trans in the 1st gen LHS

42LE i believe. anybody ever have to dig out the short shaft and bearing on
the passenger side? i think its probably inside the diff and will have to
come out from inside the trans. there is a plate on the outside of the trans
there but not sure i can get the shaft and bearing out that way. The bearing
is bad, and causing lots of play in the axle as well as the CV shaft.

anybody had that issue? I've been looking on the LH forums too but there's a
lot to go thru still

 

That play in the passenger side short shaft is normal - 1st and 2nd gen.
LH cars. You are wasting your time trying to fix that - when you
finish, even with brand new bearing and proper preload adjusted into it,
it will still have the same play in it. The reason is that, while there
is no play in the bearing, the short shaft plugs into a *bushing* in the
carrier. The play you are seeing is between the shaft and the bushing
in the carrier - it's that way from the factory.

Several people on the three LH car forums have *thought* the play was a
problem, but it's been proven over and over that it is normal, and you
can't get rid of it - and it causes no problems. You stack the play in
the shaft itself, and then the play between the tripod onto the shaft,
and multiply that by the length of the inner joint, and it does add up
to a bit of motion in the axle.

It just so happens that I was the person on the forums that first made
everyone aware that it is normal (I post as Peva on www.lhforums.net and
www.dodgeintrepid.net forums). Here is the latest thread on which it
was discussed: http://www.dodgeintrepid.net/forums/showthread.php?t=176609

Look at my post (post no. 6) with the sketch from the FSM with my
explanation.

 

ok but mine is rattling enough to sound likes it going to come out of the
car....and its only done that for about a month or so.

damn C clip is bent on the stub shaft too so I'm going to have to cut the
yoke to change the CV axle. it has one bad CV joint that's making the old
tell tale ratcheting sound when you go around tight corners

 

ok read that post. informative. sine i have to cut that damn yoke anyway i
think i'll proceed with that first and see how much that takes care of.

Donkey Shane dude!

 

You're welcome. If I were a betting man, I'd wager that replacing the
half shaft will take care of all the noise.

I had trouble getting the passenger side half shaft off the stub too
when I had a joint go out. I figured out that it was because I was
prying only against one side of the yoke - the harder I pried, the more
binding side pressure that created. I was able to put two pry bars
close to 180° apart (there are three lobes 120° apart, so it was
somewhere between 180 and 120°) that I was able to apply pressure so
that most of the force was outward instead of sideways.

But - yeah - a lot of people have posted on the forums over the years
that the clip was corroded up and wouldn't move. I have a feeling that
that would only be the case if you live in the rust/salt belt. Mine was
not rusted - it was due to that side force I mentioned. Once I pried on
both sides at the same time, it popped right off with very little force.

Post back and let us know the outcome.

--
Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I'm thinking my mine is bent. i couldn't get it to release the CV shaft
while i was under it in the garage and neither could that guys down at my
local tire store with a lift. but yeah prying in just the right place might
get it.

I've seen guys at the dealer screaming about how much a pain it is to cut
the inner yoke off.

 

Try to improvise some kind of slide hammer to get good impulse with no
side component? I have to believe that even if there is a problem
(corrosion?) with the clip (designed not to provide positive retention),
its total retention force (including the extra due to corrosion it being
slightly deformed) has to be way weaker than the solid clip (designed to
hold until it reaches some huge shear force) holding the stub in the
carrier bushing.

 

Oops - meant to say "...due to corrosion *or* it being slightly
deformed...".

 

so far no luck. tried prying equally with two bars. tried holding it level
while doing so too just to make sure it wasn't pinching the clip on one
side, so to speak, fro the weight of the inner yoke hanging downwards
slightly.


guess its time to find a lift again and trying from over head. haven't
worked out a slide hammer setup yet. something like this might work but i
don't know if a ford yoke is close to Chrysler dimensions

http://tinyurl.com/y7sh7el

http://tinyurl.com/y6cjd2a