So I am almost done with a 4 hour bastard, and I found some bad ****e! The good, did an oil and filter as well as air filter change, not too hard. Then I lifted up the rear end to do the rear brakes. The still have meat left, rotors are immaculate. Then I see oil and dirt... on the tranny. You can imagine, there were many obscenities. Then, driver side cv boot is hanging on by a thread. Not only that, the torsion bar has lateral play!!!! Insert more obscenities. Off to the parts store AGAIN tomorrow. Luckily I have tomorrow off as well.
Now here comes the question. Anyone free tomorrow to lend a hand? I have never tackled CV's before, but I have faith in myself. I would feel better if someone else with more experience were here to help. I offer beer as payment!
I don't have a camera either to show the leak from the tranny. Near the top on the driver side, almost directly above the CV, there is shiny oil. The bottom of the tranny, covered in dirt and such.
Again, if anyone can lend a hand tomorrow I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks all.
It is a 1985.5 late n/a.

 

I'm assuming the torsion bar is the drive axle? If so, there is some lateral movement on those. All may not be lost. Losing the boot is never good but if you have fresh grease, maybe it just now opened up. Did they make any noise prior to noticing this? If not you may be fine with new boots and a regrease.

Good luck.

 

That might be the speedo pickup above the driver's side CV joint. It's sealed with an o-ring that will eventually dry out and need replacing. No biggie.

That CV joint by the muffler is exposed to a lot of heat. Cracked boots are frequently found here.

Those axle shafts are somthing you should be able to find used, too. New ones are around $400, I think.

 

I've redone my CV joints before. Shoot me a PM if I can be of help. I also have the proper 8mm cheesehead socket you'll need.

Btw - it's not possible to see the torsion rod itself from under the car. It's inside a tube. If the half shaft is moving side to side, that's perfectly fine. As far as I remember, mine moves at least a half inch side to side.