isaac
The Isaac
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2002
- Location
- Hurricane River Street, FL
Crazy idea inside!
So the 277,000 mile 89 244DL I just bought with an AW70 in it runs great except the driveshaft clearly is making some noise. It goes away on coast, comes on under acceleration, and stays there as soon as I'm up to freeway speed.
Seems like this could be fixed as quickly as just raising the rear of the car up (it's definitely sagging from the miles) and get the driveshaft more lined up so it wouldn't flex the u-joints on every revolution.
But then there's the other idea: on my 90 BMW 52(3)5 (with M30 swap) it suddenly developed sticky steering very rapidly. It'd get stiff every quarter turn of the wheel, then go loose, then stiff, then loose. Somebody mentioned the steering shaft u-joint could be worn out. Of course this being Bimmerforums they said that it needed to be replaced.
So I came up with a plan that went like this:
1) Get sandwich-sized ziplock bag
2) Cut slits down the two folded edges of the bag, from the mouth working straight down the seam until just a little past halfway
3) Slip the bag over the steering shaft at the u-joint
4) Get a grease gun and go nuts just covering that u-joint in grease
5) Seal the bag, then duct tape it fully sealed at the zipper and on the sides to keep it tightly shut.
6) Ziptie it tight to the shaft to get the grease "pressed" into the u-joints.
I did that and a few days later my steering shaft was as good as new. No more tightness at all. I just left the bag on there and it hasn't leaked.
So the real question here is whether it could be adapted to a u-joint on a driveshaft. Clearly there's a centripetal force issue here, both in that it could sling the bag off, and it would continuously be trying to spin the grease outward award from the bearings in the u-joint. That said, the design of those u-joints is identical to my steering shaft u-joint, so I don't see how it wouldn't work if the grease could be kept in contact with the joint for long enough.
Ideas? (keeping in mind this thread is about being a cheapass so don't say "just go to a JY" or something. That's obvious)
So the 277,000 mile 89 244DL I just bought with an AW70 in it runs great except the driveshaft clearly is making some noise. It goes away on coast, comes on under acceleration, and stays there as soon as I'm up to freeway speed.
Seems like this could be fixed as quickly as just raising the rear of the car up (it's definitely sagging from the miles) and get the driveshaft more lined up so it wouldn't flex the u-joints on every revolution.
But then there's the other idea: on my 90 BMW 52(3)5 (with M30 swap) it suddenly developed sticky steering very rapidly. It'd get stiff every quarter turn of the wheel, then go loose, then stiff, then loose. Somebody mentioned the steering shaft u-joint could be worn out. Of course this being Bimmerforums they said that it needed to be replaced.
So I came up with a plan that went like this:
1) Get sandwich-sized ziplock bag
2) Cut slits down the two folded edges of the bag, from the mouth working straight down the seam until just a little past halfway
3) Slip the bag over the steering shaft at the u-joint
4) Get a grease gun and go nuts just covering that u-joint in grease
5) Seal the bag, then duct tape it fully sealed at the zipper and on the sides to keep it tightly shut.
6) Ziptie it tight to the shaft to get the grease "pressed" into the u-joints.
I did that and a few days later my steering shaft was as good as new. No more tightness at all. I just left the bag on there and it hasn't leaked.
So the real question here is whether it could be adapted to a u-joint on a driveshaft. Clearly there's a centripetal force issue here, both in that it could sling the bag off, and it would continuously be trying to spin the grease outward award from the bearings in the u-joint. That said, the design of those u-joints is identical to my steering shaft u-joint, so I don't see how it wouldn't work if the grease could be kept in contact with the joint for long enough.
Ideas? (keeping in mind this thread is about being a cheapass so don't say "just go to a JY" or something. That's obvious)