My shaft is so long. Jealous?

[AxiOn419]

Hope you guys didnt take the topic the wrong way but seriously, my driveshaft may be too long.

Ever since my rb20 swap I have been getting a very irritating rattling sounds when leaving in 1st and pretty much whenever the car is moving.

Took the car to my uncles today, put it up on his lift and had him give it the once over. He said the driveshaft is too long, there is absolutley no room between the dust cover and the end of the transmission, none. Actually, when i first started driving the car the other day I heard a scraping noise and I am now assuming it was the dust cover scraping against the transmission.

Do I need a new driveshaft? Or can I just remove the dust cover and give it enough room?

My uncle says I may have damaged the transmission, but I really hope not. As of right now its shifting fine and everything though there is some gear oil leaking out around the rear of the transmission.

My car is an s13 HICAS (abs), and I am pretty sure the driveshaft I am using is from a 180sx. Is there a difference between the 180sx and 240sx shaft?

Thanks

Here is a picture I just took:

[nizmo zilvia]

Your SUPPOSE to trim the dust cover!! My friend removed it but I recommend keeping for semi protection.

[AxiOn419]

Your SUPPOSE to trim the dust cover!! My friend removed it but I recommend keeping for semi protection.

Does it look like the drive shaft is a good fit other than the dust cover?? What exactly do you trim? I was going to try and remove it.

[AxiOn419]

Could you guys tell me if the picture I posted looks normal? Does everything appear to be OK there?

[Joe]

Your SUPPOSE to trim the dust cover!! My friend removed it but I recommend keeping for semi protection.

who the hell told you that?!

and AxiOn419, you need a new driveshaft or you need to have yours shortened. dont half *** it.

[240wootie]

i made my own driveshaft, i need to have it balanced. I made my own because i made custom mounts to get my engine as far back as i could and clear the steering shaft. I removed my dust shield and got a dual-lipped seal. go to a KAMAN or a bearing and seal shop. its 35mm ID and 70mm OD seal... works great for me

[AxiOn419]

Does anyone have an ABS 5-speed driveshaft for sale? The driveshaft in my car is not for an ABS car. This s13 was an auto and the 5-speed driveshaft I have now is from a non-abs car. Maybe that is my problem.

Kamin, any idea what the average cost is to have a driveshaft shortend?

Does anyone have pictures of how their driveshaft fits into their transmission? I would like to see for comparison purposes.

If I remove the dust shield, would that help my situation at all?

[BoostFab]

try an s14 shaft w/ abs; ti's shorter than the s13

[AxiOn419]

I will search for one. So, does this seem to be my problem. Is it safe for me to assume that before I purchase a driveshaft?

Having a non-abs driveshaft in an ABS car?

[BoostFab]

it's the hicas; why dont you use the shaft that was off your car???

[AxiOn419]

This hicas car was an automatic, so I can not use the drive shaft from it.

The the driveshaft I am using now came from my wreck s13 w/rb20 (non hicas, non abs) , I just swapped everything over to my new s13 which was an automatic hicas car. Didnt even think about drive shaft differences.

I thought the difference was in the differential due to a bit of length at the tip because of some sort of speed sensor for the ABS?

[BoostFab]

compare the 2 halfs of the shaft; the mid section can be separated, if one piece is shorter, you can swap it; worth a try

[nizmo zilvia]

who the hell told you that?!

Someone thats done these jobs numerous of times. Plus its common sense. If it don't fit what are you suppose to do? Pray to god it does? If you don't trim it you'll have lots of smoking coming from your drive shaft because the bolts are pressing against it. I've had first hand experience with this and I wasn't going to spend $400 or so on a drive shaft when I could just trim it a bit. All problems solved and works like a charm.

[Darius]

I know this has been covered somewhere in the archives, but I can't remember for certain. What is the recommended gap between the driveshaft yolk face and the oil seal on the transmission? Isn't it supposed to be like 1/4" or something close to that?

[AxiOn419]

I will measure the back half of the shaft and see if that would help at all. I think at the very least I am going to need a new oil seal at the rear of the transmission, any idea where to get one or what is interchangeable with it?

Anyone want to trade an abs driveshaft for a nonabs shaft + cash? I am in a bind here and I am trying to avoid shelling out $300+ for a 1 piece driveshaft.

