A few things I need some help with Please excuse the n00bness...

What bolt size do i need here where the colomn fits to the bracket?


I drove a spanner through one of the drive shafts, how can i repair this? (i can't weld by the way, would a metal crack filler be suffice?)


Where the drive shafts meet the diff should it just pull out? I tried and nothing really happened


What kind of grease goes in the ends of the drive shaft? Just regular grease?


How on this earth do you get the huge nuts off the ends of the rear assembly?!


In the middle of the prop shaft how does it separate (arrowed part)


Muchio thanks for any help anyone can offer

EDIT: just realised that most of this doesnt specifically apply to the MK, sorry if thats a problem

[Edited on 5/7/04 by Benzine]

Not sure about most of the questions but I do have a spare driveshaft end if you need it, I bought one that had a big dent in one end and they sent me a new one so I still have one with one good end you can have if you like.

Rich.

no the drive shaft don't pull out... dont f##k around with it you have to dismantle the dif and then shim the bearings up . the big nut on the wheel hub generally takes a 4 foot crack bar to shift. better off loosening the nut on the donor first.
tony

the driveshaft unbolts from the diff with the 6 allen bolts round the edge, i take it that it is a lsd diff from a 4x4 sierra. the driveshft with the hole will need replacing you can get new lobro joints but you will be cheaper bying a shaft from a scrapyard.
The grease is LM grase
The bolts are M12x1.75
The big nut well a bigger bar maybe or take it to a garage and have them strip it
and the prop is on a slider joint , loosen the hex nut and it will slide off with a bit of persuasion
HTH

Thanks v much for the replies

Also, the passenger side nut is left hand thread.



The big nut well a bigger bar maybe or take it to a garage and have them strip it

i noticed the colapsable join t had colapsed dosent it have to be intact for sva

Ask for CV joint grease the black stuff,i wouldnt advise putting LM grease in the constant velocity joint as its really for wheel bairings.

The big hub nuts on my rear disc set up had different thread rotations each side,near side or passenger side has a left hand thread.when you get some new nuts from ford they are nylocs and have coloured nyloc to tell them apart.
yellow = left hand thread
blue = right hand thread
rule of thumb to remember when locking up,allways tighten towards the front of the vehicle.

hope this helps

[Edited on 5/7/04 by bob]

also

The collapsable joint looks ok to me,mine passed SVA with one of those adjustable columns,they are a bit different in design to the basic column and the concertina part does look a bit odd but ok.

Thanks again for the replies but could someone expand on the 'colapsable joint'. Since this is the only colomn i have seen i don't know how it varies from a regular one

Fords do a kit that includes the grease rubber Gator spring washers and both gator clips.
It costs about £10 per gator although you could try Quicko, our local one offers a small discount for Ford club members.

As Novarallycar said scrap it off, if the filler ever comes out and dirt gets in it's £40 + for bearings not worth it.

Where the driveshaft meets the dif it will be stuck on quite solidly. Once all the bolts were undone i drove a small screwdriver down the crack to prize the two apart.

I too made the mistake of removing the traling arms and hubs from the car before attempting to remove the hub nuts. I just couldn't budge it, but the local friendly garage managed it with an air wrench in a couple of minutes and wouldn't even let me give them any money for their time.

Ned.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Benzine
Thanks again for the replies but could someone expand on the 'colapsable joint'. Since this is the only colomn i have seen i don't know how it varies from a regular one

---

The CV Grease to which is referred to is: Molydenum Disulphied (MD) it's very black and usually more expensive than LM Grease. MD Grease stands up to crushing better then LM due to the Moly in it. You'll need about 400ml to do two shafts (4 bearings) IIRC be about £10. Alternatively, buy the ford repair kits, they are suprisingly good value.