Drive shaft bearing and rear trans seal/bearing

My winter plans include changing the center bearing in the drive shaft which has been making noise for some time. While at it I hope to replace the auto trans rear seal and maybe the output shaft bearing. So I have a few questions for those that have done this job:

-How difficult is it to move the diff to the rear? Car will be on my lift and manual says to support trans with a pole jack which I can improvise. Once mounts are unbolted is a pry bar or similar needed to move the diff? Easy? How far back, is it still in the slots or must it go further?
- Once the out tube is out of the way can the rear auto trans seal be replaced easily? How about the bearing, can it be changed without removing the Ferrari adapter piece?

I am ordering parts now and will dig into this after my FCA region's holiday party.
Ken

 

GT, 65K+ miles and I drive 4-5K per year. See article in April 2012 (or was it 13?) Forza.

Dave
It is the center drive shaft I am removing from transmission to diff. I think you aer describing changing the CV joints in the half shafts. Confirm.

Ken

 

Thanks GT; I look forward to your report.
Ken

 

Dave

I have the 400i shop manual and have read it completely with respect to this job even if it is split into two locations in the manual. This manual seems less comprehensive than the 412 manual. I make a habit of match marking most parts with paint pens before separating them; my car must have 50 paint marks on it if you look in right places! I use moly grease or often Silkolene grease to slide splines together.

How was it moving the diff to the rear? With jack taking the weight does it move easily? Did you need a pry bar to move it? How far back did you have to move it, out of the slots?

Car has had its last ride for the year; it was quite pleasant. Now it is up onto the lift and I will degrease it one day and start tearing things apart the next. My job on the rear suspension is postponed for time being based on input from Jeff LeBlond who needs to build some new replacement parts. Drive shaft parts have been ordered. Job will not likely be done until holiday weeks.

Ken

 

Car will be on the lift next weekend and I will start into the job with a clean up first. I'll get in touch if I have issues. Thanks for input to date.
Ken

 

Only parts I am changing are the center bearing and the rear trans seal.

 

GT
Since there is a circlip on the side you are looking at, it should come out that way. Get the split collar out of the way and then remove the circlip. (you'll need a straight in circlip pliers.) If you can see the edge of the seal, it will come out towards you. Use a seal puller, corkscrew on the end of a shaft or flex shaft. To install the new seal, find a socket or bearing installer that is just the size to push the outer diameter of the seal.

You are now at least 10 days ahead of me!
Ken

 

Christian
I do not plan to take the diff out. I only have to slide it to the rear enough to pull center drive shaft.

I am surprise at the diff in the pics; that looks like a lubrication failure or bad set up. I prefer to leave diff's well enough alone. If they don't make noise they still have 50K miles left in them.
Ken

 

GT
I thought the pic was the tail end of the trans. I just got my bearing and that seal yesterday. The seal is quite large in diameter. Bearing is from normal bearing shop and I will record that number.
Ken

 

GT and others
Well I am into the job now and confused by the manual and parts book relative to the coupling between the center drive shaft and the gearbox. Page E34 says,
"-Through the holes (with an 's') in the large tube loosen the four screws that tighten the sleeve joining the propeller shaft and the gearbox output shaft."

Well I only have ONE hole in the large tube which means I only have access to TWO bolts to loosen the sleeve (coupling). With the two bolt quite loose the split in the sleeve seems to have opened up quite a bit. I can't imagine that there are two more bolts on the coupling that are still tight. I think I have been able to marginally slide the coupling longitudinally, but not sure of that in the tight space.

Okay, are there two bolts or four on that sleeve? The parts book shows four but it does not give the bolt a part # which would also say how many. If four, how the heck do you get to the other two thru the one hole that I have.

I'll wait a bit for some answers since there are enough other things to do before sliding the diff back.

I got fooled by the English version of the manual about which end of the drive shafts to unbolt. The English version says to unbolt form the "axle" so I assumed that meant the stub axle at the wheel. When I read the French version it says to unbolt from the "pont" which is bridge and refers to the differential. So I will be reversing that step soon.

Hope to hear from you folks soon about the coupling.
Ken

 

GT
Manual is just plain wrong. I read both the English and French say loosen 4 bolts (Italian too). My little finger could touch on bolt on the tranny side of coupling. Then I noticed that the split in the hub stopped, so the whole coupling is not split. When I rechecked the parts book, even those rough sketches show that there are separate splits on each end. So that part of job is done. The 8 bolts between the tube and trans were not too bad; extensions plus a swivel did the trick.

My struggle is something that should just not be tough. The Allen head bolts on the half shafts are requiring incredible amount of torque to break free and even after breaking it takes more turns to get loose. I have been using a 2 foot long breaker bar and have ruined three 6mm "sockets" so far. Last task last evening was buying two more of those tools. So off to the garage shortly to get those half shafts undone.

I'll PM if / when I struggle with moving diff back. That may not be today at the pace I am going.
Ken