Nizmo zilvia, I did not get any smoke from my driveshaft, though I did hear a scraping noise which I am assuming was from the dust cover. If I remove the dust cover it will I still dont think it will work.

[nizmo zilvia]

I just looked at your picture again and it looks like the drive shaft does go into the dust cover. Correct? See mine I had bolts hitting against the dust cover allowing it not to go in which would lead to transmission fluid leakage. Thats why I said trim it a bit so the bolts don't rub against it causing it to create smoke.

Do you have any other pictures?

[AxiOn419]

At the moment I do not have any other picture, I am at work and did not drive the car today because I do not want to damage anything further.

So, are you saying this driveshaft could work even though it is a non-abs driveshaft in an abs car?

Is the concern that the input shaft of the driveshaft is too far into the transmission or rather the face of the driveshaft is hitting the transmission?

My uncle had mentioned too me that the internals of the transmission would be damaged by this and that is what i am worried about.

[240z4u]

Well, if your trans is already damaged whats the difference now honestly? Get the driveshaft situation sorted out first then worry about the transmission.

Since the rear end in a 240 is IRS the pumpkin to tailshaft change in distance is very small when parts are moving. Unlike a solid rear axle that moves with the suspension. I would think very minimal damage IMO.

How long did you drive it?

Every one piece driveshaft I have had made (and I have had a few) they typically leave a half inch or so of space between the trans and the driveshaft. I had to pull my dust seal because the spicer joints were so big that they would not fit inside.

This leads me to my next question, how did you install a driveshaft that is too long without using excessive force? You should not have had to shove/pry/jam anything into place.

I am pretty sure a KA rear transmission seal may work. Same d-shaft and all..

Evan

I am not threatened by your cars Ron Jeremy like stature.

[AxiOn419]

I have drove the car for only about 2 days and maybe put 100ish miles on it.

When installing the driveshaft, there really was no issue. The bolt holes on the hanger that holds the carrier bearing were like a 1/4inch off but that was the only real trouble I had. Which now that you asked, makes me think. On the ABS driveshaft, is the shaft shorter on the front or back portion? Its coming back to me now. I think I had to sort of pull the carrier bearing back in order to get it bolted up, but not by much at all. As I was typing this paragraph it was all coming back to me like a revelation or something, kind of makes sense now.

So, should I even try removing the dust shield or continue to search for an OEM ABS driveshaft which seems almost impossible to find.

I will measure my automatic abs driveshaft and see if the length of the back portion is shorter than the back portion of the m/t shaft. If by chance it is then I will mate them together, but I am not counting on that being the case.

[BoostFab]

i recommend 1/2" play is needed in the driveshaft yoke in the transmission

[Acecool]

shaftmasters said to remove the dust cover because it becomes useless with an aftermarket shaft, because it needs a dust cover on the shaft and transmission for it to work...

[nizmo zilvia]

shaftmasters said to remove the dust cover because it becomes useless with an aftermarket shaft, because it needs a dust cover on the shaft and transmission for it to work...

So you need it or you dont? Im going to take a guess and say you dont need it.

[Acecool]

You do NOT need the dust cover as it serves NO purpose anymore with an aftermarket shaft, because the aftermarket shaft does not have the second piece for that dust cover to work... so the only thing the dust cover will do is trap dust...

[AxiOn419]

Alright.. if I remove the dust cover from the transmission, will that give me the room I need? Or should I continue my search for an OEM 5-speed ABS driveshaft?

Remember, this is an ABS car with a non-abs driveshaft and that is the issue.

I am using an OEM driveshaft. I never got a chance to check the back half of the automatic driveshaft, but like I said before, I am not counting on that to work.

[nizmo zilvia]

^ Im still confused on your setup. Does your drive shaft go into the dust cover? Or does it STOP your drive shaft from going in? If it goes inside the dust cover your drive shaft is too long and you will need to replace it with a shorter one that will allow some room. But if the dust cover STOPS it from going is then you can remove the dust cover or better yet trim it a bit.

From the picture you posted it looks like you will need to get another piece for the drive shaft as this one already maxes out by touching your transmission which can cause damage.

[AxiOn419]

The driveshaft is in the transmission. The carrier bearing is bolted up and everything. I have drove atleast 100 miles with it like this.

I took some more pictures: