Yeah I definitely have the thump of the wee people. I have the pig in mothballs until I fix things.

 

So much for "the bearing rarely fails.."

 

oh.. maybe i misunderstood. I think my thump is the driveshaft banging around. The rubber of my bearing bracket mount is totally gone and I can wiggle my driveshaft.. I don't think my bearing failed. Vertex sells both rebuilt shafts along with the updated part. When I called the sales person was happy to sell me either part. He mentioned that the bearing itself has a low failure rate. I am prone to believe them since they see so many units. IDK...

 

ON another note.. If I chose to just replace my front flex disk and install the update mount.. there are a couple sets of bolts to loosen. Is there some place I can look up the torque settings? Is there any info on how much to tighten them back up? Should we use lock-tite?

 

I ordered a rebuilt shaft. The second time I called vertex the salesperson asked my mileage (104k) and he recommended a rebuilt unit and not the clamp retrofit. He said a lot of people have the support bracket fail at 50-60k miles in which case the bearings are almost always fine for another 100k. But since I'm at higher mileage he told me to go the rebuilt route. He also mentioned that the support bracket and bearing on the rebuilt shafts are improved over the oe design to be more robust. But again he stressed replacing the flex disc because inevitably it is the hardening of that rubber which put extra stress on the center support.

 

Sounds like you covered all the bases. I think this should be a good selling point should you decide to flip it later.

 

Yeah its ironic.. because I have now done the coolant pipes and soon the drive shaft... I had always thought I'd be doing the valve body first. The car is really gonna be updated when i get all three done.

 

Couple additional points if this is a DIY project.
1. take the time and get about 6 NEW razor blades and clean the bearing properly. its a pain but for 20 minutes, worth it.
2. cut off wheels are a pain and tough to get in there. also, if you don't have one... use a 2' bolt cutter. my cutoff wheel (last one of course) broke got the bolt cut out and snip... off it came.

 

In my opinion, deciding to replace the entire Drive Shaft is the Right choice.

Here are a few Tips for the DIY'er concerning the Cardan Shaft:

1. Loosen the tail pipes on each side and rotate them both downward. This will prevent the tail pipes from hitting the rear bumper when you lower the exhaust pipe hangers and slide the butt sleeve coupler up the pipe. The job is much easier with the exhaust pipes down.

2. Replace all six 12 point torx bolts connecting the drive shaft to the rear differential with New Bolts from the Dealer. You will need a special tool available at Napa for $8 to loosen & tighten the rear bolts of the shaft. Use a Blue or Medium thread locker on these bolts.

3. Firmly mount the rear of the shaft first then, with the rubber flex coupler or the guibo on the front, use a little force and push the front of the shaft over the centering pin coming out of the transfer case. These bolts use lock nuts and do not need blue thread locker.

4. Raise just the passenger side rear wheel and rotate the wheel to rotate the drive shaft for access to the bolts. Chock the raised wheel to tighten shaft to spec. Torque Specs should be posted on the Internet or contact your Dealer.

5. Position the Center Support Mounting Plate and Bearing Mount so the bearing rides in the center of its surrounding rubber with an equal flex distance primarily at the 3 & 9 O'Clock positions. Push on the shaft close to the support bearing to check the distance of movement within the bearing rubber surround. Generally the mounting plate is mounted toward the drivers side. Depends. There are two hash marks on the body that the edge of the mounting plate touch. Have a helper turn the wheel and watch it rotate. Check the run out with a truing gauge or at least check the run out holding a stationary object next to the shaft. Adjust either the bearing mount and/or the mounting plate if necessary.

Good Luck

 

Installed the EPS yesterday after much cutting and wire wheeling. My car had a vertex rebuilt shaft in it; the bearing has a metal "shell" that has to be cut off.

I am still getting a whole lot of banging around in the tunnel under high torque, like hard acceleration. I'm doing the flex disc today just to be sure. What else could it be? The universal joint?

 

Any more feed back on this?

I have 54k 2009 Turbo S, was really expecting this to not be a problem until 80k to 100k or so.

Was quoted 1700 or so to change, because as mentioned, exhaust in the way on the turbos, etc.

I am getting the chirping whining, that is on and off, seems to happen at lower speeds after highway driving.

How long till the whole thing goes and I get the thumping, the 2 other times i had this on previous cars, I just got the thumping right away on acceleration.

 

Neither the exhaust nor the turbos are in the way to complete this repair.

 

Good to know on the exhaust, I mean the turbos as in the turbo model exhaust is different than the 6s for example.

And when you say not in the way, do you mean for this aftermarket part, or for the cardan shaft as a whole.

 

Not in the way for either job. The whole Cardan shaft is easily accessible without removal of any other unreleased components. So replacing the shaft or just replacing the bearing support are equally simple.

I've had the eps mount installed for 35K miles. It's working great. Expensive though.

 

Thanks, yes, I agree, expensive for what it is since the shaft is around the same price I think. And looks like it should be a 150 dollar item.

Labor wise, I would rather do this myself, if it lasts me another 50k till the shaft has to get done, does not really matter to me then worth the delay.

I am in new england things rust and get bound up, so this is the short term solution.

Thanks.