Hi,

 

Almost a year to the day and my driveshaft seal is leaking again. This time I'd like to do the job myself  (I wimped out last year) and I'd like to know how best to support the car when working on the suspension without the risk of getting crushed to death. 

 

I'm only going to do the left side to begin with since that's whats leaking, and I thought I'd progress as follows...if I'm doing anything crazy wrong please let me know

 

1. Empty 'box of oil, jack up car on stands all round, support right hand rear with axle stand at wishbone (that one's staying on)

 

2. Remove boot floor

 

3. Punch out roll pins LH drive shaft

 

4. Undo lower link to chassis connection (all the ones to the hub carrier are rusted solid I've been told)

 

5. Jack up hub with hydraulic jack to slide out driveshaft

 

6. Get to work on seal with seal removal tool, renew seal/o-ring, clean as necessary.

 

 

- somewhere in all this I need to secure the rear left side, and I don't wanna keep a jack under the hoop throughout (too unsafe). Where is appropriate on the chassis to place an axle stand?

 

I'm going to have to spend time under the car as I need to inspect the gearbox for damage around the area where the seal goes in - I fear some PO might have gouged at the box when renewing seals previously.

 

Thanks in advance as always!

Hi Vanya, when I had the gearbox out of my S4s I had it supported on axle stands using the points on the sills where the lotus jack fits. I just used some rubber blocks on top of the stands to protect the jacking points & I did leave the trolley jack under the hoop just to provide a bit more support.

Phil.

Cheers Phil,

 

I guess I can go that route too. Just gotta make some blocks that fit in the grooves on the sills.

When i did the clutch and took i used about 4 axle stands and a trolley jack

No need to remove the boot floor (which is a total arse-ache) unless you have other reasons to do so.  Also, you can undo the upper link to hub as well as the inner lower, allowing you to remove the shaft without jacking the hub.

Dude....the hub and the links are one on my SE....gonna take some serious heating to get those bits loose... I can give it a shot but last I heard it was entirely hopeless with the hub..

 

Re the boot floor - isn't it like impossible to bash out the roll pins from below?

You sure about the top bolt on the hub?  Never seen a seized one.  Bottom is a different story!

 

You should have no trouble getting the pins out with the boot floor insitu.

Well if you put it that way then I might try to do it with the boot floor in

 

I can check the top hub bolt, but knowing my car it'll make me crawl through broken glass before it gives in to maintenance...