Date:         Mon, 05 Feb 1996 13:00:01 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Hoge <steveh@emu.com>
Subject:      Syncro Driveshaft Shot!

This post is for my fellow Syncronaut Larry, who's not (yet!) on the
list.

For the last 1000 miles or so Larry's '87 Syncro has experienced a
"shudder" type of vibration which seemed to come and go, day to day, RPM
to RPM, speed to speed.  He put all new tires on it which didn't seem to
affect the problem in any consistent way.  We brainstormed about it,
with the locus of our paranoia being the dreaded Viscous Coupling.

The long and short of it is that Larry noticed alot of play in the
universal joint at the tranny end of the drive shaft, and last night I
helped him pull it off (leaving him temporarily with a 2WD Syncro - any
problem driving it in this mode?).  We were careful to mark the original
alignment for reassembly purposes.

Looking at the U-joint, one of the 4 sets of bearings was completely
shot.  We removed the rubber doughnut from the drive shaft and then
removed the U-joint from the doughnut, sliding it's center rod out of
the drive shaft.  The bearing was definitely shot, and looked like it
had been that way for awhile, with broken metal and pieces of needle
bearing coming out, and discoloration seeming to indicate that it had
gotten "real hot" along the way.

SO...Bentley claims that this U-joint is not available as a replacement
part.  This seems strange, given that it was quite easy to remove.
Also, the rubber doughnut coupling was IDENTICAL to the rubber coupling
we found on a BMW driveshaft that he had lying around, so if the rubber
doughnut is a standard OEM part it suggests that the U-joint might be
too.  We couldn't find the U-joint on our Syncro microfiche, but then
again we couldn't find the driveshaft itself, either, so that doesn't
say much (except about our microfiche skills.)

Anybody know if the U-joint is really a replaceable and available part,
and if there's an OEM equivalent?  Alternatively, has anybody out there
who has replaced their driveshaft know the part number and/or cost of a
new one?  (Or got the old one still hanging around with a U-joint left
on it ;-) ?  No doubt these are hard-to-find items at *any* price.

Larry thanks you in advance...

Steve Hoge
'77 AutoLoaf  (Da Rust Bucket)
'89 Syncro GL (Da sticky shifter)