persept

So I'm trying to get the sleeve between the transmission and the driveshaft to bolt on. I can bolt on one side of the sleeve but when I do that I can't get the other bolt in because the groove where the bolt goes in is almost 1 cm away! It's like either the driveshaft is too far forward on the transmission is too far back.... Somebody please help!

Eric_Oz_S2

The exact same thing happened to me after repairing my torque tube. I positioned the shaft exactly where it was (or at least how I measured it) in the tt and I couldn't line up the bolt in the groove/gap between the splines at both ends. The solution is quite simple. Bolt the tt shaft end to the clamp sleeve and then use a screwdriver to lever the clamp and tt shaft so that the bolt lines up with the groove. The tt driveshaft/clamp will then move slightly - enough to get that bolt in.

1 cm seems a lot though - i only had to move mine 0.5cm. Did you change/repair the tt? You shouldn't have a problem if you just removed the trans.

pormgb

Been there !! Done it !!

A week ago I installed a six speed 968 transmission, after I bolted up the tranny to the torque tube I attempted to bolt up the coupler, the tranny end was about 5mm out so the bolt would not go through. After staring in dis belief for about 30 min I dropped the tranny and modified the coupler. I removed both housings that hold the allen bolts and slightly opened up the slots on both ends, I then reinstalled the square ends and welded them up. So far so good !!
This really has me baffled, I also changed my clutch but the drive shaft didn't move, the drive shaft was also correctly located in the pilot bearing.

A buddy of mine came by yesterday who is building a V8 944, he told me that a few people he knows have experienced this.

persept

Ok it's probably more like .5cm. I tried doing exactly what you said, i used a wrench to try and pry the torque tube backward but I couldn't get it to move, at most it moved about 1mm. How exactly did you pry it?

ArthurPE

almost sounds like it's designed to be preloaded...keep the shaft under tension

Eric_Oz_S2

I used a screwdriver to lever the coupler so the tt driveshaft would slide back.

I wouldn't modify the coupler. It is supposed to line up, if it doesn't then something is wrong. Once you have one side of the coupler connected, you should loosen it off a bit (on the trans end) and slide it as far as you can against the bolt shaft - it is the threads against the splines that prevent the bolt going in. This should give you about 2mm. Then retorque the trans end of the coupler. Try levering it again - I used a large screwdriver against the inspection/access hole edges. Is it a different tt that you are reinstalling? If it is the same one and not rebuilt, then there must be a different problem, as the shaft isn't easy to move within the tt (as you have found out).

Good luck - I know how you feel. It took me 10 mins of buggering around until I decided to try levering it. I actually didn't think it would work at the time and was preparing to remove the whole TT again.

persept

It's the same torque tube that came in the car. I had to replace the transmission because of the ring and pinion. It's always possible the torque tube had previously been worked on and someone had to pry the TT when they reinstalled it haha. How much effort did you have to apply? And did you stick the screwdriver into the big inspection hole or the small round one?

Van

Put the forward most bolt in the coupler (driveshaft side) but leave it loose, then use a large prybar to get it to line up with the groove on the transaxle.

You can get the driveshaft to slide a little bit in the bearing carriers.

Eric_Oz_S2

With the tt end clamped, I used the small hole to move the tt driveshaft by levering against the coupler (the square flange bit that the clamp bolt goes through). Not too much force - but because I just rebuilt the tt, the driveshaft wasn't as bound to the tt bearing sleeves as it was before the rebuild. I think I used about a 12inch long screwdriver. With regards to force - well I didn't bend the screwdriver!

L-Train8

This is an old thread, but I ran into the same problem and found this when I searched for a solution.

I replaced the clutch in my 944, and when I put the transmission back in, I could not get the coupler bolts to line up with the shaft grooves. I could not get the shaft to move in the torque tube with a hammer or screwdriver/prybar, as described here.

I ended up taking out the torque tube completely, following the procedure from Clark's Garage website. It is non-trivial and requires lowering the rear suspension.

Once the torque tube was out, I tried a bigger hammer - a sledge hammer, with a block of wood between the hammer and the shaft. It still wouldn't budge.

