I had the car taken to a garage for rear main seal replacement, and obviosly the prop had to come off and be put back on again for this.

 

As soon as I drove out of the garage I had the vibration. Comes in at about 40mph +, felt through the seat, much worse then its cold, calms down when warmed up.

 

Not sure why it failed after being removed and refitted.

 

The Bearing is'nt cheap (about £120 + Labour), so are there ways to check if its the cuprit before I replace it ?

 

I read that sometimes a failed rear gearbox mount can be the problem (gearbox drops slightly, moving prop out of alignment), but presumably this is'nt something that would be affected by heat/cold, like mine is ?

 

Cheers

Seems to have the symptoms of a centre prop bearing on its way out.

 

Why it would be causing probs now could be a number of reasons. Possibly the bearing was wearing anyway and disturbing it can accelerate the problem. Maybe the assembly was dropped or just not re-fitted properly?

 

First thing to do is get it back up on a ramp and check everything is fitted correctly and is tight. You can tell if the centre prop bearing has gone buy the fact it will be sagging in its housing and the rubber surrounding's will be worn. Get a pinch bar in on the shaft and see if you can move it about. A good bearing will move but expect lots from a shot bearing.

 

When a prop bearing is on the way out the vibrations will usually fade out about 60+ mph. If the vibration continues to worsen i'd be looking at shaft alighnment or gearbox.

 

Has the car had the centre prop bearing replaced yet? chances are if not it will need doing.

 

Hope that helps

 

Andy :)

if it suddenly went then chances are it wasn't refitted correctly. The manual says that when refitting the runout should be checked. I think most people tend to mark the prop at both ends so that they can put it back the same way as it came off.

 

Someone more techincal should be able to explain or say that I'm talking rubbish :)

if it suddenly went then chances are it wasn't refitted correctly. The manual says that when refitting the runout should be checked. I think most people tend to mark the prop at both ends so that they can put it back the same way as it came off.

 

Someone more techincal should be able to explain or say that I'm talking rubbish :)

 

 

That is 100% correct.

It would be my guess that it must of been fitted incorrectly. Bearing looked fine when it was off the car. If the prop was fitted without marking and realigning the prop the way it came out, how can I refit it the correct way (if no markings were made?) ?

 

Thanks

It would be my guess that it must of been fitted incorrectly. Bearing looked fine when it was off the car. If the prop was fitted without marking and realigning the prop the way it came out, how can I refit it the correct way (if no markings were made?) ?

 

Thanks

 

From my experience whenever I've droped the prop and marked it up, it always goes back and alignment is spot on. You can check that by clocking it in. I do this by mounting a dial indicator clock to the bottom of the car and place the indicator of the clock on a smooth part of the shaft(one end at a time) Expect runout to be no worse than 0.001".

 

If its worse then loosen the bolts but not all the way and knock the shaft with a hide hammer in the direction it needs to go. Once running true then torque the bolts up. If you cant get the run out that good then remove the shaft and relocate it in a different fase and repeat the process. Bit of an ass but just trial and error i'm affraid.

 

Andy

The propshaft support bearing is fixed to the floorpan with two bolts and two large spacers which fit between the floorpan and the bearing carrier.

 

It is not uncommon to see these spacers fitted under the head of the bolts by mistake, this raises the prop some 5mm or so, in turn vibration can occur as the prop is too high.

 

Take a look with a torch from the diff end, look over the top of the exhaust and cat shield, you should be able to make out the spacers, if they are not between the propshaft support and the floor pan then that is your problem, moving the exhaust and cat covers should give you access to correct the problem.

 

Hope that helps

 

 

Jeff TT