Driveline rebuilt Driveshaft worth the $?

[hayes3054]

Does anyone have experience with Driveline out of Portland, OR? They advertise that they rebuild the driveshaft with serviceable u-joints and give you a 5 year warrantee for about $400. I recently acquired an E30 with a shudder under load.

[jlevie]

I've used them and have been really pleased with their quality & service.

[hayes3054]

Yea, it seemed like a top notch outfit. When I talked to the guy he didn't seem to think my problem was with the driveshaft. I explained that I had heavy vibration in first and second gear when accelerating hard. He said since it was only at low speeds it probably wasn't driveshaft related. To me it seems like bad u-joints would cause this. Any ideas? What's the best way to check the u-joints? I know I have to remove the heat shield and then?

Thanks,
Mike

[Nosser]

I'm relatively new to E30s but based on my RWD Volvo experience sounds like a failing center support bearing. While you're in there, you'll probably want to replace the flex disc at the trans output as well.

[jlevie]

If the noise is only present when in the lower gears and using a generous amount of throttle the cause is likely to be a failure of the Center Support Bearing mount. And that failure is almost always due to binding drive shaft u-joints. The only way the check the u-joints is with the drive shaft out of the car, but if the CSB mount is torn you can be pretty sure that the drive shaft needs to be replaced.