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Date:         Wed, 1 Apr 1998 08:14:22 -0500
Reply-To:     "John H. Rodgers" <inua@QUICKLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "John H. Rodgers" <inua@QUICKLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Syncro Driveshaft Repair (replacement u-joints)
Comments: To: Budd Premack <bpremack@WAVETECH.NET>
Comments: cc: Vanagon <vanagon@zuni.likeminds.com>

-- [ From: John H. Rodgers * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --

Budd, I love a good story on how to get around the ridiculously high cost of parts from dealers. I had similar problem with power steering rack on my 85 GL. Local VW dealer wanted 1200 to R&R the unit, about 750 exchange. I didcovered they had a kit for $150 and put that in. Been good ever since.

Used to fly and old airplane called a Cessna 195. Had a big, wide, heavey instrument panel mounted on dinky little rubber shock absorbers. They were alway sagging and letting the panel sit against the frame, which in turn let vibration play hob with the insturments. Blasted little shock absorbers from Cessna were terrible in their cost.....don't remember exactly any more, but they were out of line. Discovered that the perfect substitute was the shock mounts from a certain Sears Vibrator Sander. Fit perfectly, and didn't have anywhere near the failure rate the factory parts had.

Just goes to show you.

John Rodgers '85 GL Driver -------- REPLY, Original message follows --------

Date: Wednesday, 01-Apr-98 02:57 AM

From: Budd Premack \ Internet: (bpremack@wavetech.net) To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM \ Internet: (vanagon@vanagon.com)

Subject: Syncro Driveshaft Repair (replacement u-joints)

The following details my experiences with repairing my Syncro driveshaft by replacing the u-joints at a reasonable cost of about $ 150. The alternative to this method is to have VW rebuild the driveshaft for $ 700 (VW will not sell just the u-joints), buy a new one for $ 1,000+, or find a good used one for perhaps $ 300. (If you choose to get a used one, be sure it's in good shape, and it wouldn't hurt to balance it prior to mounting it.)

I have waited so long to post this as I wanted to thoroughly test this method prior to recommending it to the List. Since I have had several recent inquiries about my experiences, I felt that it would be appripriate to respond now, even though I do have some minor reservations, which will be indicated later.

If you wonder whether your vibration is being caused by the center driveshaft, just remove 4 bolts in front and 4 bolts in back and slip it off . If you have no more vibration, you have determined the cause of the problem is either bad u-joints, an unbalanced driveshaft, a bad rubber damper on the driveshaft, or some combination. (You will not damage your Syncro by driving it this way.) If you still have vibration, check out your cv joints, transmission, engine mounts, etc.

The rest of this relates to u-joint replacement, which was my problem.

Last summer a driveline vibration was determined to be caused by worn u- joints in the center driveshaft of my 86 Syncro. (130M) I originally thought this would be easy to remedy as u-joints are cheap and readily available, right? Not in this case!

The first driveshaft specialty shop initially ordered u-joints from all three of their suppliers, rejecting each as being too small, even though they were indicated as being the appropriate units for the Syncro. Eventually they chose one set and said they would work if they were painted and peened. I said ok. Bad choice/bad advice. The new u-joints were loose immediately and vibrated, although not as badly as the old ones.

After much research (thanks to some of you Listees), I located the "correct" u-joints. They are made by Bondioli & Pavesi (an Italian company), part # 41203, size 27 x 70 (according to the original box which is in front of me right now). They can be obtained from Six States Distributing of Ogden, UT. Call Tom Wood there at (800) 453-2022. He sold them to me for $ 24 each, plus $ 5 UPS. Always replace both u-joints at the same time! This is not the place to try and save a few $.

For those of you who want further info, the importer for Bondioli & Pavesi is located in Ashland, VA (804) 550-2224. These u-joints are made for the power takeoff unit on farm tractors, but are the "correct" size for Syncros.

You can ship your driveshaft directly to Six States if you want. They told me that they have replaced many Syncro driveshafts from all over. Call them for details.

I chose to get mine done locally, at the other driveline specialty shop in Minneapolis, as I was getting no satisfaction with the first shop.

Contact Todd at Proven Force Clutch and U-Joint (800) 444-0755 or (612) 425-7474. He determined that my initial replacement u-joints had only been painted, and not peened (hammered into place) by the first shop. If they had been peened, they probably would not have loosened up for thousands of miles, although eventually it would have occured.

My Bondioli & Pavesi u-joints were installed in my driveshaft and it was then determined that their cross trunion spacing was wrong. (No, I had never even heard of an uncrossed trunion before.) In effect, the internal width of the center portion of the u-joint was about 1/16" too small, which would cause much looseness and vibration upon installation and normal driving torque.

After much creative thought and searching, Todd and his crew agreed with my uninformed suggestion, i.e., "Why not just add a washer on each end to make it fit properly?" However, this has to be a high tech type of washer/spacer , so that the grease does not leak out. They located a firm in CA which made such a device, and ordered it so that they could custom make washers of the correct size.

Two weeks later, the device arrived, the washers (designated as a 910 shim kit) were fabricated, and the u-joints were installed on my driveshaft. CAUTION: Be sure that you have the driveshaft balanced at this point. Do not neglect this step!

My driveshaft was then reinstalled on my Syncro (which had been happily driven as a de facto two wheel drive Van for two months). Naturally, there was no driveline vibration during this period as there was no driveline to vibrate. Of couse, I only had the appearance of driving a Syncro, since the viscous coupling and front differential were not connected to the engine during this period.

Total cost for the installation of the u-joints, fabrication of the shims, and balancing of the driveshaft was $ 90. Todd (of Proven Force) will be happy to accept driveshafts by UPS from anywhere and will return them to you the same way. Obviously, this will increase your cost by about $ 20-30 (round trip shipping).

I am happy to recommend Todd and the gang at Proven Force. The guys there were friendly, capable, and certainly happy to resolve my problem, even though they had never seen it (or me) before.

Since then, I have driven my Syncro for about 7000 miles, including a 4500 mile MN-CA trip last month. Everything has held together quite well, EXCEPT that there appears to be some looseness in the rear u-joint, which has a very minor vibration at speeds from about 25-60 mph. (This was determined prior to my trip, but I was advised to drive it as it did not appear to be getting any worse.) Since my trip was almost all at speeds in excess of 65 mph, this was not a major concern. In fact, it did not loosen any further during the trip. However, I will soon be going back to Proven Force to inquire about the slight looseness. This minor vibration is why I have not given my full recommendation prior to this time.

If there are any other Listees who have resolved this matter in another way, please post to the List, as my p-mail has shown that this is a problem sooner or later for many Syncros.

Budd Premack 87 Wolfsburg, 86 Syncro, 84 Vanagon (son's) 73 Super, 64 Bug Minneapolis, MN

-------- REPLY, End of original message --------


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