New Drive Shafts Binding

That sounds right. I ran into the same problem on my 83 GTI. The Bentley manual says that US and German built cars have different drive shafts.

I can't say exactly, but a Jetta shaft not working in a Rabbit is consistent with Bentley.

Being as I had to

I don't remember the what exactly bound on my car, but I'd be concerned about keeping the part balanced if you try to remove material.

The pickup might have differently rated springs and shocks, but I would expect the struts to be compatible. But then, I'd expect the driveshafts to be as well...

Not a lot of definitive answers, but hopefully some of this is helpful.

Robert

The outer cv joints are too big. I had this problem on my 84. It took

2 or the axles before I got one that was the right size. When I had to fix the other side I had no luck getting the correct size. I just repacked the worn joint and keps going. It was only noisy once in a while.

My shafts from the 80 Rabbit fit the 84. The parts catalogue may show the same shaft for years but the catalogue is >Hello All,

Jim B.

You are correct... We took the new pair out and measured them against the pair that was in there. The portion of the new outer CV that rides inside the spindle is 2 mm larger causing it to bind when tightened.

I'm thinking like you to just take them apart, clean them and put new boots on. What are the chances to get the right size anyway. The one side was making a loud metal on metal noise as I went down the road and the other has a torn boot. After reinstalling the original shafts the noise is gone, at least for the 5 miles back to the house. Any tips to take them apart? Anything to look for when taking them apart?

Thanks for the reply....

WhiteDog

Outers just pound off with a big brass hammer. It's the inners that have the c-clips.

nate

WHTDOG469 wrote:

The problem with old shafts is you do not know which style you have. The 80 Rabbit had clipped outer joints that require some frustrating use of enternal clip pliers, a grinder on the pliers and some cursing. The newer joints as mentioned uses a clip that allows you to wack at the joint to knock it off. I have bought spare clips for the inners because I managed to stretch them all to heck when trying to reinstall the assembly. I did not trust that the clip would stay on.

The Bentley has pictures of disassembly, reassembly. I always seem to have problems reassembling. The neat thing is when you reassemble the wrong way they do nothave the correct motion. They are locked up. I then have to diassemble and try again.

The really noisy joint really needs to be replaced I suspect. The dirty one may clean up and go another 100,000 miles maybe making some clicks but if well lubed they keep going. You may need to talk to a real parts house to get a good correct size joint. parts4vw.com or German Parts are 2 sites that have professional experienced VW folks. Almost any Advanced/Pep Boys/chain company may have no clue. If you try to buy just a joint instead of a shaft they may have the correct parts.

This site actually had some listings but no measurements.

Iwas looking at an EKTA and it lists a 90mm cv joint. I would take the caliper and measure it. If you know the exact size of the good joint and the exact size of the bad one they you have a prayer.

google 171498099 and you will see some vendors sell>You are correct... We took the new pair out and measured them against the pair

Jim B.

the 100 mm joints mainly came on gti's, gli's & cabriolets.possibly in the trucks too but no confirmation of that.possibly your has had the front knuckles replaced at one time?

>

Jim B.