drive shaft re-assembly issue

[davis.16]

Hey guys,
havent been on here in ages but thought id run something past you.
so a few weeks ago i was driving down the highway when my rear diff chose to pack up sending me off the highway at 90km with a locked diff.

after tracking down a new center i have rebuilt the diff with no issue. however my genius mate that was helping me was curious what would happen if he pulled the drive shaft while it wasn't attached to the diff and the result was it got longer and longer with more and more want to retract to its original size until it sort of let go. after a good fight with it i managed to get it back to its original size and back onto the diff but now it is under pressure on the back of the gear box and front of the diff as we had to force it back to its original size.

is this a problem and how might i resolve it?

cheers for any help sam...

[TOYZX]

I assume you're talking about the slip joint coming apart? They can get very hard to slide together because they can hydraulic lock themselves with the grease. Could try removing the grease nipple to release the pressure. I've been told by toyota to be careful when greasing these shafts to loosen the grease nipple after greasing to release any pressure as it can damage the bearings and seals in the diff and gearbox. Hope this helps!

[TRDLuxxy]

Yes it will be a problem if you don't fix it, broken ring & pinion comes to mind....

take the zerk fitting off the sliding yoke, grease will flow out jump on the rear a couple of times or take one side off and compress it until the excess grease/air is out.

[GeeBung]

Probably a good time to clean out the slip joint and put new grease in. As the blokes have said taking out the grease nipple will allow you to put it back together easily while it still has grease in it.

However when you pull apart a slip joint on a tail shaft you need to match mark the two parts of shaft so they go back together the exact same way. If not you can, and likely will, have balance issues with the shaft leading to buggered uni's etc.

[TRDLuxxy]

Good point!

[davis.16]

Cheers lads... I'll get right on it...