Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

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84sr54wd
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Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by 84sr54wd »

I was noticing when I pulled my driveshaft to do the clutch job that the center support bearing felt like it had way too much play in the whole assembly when I had it apart. I put it back together though and was noticing I have this noise usually at higher speed when I am slowing down.....feels like something right under the handbrake beating around a bit. That is where the center bearing is and I am curious what the symptoms are when that bearing fails? I would think it would be like some rotational noise under the floor pan which is what I am basically getting.

Second question....how does that beating come off? When I had the driveshaft out is looked like if you disconnected the flanged U-joint right at the bearing, at no time was just the pipe shaft exposed....so I am wondering how it all comes apart. I'll study it when I get it back out and read the FSM too, just thought I'd ask.
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ARCHINSTL
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Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by ARCHINSTL »

The FSM shows its removal using some special tools - but they are easily (if awkwardly) improvised. Having said that, it is possible the AutoZone, et al, have appropriate tools to loan.
Mine was shot - shaft rattled around in it - so I planned on replacing it when I had to replace the leaking extension seal. But when I removed the propeller shaft, I noticed the U-joints were nearly locked up and, with no way to grease them, just went ahead and got a whole reman shaft that had a new center bearing already installed (plus, its U-joints have Zerk fittings!).
If you want my posts on it, do a Search using, with quotation marks, "propeller shaft" and my nom de Terc Club.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
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Petros
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Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by Petros »

84sr54wd wrote: Second question....how does that beating come off?
once the beatings begin, they usually work out fine as long as you keep your distance. Whips usually work well for this...

Continue beating until moral improves.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
84sr54wd
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Posts: 93
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My tercel:: 1984 sr5 4wd
Location: richmond, virginia

Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by 84sr54wd »

ARCHINSTL wrote:The FSM shows its removal using some special tools - but they are easily (if awkwardly) improvised. Having said that, it is possible the AutoZone, et al, have appropriate tools to loan.
Mine was shot - shaft rattled around in it - so I planned on replacing it when I had to replace the leaking extension seal. But when I removed the propeller shaft, I noticed the U-joints were nearly locked up and, with no way to grease them, just went ahead and got a whole reman shaft that had a new center bearing already installed (plus, its U-joints have Zerk fittings!).
If you want my posts on it, do a Search using, with quotation marks, "propeller shaft" and my nom de Terc Club.
Tom M.

Ok, thanks for the info.....so got off the horn with Rick this morning....ironically, he is the one that answered the phone when I called Powertrain Industries.....as soon as he said his name, I thought to myself, "thank God the guy I need to speak with answered the phone." So often, getting someone knowledable on the other end of the line is 3/4 the battle. Anyways, he said they did not have any of my shafts right now, they are currently in R/D with a new one and having the yolks made somewhere overseas and that eventually they would have them again, when he did not know. However, I told him my car only had 123K on it and I described in detail the joint binding that I felt when I examined the yolks when I had the shaft out of the car to do the clutch. He said that the type of binding I was feeling specific to the type of joint in that car...it was perfectly normal. He told me to order a center bearing from them (they have a store in Va. Beach Virginia which is 2 hours down the road from me) for $50.00 and stick it in and I would be fine. I had ordered one from RockAuto last night and it was 95.00 with shipping. I canceled that and ordered one from Rick's company for a total of 60.00 shipped. He told me to mark everything when I take it apart and stick the new bearing on and I will be fine. Hopefully the shaft does not need balancing when done long as it goes back together exactly the same. I cannot see how the shaft through a different bearing could throw it out.

Part number for the center bearings with PowerTrain Industies is 2380-20.
84sr54wd
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Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by 84sr54wd »

Petros wrote:
84sr54wd wrote: Second question....how does that beating come off?
once the beatings begin, they usually work out fine as long as you keep your distance. Whips usually work well for this...

Continue beating until moral improves.

Smart ass ;-)
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Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by ARCHINSTL »

@ 84sr54wd - glad you got to talk to Rick! As I mentioned, he was very helpful and knowledgeable.
The shaft has been in 4 years now with no complaints.
A note, however... Be sure to mark the flanges front and rear before removing the shaft! It is balanced and fitted to the flanges. I installed mine 90º out of sync, and Boy! was it noisy!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
84sr54wd
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Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by 84sr54wd »

ARCHINSTL wrote:@ 84sr54wd - glad you got to talk to Rick! As I mentioned, he was very helpful and knowledgeable.
The shaft has been in 4 years now with no complaints.
A note, however... Be sure to mark the flanges front and rear before removing the shaft! It is balanced and fitted to the flanges. I installed mine 90º out of sync, and Boy! was it noisy!
Tom M.
Yeah, I always mark a driveshaft when taking it apart to make sure that I don't get it out of phase. Any joints I unbolt and take apart, I will place a mark of paint to indicate the match when I put it back. If I do this, and install a new center bearing, I should have no issues getting it back and having it smooth.
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Petros
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Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by Petros »

84sr54wd wrote:
once the beatings begin, they usually work out fine as long as you keep your distance. Whips usually work well for this...

Continue beating until moral improves.

Smart ass ;-)[/quote]

sorry, could not resist. I Just could not let that line go unanswered, the visual with it was just too good.

"...how do the beatings come off?" LOL!

Son, you just sound like someone that has never been to a good beat'in.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
User avatar
ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by ARCHINSTL »

85sr54wd...
Some other links you will find helpful (some involve more than the support bearing itself, but too much info is never enough n'est-ce pas?:
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 371#p42371 similar $ experience from RA
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6388 and pix from dlb
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 592#p47592 and a pix from dlb and moi
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... aft#p46073

I would also buy the 8 bolt/nuts that hold the flanges together - the OE ones, at least, are easy to round off... Also awkward to access - I wound up buying a set of stubby combination wrenches.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
84sr54wd
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Location: richmond, virginia

Re: Driveshaft center support bearing failure symptoms

Post by 84sr54wd »

sorry, could not resist. I Just could not let that line go unanswered, the visual with it was just too good.

"...how do the beatings come off?" LOL!

Son, you just sound like someone that has never been to a good beat'in.[/quote]


LMAO!!!
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