Torque tube bearings (gone) help needed!

[rob944s]

[8|]The sound of these worn bearings first led me towards the thrust bearing and clutch shortly followed by the gearbox bearings, as the noise would stop when the clutch was depressed, but due to the fact that the prop shaft turns all the time when the clutch is engaged (even in neutral) these bearings do take a lot of abuse, I also experienced a low resinating vibration at 110 mph and got worse the faster i drove (on a private road of course) witch droned in and out loudly. I had to define the problem and placed a screwdriver to my ear and listend to variouse parts of the drive train with the engine running. it was coming from where the prop shaft enters the diff unit, so i removed the gearbox ran the car and louder than before the noise remained, there are four bearings inside the torque tube this was my problem. I have found the replacement bearings but am not sure how to get the B@$+@£D things out it, and the Haynes manual does not cover the overhaul of this part, or the torque tubes removal from the vehicle, if any one has had to replace these prop shaft bearings i would be most greatful if you could give me a few pointers, many thanks, Rob T

 

[ukporker]

Rob,
Have a look here http://www.clarks-garage.com/ there is a procedure for rebuilding a torque tube.
There is also a garage near Vauxhall Bridge in London (I can't remember the name - someone on here will know) that rebuilds torque tubes - I had one done 2-3 years ago for about £250 - (a new one from Lancasters in Colchester was about £1100 I think).
Good luck

Richard

1987 944T Nautic Blue

 

[rob944s]

Cheers Richard, i am pulling my hair out at the moment the car is in bits on my garage floor i have got the gearbox out but cant get the torque tube out of the car its all loose but there doesnt seem to be any play to free it out.. thanks again

 

[TTM]

The rear cross member has to be lowered as to pull back the torque tube to take it out.

PS : how many miles on your car ?

 

[jackregan]

i think the garage in question is rga, very helpful when i spoke to them!

 

[rob944s]

nice one guys as useual you have come up trumps for me, i have been on to the clarks garage website which i must say is very helpful and would recomend it to others needing to do work on their cars as it gives you a step by step breakdown (with photos)of what your trying to acheive accross many difrfent subjects, i have now started to dissasemble the rear suspension and with a bit of elbo grease and my third can of WD 40 we are making progress cheers again guys.......... many thanks rob alone in my garage with a porsche that doesn't seem to like my playing with my tool..........s

 

[rob944s]

sorry TTM have busy bashing my favorite tool at my car, she has only done 92,000 from new wich i recon is very low for an 1988 car! do you think this is important...........????????????

 

[TTM]

Not important ; I am just wondering why torque tube bearings on some low milers give up the ghost while others with 120k+ cars still work fine. It seems to be related more to the way a car has been driven than how much it has been driven.

 

[rob944s]

Just for your interest, it sounds like the bearing in the torque tube furthest from the engine nearest the gearbox. ps thanks for the advice i am part way through the removal of the rear suspension, what a cuffuful..

 

[rob944s]

Sorry paul, my email is now on the blink, but hey iam getting pretty good at fixing stuff at the mo,, Torque Tube update for you, i used richards advice as above and found a full discription of what is involved in removing the tube at http://www.clarks-garage.com/ find the a to z index and search T and you will find it there. as for my car the rear suspension has been removed/ lowerd, and the tube is out of the car what a job that was! a little advice if you are thinking of carring out this proceedure your self thoroughly soak all the particular bolts for as long as poss before you start if you can, as it took me on and off just over a week to get the exhaust, gearbox and suspension detached from the car. i also had problems with the rusty bolts themselvs as some 17mm bolts had to have size under or an imperial socket hammerd on to them due to corrosion, one suspension 19mm bolt in particular i had to grind down and hammer a 17mm socket on to it, another i had t drill the nut off the bolt. ps when undoing the bolts use hex spline shape socket and not the multispline as they are less likely to round off the heads on an already worn bolt head. good news now though a local workshop are going to remove the bearings, and put the new ones back in along with the new sleeves wich i am getting made fortunatly at the place next door to them who do milling and turning. i had an e-mail from a guy Thom he used the 6006-2Z-H5-HT-21 its easier to read the attachement with this to see the correspondence yourself than me explain it. so thats pretty much where i am up to the guys doing the job have all the info i have i will pop down this week and see how they are getting on...........

 

[starboard147]

Good advice, mate, thanks, sounds like you're getting there! So you wouldn't recommend changing the bearings yourself then!? I'm sure your car's going to love you after this marathon...

Paul

 

[Axl Rose]

I've got a spare tube if yo're interested..it's not new but it's in good condition..had mine changed a while ago but it wasn't the tube that was faulty..

 

[rob944s]

Hi guys, thanks for the offer of the new tube i may take up the offer if the refit doesn`t go well, but advice to all if you can get out of doing this particular job yourself "DO SO" as i now have a new probem when the bearings were removed from the tube 3 of the 4 bearings were all bunched up together at the gearbox end and we cant define as to where the bearings origanally went if anyone has recorded or knows the location of the bearings it would be very helpful, as the clarks garage instructions only show a picture of the bearing equaly spaced out along the tube....joeseph what was the problem with your car in the end?

 

[TTM]

Here you go.

 

[rob944s]

Thanks Thom, nice one mate the guys overhauling the torque tube get the bearings on tuesday this means they can jump straight on it thanks again.....

 

[rob944s]

an update on the dreaded tourque tube, all the bearings have been removed from the shaft but it appears where the bearings were there are signs of wear/a slight depression is viewable around the shaft especially at the middle two bearing positions,probably due to how knackerd the bearings had got, can anyone advice me what to do.....can i move the bearing positions slightly or is new shaft time, any ideas ps you guys must be sick to death of this thread by now "sorry".....but your help is allways appreciated...........

 

[944Turbo]

probably worth discussing with a specialist its not something many of us have done,
Tony

 

[rob944s]

cheers Tony, will get ont the blower to-day and see what i can find out.....

 

[morris944s2john]

ORIGINAL: rob944s
-snip- i also had problems with the rusty bolts themselvs as some 17mm bolts had to have size under or an imperial socket hammerd on to them due to corrosion, one suspension 19mm bolt in particular i had to grind down and hammer a 17mm socket on to it, another i had t drill the nut off the bolt. ps when undoing the bolts use hex spline shape socket and not the multispline as they are less likely to round off the heads on an already worn bolt head.-snip-

I got a set of these :-

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/5-piece-bolt-grip-set
makes removing corroded nuts and bolts a million times easier.

 

[bert gear]

R G A PORSCHE