At this point, worried I might break something. I couldn't figure out why the shaft wouldn't budge. It just goes through 4 bearings inside the tube, and all of what I read is that it might bind a little, but some taps with a hammer will make it move.

I finally found a video of an Australian woman rebuilding her torque tube, she has trouble getting the shaft all the way in the tube. She ended up using a hydraulic jack to press the shaft into the tube. That's what I ended up doing as well. Using blocks of wood and bracing everything against the frame of my garage door, I was able to get the jack on the shaft. It wasn't budging and then all of a sudding it let go with a loud ping and moved about 1/2 inch at once. I had to get a hammer and tap it back a bit the other way, but that finally got it aligned properly.




One of the most challenging jobs I've faced as a backyard mechanic.

Tiger03447

Where there's a will, there's a way..sounds like me trying to get the seats to move in my car, after I had dragged it in from a field where it had been sitting.. I had to use the scissors jack behind the seat to get it to move..Pretty bound up, but with about 1/2 can of PB Blaster and the jack, i was finally successful. Glad that you got the driveshaft to finally move int the TT.

GPA951s

This is just weird, How can that shaft be so bound up/ tight and take a jack to move it, and the issue was that it moved on its own when removed from the car??? The only thing I can possible think of is that the BH "Sprung" because the other option is that the shaft shrunk? Fortunately I personally have never ran into this... Im really amazed this happens? was the BH bolted up tight when you discovered the keeper bolt in the sleeve would not line up?

L-Train8

Yes, that is confusing to me, too. The coupler came off without any issue, so how did everything get out of alignment? I suspect that it was pretty close to alignment - my measurement was it was 1/8 inch off, but I understand there is a little bit of wiggle room. When I first tried to put the coupler on, I actually got the bolt to go in, but it was at an angle and I realized I was going to cross-thread it and backed it out.

The PO rebuilt the engine on the car, so I wonder if he did something to screw up the shaft alignment during that process. Then it was so close that he was able to force the bolts in without crossthreading them, but it was at the very edge of tolerances. Before I put it back together, I cleaned and greased the coupler and the shaft ends, and I saw what looked like metal shavings on them. That might have been because the coupler bolts were rubbing against shaft splines because the alignment was off.

I'm not 100% convinced, but that's the only explanation I can come up with.

ElRicardo

I faced this when putting in a new clutch or replacing tanks, or transmission mount in my 2 944s. I am able to use a pry bar to get them apart, but they always (used to) put up a fight to go back together, and like you I wondered "should it not slide on when it slid off? " So I developed a theory, The way a car is jacked up changes the flex and "rest position" of the car versus when it is sitting on all 4 tires. This happens and can be seen by how your doors fit and shut when the car is jacked, or on a lift, versus on the ground. This "flex" pre-loads the two shafts (TT and Transmission input). Getting it off is no spring chicken, but it generally does so, because the 4 bolts holding the TT to the txle are aligned. Once the bolts are loosened the two shafts are released and they find a new "resting position" that is NOT lined up. You do your work, even remove one or both, and then comes time to bolt them back together. You do so, and the coupler doesn't want to slide on fully. This is because the bolts have just enough play to allow them to be tightened such that the two shafts are ever so slightly out of alignment (and it doesn't take much! )

So here is what I did and it has worked beautifully. Tighten the 4 bolts holding the TT to the txle just a bit, just enough to hold the two units closely, but loose enough that there is just a bit of play. Guide the coupler on and while rocking the txle as best you can, try to slide the coupler all the way until the groove is aligned. What happens is that as you move the txle around (it wont be much), the resistance will suddenly give way and the coupler will slide on. Then torque the 4 bolts.

Anyway, that is just a theory, but I can tell you rocking that txle with the bolts ever so loose seems to do the trick.

GPA951s

That's a good way of "aligning" the two (side to side/up down) , but I think the previous post is referring to getting the allen bolts in the square part of the connector and for some odd reason that distance "X" becomes much different... like the driveshaft shrunk... and needs to be pulled closer to the trans input shaft..
Shrink Ray?