I bought a driveshaft for my El Camino down in St. Louis last spring…… not thinking to ask the seller whether the car it came out of was auto or standard (turns out a standard is about 4” longer). I pulled the driveshaft out of my automatic parts car up in Canada. I’m planning on cleaning it up and replacing the U-joints and carrier bearing before bringing it down with me when I come down for Thanksgiving. I’ve never dealt with a two piece driveshaft before. Just wondering if someone could advise how I replace the bearing. Thanks in advance! Allan Oh….. if anyone needs a manual transmission driveshaft….. I have one!
Once you have dismantled the U/joints in the middle of the shaft, you will notice a bolt head in the center.. Remove the bolt, NOTE...... MARK THE YOKE IN RELATION TO THE SHAFT. The yoke will then tap/slide off the splines, then the bearing can be tapped/pressed off.. The bearing should a nice snug fit and not require too much effort to remove..
What I've done on ALL my X frame cars was to take it in to a drive shaft shop. I had them lengthen the front shaft and put in a slip yoke in the rear shaft (If I remember correctly). It alleviates most of the stress on the carrier bearing, having daily driven my Elco for 15 years, I got used to replacing the carrier bearing a lot (the rubber blows out). The last one was my '64 panel truck that I daily drove for about 8 or 9 years and had to replace the bearing once and I was using cheap AutoZone carrier bearings. Over the years (and different vehicles) my friend and I tried different fixes (except the polyurethane carrier), silicone inside the rubber, welding tabs to keep the rubber in, plus major adjusting and the only thing that would work was the slip yoke......this testing was in x frame and non x frame cars/trucks. Look to see if you need to lengthen the rear shaft first (or even the front shaft). Put the car on a rack or jack stands at ride height (rear jack stands on the rear axle). Put the drive shaft in and thread in carrier bearing bolts (a few threads, leave loose) and leave the u bolts threaded out. Put the trans yoke into the trans until about 3/4"-1" of the yoke is out, the carrier bolts should be close to center and the rear shaft shouldn't be pulling the rubber in the carrier (or the rear u joint popping out of the diff yoke). My Elco was at the front of the bolt holes and the rear wouldn't sit in the diff yoke. This what I remember, I did my first one on the Elco in about 1995. Here's some stuff to look at: https://www.iedls.com/1958-64-Chevrolet-Cars Not mine:
I have posted this before. Old drag racer told to me, and i do it, to buy a tube of silicone fill up new carrier bearing and tape the hole so the silicone wont come out. buy the size that fits in caulking gun.
I had a 65 Chevy truck. It used to chew up the rubber in a bearing in about a week. I finally filled it up with black Permatex gasket maker/adhesive and never had a problem again. In fact I did it to my 63 bel-air also. That was 20 years ago and is still in there.
Get the billet/poly carrier bearing. I put a stock replacement in my '63 & it only made a couple seasons. Replaced with one of those eBay ones - no worries. I also had a slip yoke put in the rear section, but my car was on air. Not sure if you need to with stock suspension.
it is important to have the car at ride height (jack stands under the rear axle) when tightening the bolts that go thru the bottom of the x to the carrier bearing assy (these holes are slotted). If you do this with the rear hanging the bearing will be forced out when you drop the car to the ground. I have put 60,000 miles on my 61 Impala and it still has the factory type bearing that I put in it when I built it. I did not put silicone or any other such nonsense in it
I bought my 60 in November of 59. I have not had constant troubles with the center bearing. The trick is to have the car at ride height when tightening the bolts. It is like replacing front end bushings. Get them in the position they will work in before tightening them down. Moriarity types faster and clearer
Never owned an el Camino do they really need a 2 piece driveshaft? I mean unless you are off roading it or rock crawling.
yes they do need it. the driveshaft passes thru a pretty narrow part of the x frame. without it being 2 pc it would surely rub
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