Me vs. Mechanic: How Difficult to Remove Front Driveshaft? (TC to Front Diff)

[iXerces]

UPDATE

THE GOOD NEWS:Two days ago (with the help of my uncle) we did the entire job in about an hour. Very easy as you all said and the splines looked great considering they have 192K on them (will post photos later).

Don't know what to make of my mechanic in Fargo since with little to go on but this thread we figured it all out just by looking at it. If anybody wants to know where I took the car PM me and I can give you more thoughts/details.

THE BAD NEWS... With mere hours-old lube on the driveshaft I was rear ended tonight by some idiot racing through a congested construction zone during a downpour. Watched the entire thing happen in my rear view mirror with concrete barricades to my right, oncoming traffic to my left, and a dozen cars at a standstill right in front of me. It was one of those, "Oh man this guy is going way to fast for these conditions... Oh boy I think he's probably gonna hit me... Oh please I hear the brakes locking up I hope he stops in tim-BOOOOM!!!" Thankfully I wasn't hurt, but the car is banged up pretty good.

The damage looks superficial (totally crumpled bumper, smashed lower valance, compressed passenger rear fender, banged up tail lights) but I won't really know more until tomorrow when I can see more in the light of day. Seems to drive OK but I notice some shimmy/sounds that weren't there before. Wish me luck. Really hoping I can just get the thing repaired ASAP without much trouble, but time will tell. Hoping for the best and expecting the worst.

[Mauiwowi]

well I'm not sure if there was another way to remove front output shaft from TC to FD.. Somebody mentioned once that It can be done by removing front diff? I think its pretty difficult way too..

Here's the way I used

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=277134

Greasing the splines was the one reason why I made new shaft head with Grease plug ;D

badasss

[iXerces]

I'm going to get the parts together for a shim (or maybe one of Juuso's shafts if he still has them) and get to it this summer. I've got a working space lined up once I free us both from this frozen tundra.

I am so sick of the winter I don't even take the car out anymore for snowy joyrides.

[Q5Quint]

you are 100% wrong. if the driveshaft splines are stripped you don't do anything different, it comes out just the same.

the funny thing is you are completely wrong and then you use a picture I took 12 years ago as proof. lol

I think I also saw your picture about 12 years ago. I squirted milk out my nose when I read this. Just fyi.

At one point I thought I had stripped splines due to a clunk-clunk up front, but it turned out I had stripped teeth off my front differential. Now that I know how all that stuff goes together.... I know you could change all of it in about 3-4 hours. I am talking front half shafts, front diff, front driveshaft etc. They probably just quoted you the worst case scenario so they could play it safe.

What if they took the driveshaft out and saw that the splines inside your front diff were eaten out? Then their quote seems about right or even low.

Remove dampener, wiggle front driveshaft out, check splines, add shim kit. Should take about 30min on the side of the highway. I think I did mine over a little ditch so I didn't even need to use jack stands. It is just 6 bolts , man!

Also, thanks for keeping up an ix. Labor of love.

[iXerces]

Theyre screwing you for additional money.. taking advantage because clearly you dont sound knowledgeable. It took me an honest 7 minutes to completely remove my driveshaft yesterday (my cars already on stands). There is absolutely no moving of shit involved, especially the exhaust, its on the other side of the engine!.. the shops jipping you, you sound passive, they didnt want to simply tell you your car was fine and the splines were fine.. after they greased it. Because they put it on the lift and did it, dp you think they wanted to walk away with a 60$ service on such a "unique old BMW"... "NO NO, lets tell him something completely wild and confuse him talking about things he wont understand anyway" because you drive an awd.. for whatever reasom the shop will mark up your parts fees and services to bank alittle extra off your ignorance. Its sad.. but I wouldnt pay them more than an hours worth of labor and THAT would be a nice tip!... worst case scenario could only be a stripped gear and shaft. That would easily come out regardless. They saw a good opportunity to screw you. Its like when I get quoted 680$ to do a fucking clutch slave cylinder back some years ago. I got the car home, bought a brand new slave for 18$, legit 15 minutes of install time. (2 bolts!!!) I drove back to the shop 2 days later in my car and flamed him out for claiming it would take him 4 days to do the job, and how bullshit all his other made up claims were. He almost swallowed his tongue. Dont pay a penny until you get a general consesus as to why everything else was fucked with. Sounds like a scam beyond all. I hate these guys!

It could be the case that they are purposefully screwing me, but I've never seen any other evidence of that. I think I got what I paid for in the grand scheme of the other work they were doing. They called me up, told me they were having problems and we decided to stop the work. They ended up charging me only for changing the transfer case fluid and the little extra time they had in it. I figured not worth an argument. I might be somewhat passive, but I also am a natural and conscious optimist when dealing with others.

