1.4 Petrol 2001 - Anybody removed a O/S Driveshaft before?

I have a clonk-clonk noise when I move from standstill or when crawling in 1st and blipping the gas.
I had a look under the car today and the O/S outer CV boot had a nick in it and there was virtually no grease in it.
I superglued the nick, refilled with grease and put a new clip on.
There is what looks like a lot of slop in the outer CV.
The inner wobbles about a fair bit, where as the N/S Inner is solid.

I figured the CVs are both kaput and ordered a complete driveshaft with CVs off ebay today.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDI-A2-1...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item1e75d92f1c

The diff looks OK as there is no delay in the old "turn one wheel and see how long the other takes to turn..."
Being a Vauxhall man, I've not seen this inner-bolt-on Driveshaft-flange malarkey before.

To change the shaft complete, can I undo the spline bolts from the inner CV, drop it down - this should free the inner clear.
Undo the driveshaft nut, press the drive shaft out of the hub.
Re-assemble in reverse?

Any help would be great as I don't want to strip it down only to find that I cant do it that way!

Thanks Again.

I've not changed a driveshaft but your method sounds feasible.
Best to slacken the driveshaft nut and remove the ABS sensor first before dropping the shaft. You will need a new nut as they are not re-useable
More info on assembly here - http://www.a2oc.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4788&d=1288390562

Cheers Spike

Have a puller to hand as well, the drive shaft can be a REAL pig to press out of the hub sometimes.
You will also have to remove the track rod end nut to allow the strut to "swing" away thus providing clearance to remove the drive shaft.
The new hub nut is torqued to 120Nm.

blue skies
tony

Thanks everyone. It looks like the bottom balljoint has to come out.
I hate taking 'em out as the risk of damage to it and the boot is always there.
Does anyone know what size the spline bolts are?.........Answer = M8 x 48mm long

The new driveshaft arrived today. NO slop in it at all, so mine must be very worn.
I need an inner CV gasket and new spline bolts.................Audi tomorrow then...........

An update for the interested.........
You can indeed remove the O/S driveshaft without splitting any balljoints or disturbing the suspension.
Simply undo the 6 spline bolts with an 8mm 12-point spline socket key, pull the inner CV joint back and lift out of the way.
Undo the driveshaft nut and either whack the end of the shaft a mallet and drift or use pullers to push it out of the hub.

I found the root cause of the clonk and mystery oil spray......
The bolt that secures the gearbox flange to the gearbox had worked loose and fallen out.

This is how it looked on withdrawal....




It should however look like this.


Yes, some muppet has had it apart at some point and put the brass split ring in the wrong place.
As you can see from the witness marks, you can see where it should be, however it was actually underneath the big flat washer.


This is the bolt


back together


The problem is that when the bolt is tightened up, it makes a god awful groan.
after lots of head scratching I took it apart again and left the bolt out.
I only realised that the brass ring was wrong after I checked ebay!

Tomorrow, it gets taken apart again and reassembled the right way.

To avoid any more hastle, does anyone have an assembly drawing for the gearbox flange?
Also, where is the gearbox oil filler/level hole....It's probably quite low now......

All done........well sort of.
The gearbox flange has been fitted the right way....did not see the point in replacing the bolt as per Audi guideline as it's not a locker or stretch bolt, just cleaned the old threadlock off and applied some new.
I also just cleaned the gasket with brake cleaner and secured it to the flange with art-and-craft spray glue.
The gasket looks very weedy so I'll make a decent neoprene one at work during the week and fit it when I change the driveshaft.

Clonk gone...result.

I couldn't change the driveshaft as I didn't have the right size allen socket for the hub nut (thought it was 17mm but it looks like 18mm).
Maybe next week..........

Filled the gearbox today.
1 litre of really manky black oil out, 1.9ish litres of clean transparent oil in.

uk-mkivs has a good thread on changing the driveshafts. http://uk-mkivs.net/topic/76883-golf-mk4-18t-front-wheel-bearing-diy-how-to/


Most of the VAG range is the same even the old Mk3 Golfs. Hub nut is a 12 point 30mm socket. Use a long breaker bar and remove the nut when the wheel is on and the car on the ground.
Even with that I managed to shear a 1/2" breaker bar in the past.

chiron said:

uk-mkivs has a good thread on changing the driveshafts. http://uk-mkivs.net/topic/76883-golf-mk4-18t-front-wheel-bearing-diy-how-to/


Most of the VAG range is the same even the old Mk3 Golfs. Hub nut is a 12 point 30mm socket. Use a long breaker bar and remove the nut when the wheel is on and the car on the ground.
Even with that I managed to shear a 1/2" breaker bar in the past.

Click to expand...

The 12point hub nut is actually 36mm and the old pressed steel nuts are 19mm allen-key.

Audi recommend replacing the old pressed steel 19mm allen type with the newer self locking 36mm BiHex 12 pointed nuts. Manual says always replace both sides even if working on one side. The 36mm BiHex is only 120Nm and is surprisingly easy to remove (the self locking tabs ratchet to stop the nut from loosening). The axle nut is actually only as tight as the wheel bolts but it takes a little effort to break (bend) the self locking tabs.