fourbyfourclub - 12/20/2008 10:36 PM

Aaron,
What is the offset angle for this shaft?
Vlad

Bruce - 12/21/2008 7:53 PM

"This driveshaft requires a heavier duty series of u-joints then the other
two of these we did about 1-2 years ago(which I based my estimate on)"

I wonder what the other two of these he did earlier were? Is there a G driveshaft with lighter duty u-joints?

Bruce

DUTCH - 12/21/2008 5:21 PM

Sure sounds to me like the shop was blowing smoke; and producing an inferior product while they were at it.

I sure hope the OP paid with a credit card that he can use to place the charge in dispute.

Braingears - 12/21/2008 9:03 PM

So what is the going price for the front drive shaft? New and rebuild?

DUTCH - 12/22/2008 6:45 AM



I can't give you pricing for the 460, but I can for the 463 G500:

Front: $1350.00/$1053.00 (MBUSA List/Discounted Purchase)

Rear: $1360.00/$1060.80

Center: $1240.00/$967.20

Those are new prices for MB parts from an MBUSA dealer. For the small difference in price between these and the Portland Rebuild, I sure would go with new - especially when comparing the robustness of the two!

bmw4aaron - 12/22/2008 7:00 AM



Dutch,

When I was shopping for driveshafts I had a buddy who worked in a dealer network who had MB. His prices are cost + 10%. His cost on a new front shaft for my 460 was $1024. When I called him back to take him up on the offer the dealer was requesting proof of ownership. So my connection fell through. :wah:

DUTCH - 12/22/2008 6:45 AM I can't give you pricing for the 460, but I can for the 463 G500: Front: $1350.00/$1053.00 (MBUSA List/Discounted Purchase) Rear: $1360.00/$1060.80 Center: $1240.00/$967.20 Those are new prices for MB parts from an MBUSA dealer. For the small difference in price between these and the Portland Rebuild, I sure would go with new - especially when comparing the robustness of the two!

DUTCH - 12/22/2008 7:45 AM



For drive shafts? I know they do it for keys, but drive shafts is a new one.

Shop around next time. The prices I gave above are from an MBUSA dealer website. Not all of them are willing to get European parts, but many of them can. So, too, can Vlad or Sean.

bmw4aaron - 12/22/2008 6:52 PM

Dave hasn't replied to this post yet, so this shaft must be OK. :raiseeyebrows:

DUTCH - 12/22/2008 7:04 PM



??

bmw4aaron - 12/27/2008 12:34 PM


I wrote Driveline back and asked them why the construction of the shaft was different than the factory one. This was their reply...

"The tubing is an industrial strength is as strong, if not stronger
then the OEM tubing. Generally aftermarket tubing is 25%-30% stronger then
what the OEM tubing is. The slip is packed with high quality grease and
comes with a "slippery" Glycoat which reduces needed maintenance. I will
get an answer from our engineer on at what interval it may needed greased."

bmw4aaron - 12/27/2008 4:12 PM

While I had the front driveshaft out for the 3rd time, I checked the pinion flange on the front axle and it was tight as was the TC flange. The front shaft is brand new (aftermarket) and appears to be phased right. The U-Joints no not line up, they are offset. I don't know if its offset to 78 degrees line the manual calls for, and the shaft is balanced.

elevatorbernie - 12/28/2008 1:02 AM

In that pic your shaft isn't offset 78 deg. My G shook badly before I corrected the phasing, it's t-case shifter vibrated really bad also. Sorry I only have a pic of mine before with the wrong phasing.

bmw4aaron - 12/28/2008 8:27 AM




Oh really? See I thought your shaft was phased correctly and I was comparing it to it. That's the thing though, the TC shifter didn't shake. That's why I didn't think it was driveline related. But I'm gonna try and phase this thing today, and I'll report back. Thanks Bernie

4x4abc - 12/27/2008 11:56 PM

just another sad story of American automotive "service" (now stands for "we are gonna screw you")

bmw4aaron - 12/28/2008 5:27 AM




Oh really? See I thought your shaft was phased correctly and I was comparing it to it. That's the thing though, the TC shifter didn't shake. That's why I didn't think it was driveline related. But I'm gonna try and phase this thing today, and I'll report back. Thanks Bernie

The G shafts have arrows stamped into them for reference to aid in lining up the offset. Yours looks like it in the picture, it has to yellow arrows point towards each other with the yokes lined up...0 deg. So I guess you could use those for a starting point of 0 deg, then slip the spline section out and turn 78 deg clockwise then slide it back together. Here's a link from when I went through the same thing mine didn't have any for reference. Also as Dutch says, have it rebalanced at 78 deg. http://www.pointedthree.com/disc/forums/showthread.php?tid=11996&po...

bmw4aaron - 12/28/2008 2:32 PM

Well the took the front shaft out again, and turned it. Vibration has gone away. What a pain the ass.

DUTCH - 12/28/2008 2:34 PM



Certainly looks like a company to not do business with in the future.

Do you feel like the heifer?