This is the bargain that I have made. I don't own a home or have access to a garage that I can work in, and live downtown in a cold climate. There was maintenance that I wanted done to the car that I am pretty sure I could have wrenched it myself, but because of a lack of space, tools, time, and warm temperatures I decided to pay somebody else to do it.

It is true that I don't have that much knowledge (certainly first had anyway), which is why I came here. Once I move south in a couple months I hope to remedy that.

Thanks for everybody that replied. The car is doing well and I even picked up a few iX specific spare parts in the Twin Cities over the weekend. My intention is to keep her in the best shape I can manage, even if I need to pay someone to do it.

[nando]

well I'm not sure if there was another way to remove front output shaft from TC to FD.. Somebody mentioned once that It can be done by removing front diff? I think its pretty difficult way too..

Here's the way I used

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=277134

Greasing the splines was the one reason why I made new shaft head with Grease plug ;D

you could but you have to remove the flex disc either way so I have no idea why you'd pull the whole diff - the only reason I can think of is if you had extended driveshaft splines. but personally I think dropping the t-case might actually be easier than messing around with the front suspension!

[Dj Buttchug]

he is completely wrong. as a general rule, ignore everything this guy says.

lol so much this on all levels

[jute91]

well I'm not sure if there was another way to remove front output shaft from TC to FD.. Somebody mentioned once that It can be done by removing front diff? I think its pretty difficult way too..

Here's the way I used

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=277134

Greasing the splines was the one reason why I made new shaft head with Grease plug ;D

[imwhyteyo]

you are 100% wrong. if the driveshaft splines are stripped you don't do anything different, it comes out just the same.

the funny thing is you are completely wrong and then you use a picture I took 12 years ago as proof. lol

Hahah... looks like he ran off to put some water on that burn.

[imwhyteyo]

Theyre screwing you for additional money.. taking advantage because clearly you dont sound knowledgeable. It took me an honest 7 minutes to completely remove my driveshaft yesterday (my cars already on stands). There is absolutely no moving of shit involved, especially the exhaust, its on the other side of the engine!.. the shops jipping you, you sound passive, they didnt want to simply tell you your car was fine and the splines were fine.. after they greased it. Because they put it on the lift and did it, dp you think they wanted to walk away with a 60$ service on such a "unique old BMW"... "NO NO, lets tell him something completely wild and confuse him talking about things he wont understand anyway" because you drive an awd.. for whatever reasom the shop will mark up your parts fees and services to bank alittle extra off your ignorance. Its sad.. but I wouldnt pay them more than an hours worth of labor and THAT would be a nice tip!... worst case scenario could only be a stripped gear and shaft. That would easily come out regardless. They saw a good opportunity to screw you. Its like when I get quoted 680$ to do a fucking clutch slave cylinder back some years ago. I got the car home, bought a brand new slave for 18$, legit 15 minutes of install time. (2 bolts!!!) I drove back to the shop 2 days later in my car and flamed him out for claiming it would take him 4 days to do the job, and how bullshit all his other made up claims were. He almost swallowed his tongue. Dont pay a penny until you get a general consesus as to why everything else was fucked with. Sounds like a scam beyond all. I hate these guys!

[iXerces]

There are DIY's around... find one with good photos, print it out and take it to the garage.

I've seen lots of DIY for the front driveshaft shim, but they all seem to mostly skip over the removal because it is so "easy." If you or anybody could point me to a removal specific DIY that would be very helpful. I will also stay on the hunt.

I thought this would be a no brainer for the pros. If it is as easy as this and other forums and postings suggest, I just don't understand how they could get it so wrong. Maybe they just got confused and/or nervous. They made some appeal to the "database" but I don't know exactly what that meant.

I'm pretty curious as to what they are going to tell me tomorrow when I go to pick up the car.

Thanks to everybody who has replied.

[Todd Black 88]

Don't Indy shops run on "all data" down there, or do they just "wing it"?

[The Dark Side of Will]

There are DIY's around... find one with good photos, print it out and take it to the garage.

[nando]

it's probably just ignorance. they may have never worked on one before and been burned by similar experiences in the past. they'll have to figure out how to pull the shaft on their own, and even if it's easy they aren't going to know that until they actually look at it.

[iXerces]

Thanks nando. Though I am happy to learn that my splines might still be OK, I'm not thrilled with what this might mean about the garage I am using.

What on Earth could the problem have been? I want to chalk it up to some kind of ignorance on their part rather than malice. Sadly, neither is encouraging. For 30-60 min it was probably worth it for me personally to just pay them to do it, but not to now have that sinking feeling.