definitely a clunking noise though. This car is killin me, every week its something new. Thanks for the help though. Was it a remaned axle? they're notorious for going bad quick or even right out of the box. It could be a bad bushing or ball joint too. Before pointing the dirty stick at the axles, I'd get it on stands and put it in gear, you'll know right away. Also try pulling the tire back and forth and in and out by hand to check everything else. You'll get through it! When I got my 87 GL, first thing I did was put a weber on it, and then a week later the driver side front wheel tried falling off(spindle nut flew off) while going 45...It spent a while on stands while I replaced an axle, front bearings, brake pads, a hub, steering rack and a ball joint. I resealed the oil pump and then I needed a new driveline 2 weeks after getting back on the road....Cluster F#cks tend to happen in clusters, but once your through it, its all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekdee Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Never jacked up a car and put it in gear, guess I've never had to. Sounds like a good way to figure out the culprit. Do you have someone else gas it while you're observing? And yea, when I originally replaced the cv's, I used three remanufactured ones. One other spun the roll pin and wore out the inside. What do you think about heading down to the pick and pull for a used axle if that's the case? Also, is resealing the oil pump difficult? I bought the seals, obviously because of that ticking... Figured in a couple hundred more miles I'll change the seals while I change the oil/filter. And its good to hear that someone else has shared the same degree of misery. I lost a wheel pulling out of the driveway in this thing because the steering knuckle wasn't completely bolted to the balljoint. Good times! Just glad that these situations don't happen at speed. Thanks for the advice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Putting a car on stands is a great way to see whats going on when things are turning. I've never needed to do any inspecting while things are really turning, so I just put it in first and let it idle. I guess if you need more speed, just put it right in 4th or 5th. Be safe though, securely chock the wheels, if the rear two are on the ground and have an idea what would happen if it did take off. A good practice is to have something solid in front of the car so if it took off, it would stop the car and the motor would stall or chain it to a post. The difference between a dangerous situation and a situation of elevated danger is paying attention. The JY are great places to get original subaru axles, they're the best quality and I've heard of guys rebuilding them at home with great success. Just look for green cups, those are OEM Subaru. Resealing the oil punp isn't hard, but getting the belt covers off can be interesting. After reading posts here, I yanked them off and threw them away...They don't really do much and with them off, inspections happen all the time and changing a belt in the future takes 5-10mins.. Once the fan adn covers are off its something like 4 or 5 bolts and the oil pump comes out of the front of the motor...replacing the seals is just swapping a couple o-rings, then put it back in and your done. Get any seal you can from the dealer(except the head gaskets), they're cheaper than napa/carquest and the best fit and quality. Go to the dealer for hoses too. My tire REALLY wanted to got into oncoming traffic. The only thing that kept it on was the brake rotor and the uneven force on the brake pad left a good gouge in it:eek:. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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