Hello all,

Have had my R60 for about a year now and found out after having the car for about 6 months that the previous owner removed the center drive shaft to make the vehicle only front wheel drive.

Yesterday I ordered a used center drive shaft off ebay and am curious if this is a job i could tackle myself to install it or if it would be better to take it in and have someone install it for me. I did a search prior to my post and im not having much luck finding an article on this. Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

I would double check your VIN to make sure your car is indeed an All4.

if yes, the car is an All4, then you need the to make sure you have the rear differential in place and the transfer case has the hook-up for the drive shaft

if you’ve never tackled a job like this before, let a mechanic do it.

if you done it before and feel comfortable doing it then, with the right tools it should take you anywhere from 2 to 6 hours depending on your comfort and speed.

if no, the car is NOT an All4, then you have a cool drive shaft.

 

I would want to know if there was a reason (problem) that the drive shaft was removed in the first place. Really just wanted a front wheel drive car?

 

May be they caused damage to the rear differential and removed the shaft to stop the vibration and further damage to the transmission

may be they had a transfer case issue

went over a Boulder and damaged the original shaft

 

That's.....really strange.

Removing the centre shaft won't have done much. The rear differential is still going to turn due to force from the axle, and the transfer box will still turn from force from the front axles.

I suspect the transfer box may have been damaged, as when the front axles lose traction it would have attempted to transfer power to the unloaded rear axle

As to your question, it's not super hard. You have to remove the exhaust. You'll need a good torque wrench, and some of the bolts are the kind where you tighten to a torque spec, then a number of additional degrees, so keep that in mind. Be careful of the nut on the transfer box, no force or it can be damaged.

 

not to mention the 4x4 error that will pop up on the cluster.

If they removed the axels then no more dif vibration

but your right if there was a damaged transfer case or even a damaged transmission. The replacement transmission didn’t have the transfer case already on it or the previous owner didn’t know enough to take the old transfer case and put it into the new transmission.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. The drive shaft comes in on thursday, but now I have a new problem that popped up today. As i was driving to work, i went up a gradual incline and accelerated to about 2500 to 3000 rpms and the oil light came on. I let off the accelerator and cleared it and it went away. When i hit the accelerator again the light came back on. I let off again and cleared it and it went away again. Im thinking oil pump issues because when i got to work the oil level is full. Time to take it to the shop i guess 😐

 

or just low oil

 

Or the timing chain....

The plastic guide on the chain breaks and falls into the oil pan. Being plastic it floats, and can get caught in the oil pickup, restricting flow and causing an intermittent low oil pressure condition.

What's the mileage? Any noise from the passenger side on cold start?

Dan

 

Actually, there is a slight noise sounding like a rattle and then it goes away. When i accelerate from a stop, I've noticed a whine in the higher rpms and I’m thinking it might be the timing chain as well. Im hoping its not the oil pump but its scheduled to go in on Tuesday to get a diagnosis.
I figured it might be the timing chain with too much slack in it to get the gear on the pump turning to get the pickup.

oh yeah, the mileage is 139,700 and i dont know if the timing chain has ever been changed.

 

Yeah, they call it the death rattle. If it hasn't been changed at that mileage it's for sure past due.

Its possible to do it at home, I've done mine, takes a few special tools, but possible if you are handy.

You could always take the valve cover off and have a look. There's a new tensioner out as well.

Good Luck!

 

Thank you! Yeah i would try to tackle the job myself but i don't have the workspace. I watched the videos on the death rattle and it doesn't quite sound like what i saw but then again maybe its not as bad yet. Again thanks for the input.