Remove driveshaft without disassembling exhaust first?

[Touring2002]

Hello everyone, 

 

My father has been in possession of a beautiful green 2002 touring for more than 35 years, unfortunately it has been sitting in a barn for the last 15 years. 

 

I'm now trying to get her running again, and surprisingly, there haven't been many issues during the last 1000+km (apart from a couple dozen hoses and tubes of course ;) ). 

 

Overmorrow I gotta drive to a specialized mechanic who owns some 2002's, and today I figured I'd do a quick checkup before the long drive.  I was shocked to see the drive shaft center bearing was totally toast, the rubber is completely gone and the shaft is sitting on the metal. The part will arrive tomorrow so I figured I could start disassembling the drive shaft. 

 

The exhaust seemed to be in the way but that sucker is rusted shut, after (literally) hours of hammering and loads of wd40, I gave up. 

 

Tomorrow I might buy a propane torch, but, here comes the question:

Is it even necessary to remove the exhaust in order to remove the drive shaft? 

 

The exhaust came loose fine near the front (under the gear shift), so I have some play. 

 

Thank you so much in advance and excuse me for the long introduction ;) 

 

Best regards, 

Inse 

[halboyles]

If you can wiggle the resonator/pipes around enough to get at the guibo bolts and the center support bearing bolts, you should be good.

 

Sounds like the beginning of another great adventure.

Edited February 4, 2019 by halboyles

[jimk]

It needs enough room to get the centering pin that sticks out of the trans flange out of the driveshaft.  So the center u-joint with the center bearing has to be lowered a bunch.  Don't have much side to side wiggle til the center bearing clears the center bearing mounts.

Edited February 4, 2019 by jimk

[flagoworld]

Which part is stuck? There should be a couple different connections down there. The connection at the bottom of the downpipe should be pretty easy to remove, and then the resonator will hang to the side enough to get at the driveshaft, I am pretty sure... I never fully removed my exhaust when replacing stuff down there. I left the resonator in.

[Touring2002]

Guys, thanks a ton for the info!!! 

This gave me enough confidence so I'm now starting the disassembly with the exhaust still in place

[Touring2002]

5 hours ago, flagoworld said:

Which part is stuck? There should be a couple different connections down there. The connection at the bottom of the downpipe should be pretty easy to remove, and then the resonator will hang to the side enough to get at the driveshaft, I am pretty sure... I never fully removed my exhaust when replacing stuff down there. I left the resonator in.

 

The part between the resonator and the muffler is stuck, the rust welded the 2 pipes together. 

 

It might not be original because I can't really understand why they didn't use a nice linkage there (like the one between the manifold and the resonator) 

[Simeon]

The rear joint is always a slip joint where one pipe goes into another and then is clamped with a U bolt. This is how the factory did it and so do most aftermarket exhausts that I have seen.

[flagoworld]

I didn’t remove the rear fwiw. I removed the front and let it hang. There was enough flex to move it out of the way of the drive shaft. Worth a try.

[Jimmy]

23 hours ago, Touring2002 said:

Hello everyone, 

 

My father has been in possession of a beautiful green 2002 touring for more than 35 years, unfortunately it has been sitting in a barn for the last 15 years. 

 

I'm now trying to get her running again, and surprisingly, there haven't been many issues during the last 1000+km (apart from a couple dozen hoses and tubes of course ). 

 

Overmorrow I gotta drive to a specialized mechanic who owns some 2002's, and today I figured I'd do a quick checkup before the long drive.  I was shocked to see the drive shaft center bearing was totally toast, the rubber is completely gone and the shaft is sitting on the metal. The part will arrive tomorrow so I figured I could start disassembling the drive shaft. 

 

The exhaust seemed to be in the way but that sucker is rusted shut, after (literally) hours of hammering and loads of wd40, I gave up. 

 

Tomorrow I might buy a propane torch, but, here comes the question:

Is it even necessary to remove the exhaust in order to remove the drive shaft? 

 

The exhaust came loose fine near the front (under the gear shift), so I have some play. 

 

Thank you so much in advance and excuse me for the long introduction

 

Best regards, 

Inse 

 

When I did my driveshaft, I disconnected my exhaust where the down pipe meets the (anti) resonator and I think it just swung to one side and I wired it up out of the way. I know I didn't remove it from the car entirely. I may have had to loosen one of the hangers but I don't recall for certain.

[John76]

There is plenty of room to reach the center bearing nuts without removing the resonator. You should also be able to lower the shaft enough to remove it from the guibo.  To prevent premature failure of the guibo and center bearing, be sure to install the heat shields to keep the heat off the rubber parts. These attach to the mounting bolts (center shield removed for these pictures).

PS: My center bearing has been in service for >100K miles with no signs of wear.

 

 

[Touring2002]

I'll try to find a heatshield, as there weren't any in place. Thanks! 

[Touring2002]

Oh, and for the laugh I started her up when the exhaust was detached. And to my surprise it sounds pretty darn good! 

 

So does anyone have experience with a muffler delete while keeping the stock resonator in place? 

 

I'd be glad to hear about your experiences before I take the muffler off

[02Les]

8 hours ago, Touring2002 said:

I'll try to find a heatshield, as there weren't any in place. Thanks! 

 

I believe heat shields are an American thing, thus not on Euro '02s.

[halboyles]

15 minutes ago, 02Les said:

I believe heat shields are an American thing, thus not on Euro '02s.

 

Never knew this but the Parts Manual suggests that it is correct.  Note #9 is only on US '02s. 

As far as protecting the CSB or guibo, the shield is above both of these and so probably wouldn't do anything but reflect the heat back down onto these parts.  I think it is supposed to keep heat out of the cabin.

Edited February 7, 2019 by halboyles

[Jimmy]

On my car the shield (Number 9) was mounted between the CSB and the exhaust pipe (below the CSB, not above). I don't see how it could fit any other way.