New driveshaft won't stay in transaxle

[bhazard]

Youre working outside in Alaska?

I cant even stand to work outside this time of year down *here*!

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

AK

Yes, outside in SouthCentral AK, where we're having a heat wave and looking for temps in the high 40s today. Up north in Fairbanks, they have thermometers that go down to minus 70 'cause it gets down into the minus 60s. The thermometers use alcohol, since mercury freezes at about minus 40.

The big danger isn't really the cold. It's getting eaten by bears, stepped on by moose who weigh more than Festivas, and, of course, getting eaten alive by the state bird, the mosquito.

[chrisofna]

I meant the Lower control arm, sorry about that should of been more specific.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Chrisofina,

Now that's an interesting possibility -- wrong-length LCA!

I'm (gently) driving it to a shop about a mile away to put it up on a lift and have a look-see for $85 (85% of what I paid for the car!) for 1 hour. I will be sure to compare the lengths of the two LCAs. Hopefully, in 1 hour they can pull the left side and look into the gearbox with mirrors.

Do you know how much differerent the length of the Aspire LCA is from the Festiva's? Are we talking just a mm or 2 or what?

[chrisofna]

I remember someone on here had that problem before, I think it was like an inch or so off?

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Well, the shop I went to claimed that the shaft wasn't fully inserted. I KNOW I felt a "click" when I inserted it (several times). Then, they called me out to the work area (after initially telling me their insurance prohibited that) to show me that they could pull it out agaion. Well, they couldn't pull it out, even with two mechanics both prying on it, one with a 6 foot long pry bar. Instead, they pulled apart the "telescoping" part of the shaft (which I think is really a spline going into the inner CV ball cage, if I remember from my Fiat days) and couldn't get it back together. I finally yelled "STOP!" and told them to stop breaking my car. I said "(1) Whatever you did to make it stay in the transaxle, just leave it there, and (2) pull back the (inner) CV boot, put things back together in there, and seal it up.

For all I know, maybe they mangled the clip so it won't ever come out of the transaxle again. This reminds me what I told myself years ago -- Shops take your money and mess up your car. This cost me $90 today and my car MAY be "fixed," at least until the next time the driver side shaft needs replacing, which I hope is never, as long as I try to stay away from high speeds on gravel freeways (a concept you don't have in the Lower 48) so as not to rip the boots.

I noticed that the shop didn't even know that you don't have to pull the spindle off the ball joint to get shafts out. All I ever do is steer full away from the side being repaired, remove the brake caliper, and remove the two 14mm strut bolts. It's close, but the shaft will then come out if you bend the outboard CV to the max angle and push down on the LCA.

I will, when I get time, disassemble a gearbox. I've got to see exactliy what the danged clip fits into in the differential that causes such grief.

Thanks for everybody's suggestions here. Now, it's on to getting snow tires on. The snow line is down to about 1000' now, so the first big dump isn't far off. In only about 10weeks (Dec 21 or so), the days will start getting longer again, and 5 months later (mid-May), the last of the snow will be gone.

[GenevaDirt]

I noticed that the shop didn't even know that you don't have to pull the spindle off the ball joint to get shafts out. All I ever do is steer full away from the side being repaired, remove the brake caliper, and remove the two 14mm strut bolts. It's close, but the shaft will then come out if you bend the outboard CV to the max angle and push down on the LCA.

actually all you have to do is remove the pinch bolt and turn your rotor towards you. Use a pry bar and pop the LCA out of the hub....and then pop the tie rod loose. You can swing everything away and pull the shaft out of the bearing. No need to remove the caliper or the hub from the strut.