Noise from drive shaft manual VN

[VnNz]

hey all im new here i have recently bought a 1990 vn commodore berlina, its only running the 2ltr at the moment manual tho. my problem is that now it has developed a sort of metal on metal knocking noise which seems to be comming from the driveshaft. it makes it even at a rolling speed. the car shudders at higher speeds too. i have gotten underneath and if you hold the driveshaft on the diff side and twist it theres little play and its making the noise on the engine side of the 2 piece, but when you hold it on the engine side and rotate the metal on metal noise goes. any ideas, help welcome.

[azzfox]

Worn uni joints, cv joint, center bearing. The only things that can go wrong on a tailshaft, apart from bolts coming loose. There should be no movement between joints, but a tiny bit is acceptable until it becomes a problem like yours has. Check that the center bearing is in tact and no rubber missing.

[VnNz]

so then i mite not need to change the whole driveshaft just the joints? is it worth getting a 2nd hand one or just splashing out for new joints?

[azzfox]

Personally Id go new joints. It would last far longer than another tailshaft thats done 250,000+ km. Plus you dont come across complete manual tailshafts every day.

[VnNz]

got a spare driveshaft and put it in the knocking noise has now gone but the vibrations still there, when i sping the centre mount in the middle of the 2 shafts its not spinning circular. but checking this to my old one it does the same if this the prob? if so how can ya get the rubber off the from half of the shaft where the metal bracket goes around or is it attached to the shaft?

[savage1987]

hmm. Hijack time!

I have a 2nd hand tailshaft for my VN 3800 auto. It seems in much better condition than mine. Do I get it checked over or balanced or anything before installing or just drop it in?

[azzfox]

Just stick it in I'd say. When I did the manual conversion I just tried to roughly line up the weights on the new shaft according to the old shaft when bolting to the diff, but I dont think it matters anyway because the output shaft and drive pinion arent exactly balanced. As long as the tailshaft has been balanced in one piece it shouldnt matter how its bolted in.

But Im spewing because my old tailshaft was in much better condition, and I dont think its worth swapping all the joints over

To the OP Im pretty sure thats normal. Sure its not something else vibrating? To take the rubber off you need to seperate the center CV joint, which Ive never done before so cant say how hard it is.

[VnNz]

changed the rubbers on the exhaust system took a bit out of the shakes but i have noticed noises from the bellhousing now so its like hmm wat to do at this point thinking of ripping it all out and changine the engine to the v6 as its massively cheaper to do than the v8 over here.

[azzfox]

Just realised you have a 4cyl VN! I just assumed it was a V6 because Ive never seen a 4 over here lol

Go the V6 with a T5 behind it. Good cheap fun! The autos really let the car down in terms of power, and fun.

[VnNz]

yeah im wondering whether my t5 will bolt straight onto a 6cyl engine? i would assume but checking. yeah i can pick a 6cyl up for round 400 where as a v8 gonna hit me up for 1000 plus sum!