460332 - 12/28/2008 10:36 AM




How can you be sure about that, the spline on the shaft has to match 78°.
The original shaft is made so, i.e spline match at 78°, this might not be the case with this axle...

bmw4aaron - 12/28/2008 8:18 PM

Well the shaft is gonna have to go back to Driveline. The vibration has moved to around 50+ mph.

bmw4aaron - 12/28/2008 6:18 PM

Well the shaft is gonna have to go back to Driveline. The vibration has moved to around 50+ mph.

hipine - 12/29/2008 4:10 PM



PS - I didn't reply before because all the information about u-joint phasing is on this and other forums and web sites many times over and I figured someone interested in getting a drive shaft made right would have done that research. The answer to your "you probably saw this coming" subject line was, "Yeah, i did, the first time I looked at the picture. As did Vlad from the straight to the point nature of his post after the picture. I didn't see any mention in your posts about asking for the 78 degree phasing. Just my opinion, but if you let that bit go "assumed" then you bear a little responsibility for not giving all the information or at least for not performing "due diligence" to try and get what you needed. His bad too for not asking, for sure. But with G stuff, the only thing I "ass-u-me" is....welll, nothing....

hipine - 12/29/2008 4:10 PM



You might consider having a local place create the correct phasing and re-balancing. I used to try to make people eat their bad work and make it right "as a matter of principle." But over time I'v found it's just not worth it and if the guy didn't have a clue the first time around, the chances are slim he's going to grow one before he needs to try and do it right this time. Plus, shipping things thousands of miles to have work done that could be done locally seems a waste of time and money.

Maybe now that all the parts are there, maybe a local drive line shop (one that maybe wouldn't have wanted to hassle with getting the parts from Europe to build it), could do the work of re-configuring what's there now.

Just a thought.

-Dave G.

PS - I didn't reply before because all the information about u-joint phasing is on this and other forums and web sites many times over and I figured someone interested in getting a drive shaft made right would have done that research. The answer to your "you probably saw this coming" subject line was, "Yeah, i did, the first time I looked at the picture. As did Vlad from the straight to the point nature of his post after the picture. I didn't see any mention in your posts about asking for the 78 degree phasing. Just my opinion, but if you let that bit go "assumed" then you bear a little responsibility for not giving all the information or at least for not performing "due diligence" to try and get what you needed. His bad too for not asking, for sure. But with G stuff, the only thing I "ass-u-me" is....welll, nothing....

Anyway, good luck getting it worked out. Don't sweat the size of the slip joint. If you go and search up my posts on the center drive shaft I had made for fitting the 617a and 5-speed trans, you'll see the slip joint on that one looks tiny in comparison to yours and it has ZERO play after 40,000 miles of continuous use behind the shaky diesel. The front drive shaft is mostly just along for the ride and only driving the speedometer if you don't have it in 4wd, so as long as you grease it a couple times a year, it'll be fine. I personally think the factory G drive shaft prices are stupid and not worth the money for the over-built product that I can never get the use out of to justify the expenditure.


PPS - don't send it back in favor of a factory one. I just looked close at the pix and at least yours has replaceable U-joints. The factory drive shafts are "disposable" when they do wear out. No easy u-joint replacement. A lousy design in my opinion.

I didn't see a grease fitting on the slip joint and that would be a concern to me. I would modify it to add an internal grease distribution ring (factory shafts also don't ahve this - part of why the slip joints fail prematurely on them) and a flat push-type grease fitting to the slider joint. Again, you should be able to find a local machine or speed shop to do that kind of work. A couple little follow-ups like that and you'll have a drive shaft that's better than factory, for 2/3 the price.

And FWIW, I don't see anything the drive shaft shop did particularly wrong that would make them someone "not to deal with". Seems to me that it was just a matter of too many assumptions and not enough clarity of what needed to be produced. Your response to Vlad's question about the phase angle spoke volumes in a couple simple words. Having been in the custom machining business from both ends I have lots of experience to back up my opinion that anything not explicitly stated will most likely be done "wrong" because there are an unlimited number of ways to do any job and only one way that's in the customer's mind. Plenty of blame to go around for the way this one turned out, IMHO.

Like I said though, you should be able to get it figured out and still come out better than factory. Re phase it, rebalance it, put a grease groove and a zerk in the slider, and Bob's yer uncle. Probably $150 job at a decent drive line shop. Good luck!

bmw4aaron - 12/29/2008 3:45 PM

.... The whole thing that gets me is I did send in my old shaft for them to copy. ...

bmw4aaron - 1/9/2009 10:02 PM

Update:

My shaft arrived to Driveline service of Portland on Wednesday 1/7/09. Jerry had wrote me that evening to ask me how much shipping cost me. I then asked him if the phasing was off. He wrote back and said that he would write me on Thursday with a full explanation, as the tech who was working on the shaft had left. Thursday he wrote back, saying that when they received my old shaft it wasn't lined up. (which was my fault because I was playing around with different spots on the slip joint to see if play existed in the same spot.) Anyhow, the tech had overlooked it, and made it exactly how they saw it. So after discovering it wasn't lined up, they redid it to the factory 78 degrees, and shipped it out the same day; Thursday.

I am very happy they owned up to their mistake. I feel partially to blame, as I didn't think to realign the arrows. They are covering the cost of my shipping and the return shipping.

Now I'm holding my breath until I get it back and installed to see if it's really right! Haha.

DUTCH - 1/10/2009 6:36 AM



Did they add a grease fitting to the slip joint while they had it back?