type44 driveshaft repair report

[Konstantin Bogach]

Hi listers.

Aftre driving 2 weeks I can say that clanking I reported a month or so
ago came from driveshaft and I fixed it.
Clanking came and went and it was hard to determine where it is coming
from. After taking shaft off the car and disassembling it (here are
helpful links:   http://www.audifans.com/archives/1995/01/msg00362.html
,
http://www.audifans.com/cgi-bin/lwgate/QUATTRO/archives/quattro.000308/date/article-4.html
) I did not find any obvious reason for clanking.  U-joint was ok (I
lubricated it recently), no play, tight.  Front CV had little-little
play. After disassembling the CV I found that balls made tiny wear on
the race (if it correcty term). So tiny that I could not believe it is
the problem.  Center support bearing was good. Rubber sagging though
down off the center.  On my second car it is also sagging.  All cars I
saw had it sagging too.  So, I did not feel it is a suspect.
But I decided to change all three items, just in case.  I got CV (LOBRO,
$65) and center support bearing(BMW26532121209, $28)  from TPC.  U-joint
I got from NAPA(NAPA's crossreference for Neapco 1-0013 unit, made by
DANA, USA).  I reused bracket from original center support.  It is
welded in 4 places (2 spot welds on the bottome and MIG welds on both
sides).  I cut metal ring and ground welded piece of the ring in these
four spots and the piece fell off.  When welded new support to the
bracket, welder did pretty lousy job and rubber melted in 2 spots.
U-joint was shorter than original one and needed shims.
When I aligned drive shaft  it turned out that  I don't need spacers
which were installed with old support. It brought the center of shaft
up.  These spacesr (about 0.5'') and sagged rubber in old support
probably made it hell out of alignment.

I believe it is fixed but I don't know what was the reason of clanking.
Wearout on CV?  Combination of CV and misalignment?  Don't know.
By the way, BMW part for center support is mentioned  in archives mostly
as a replacement for 4K and MB part is mentioned as replacement for
type44.  Rod said to me that it is basicly same part.   Iin any case BMW
part works.  How long? Will see.

Konstantin Bogach