driveshaft blues

[darock]

Hello,

started project driveshaft refurbish last weekend.

Plan was to get the Surtrack replacement left driveshaft and use the parts of the original left one to repair the worn right inner CV joint.

First, removing the driveshafts is a pain if you don't know ALL the tricks that are needed. First the inner joint out of the gearbox and then the outer. Removing the lower bracing on the subframe is needed.

Got the new driveshaft and found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFXttWrpubc

that was not what I expected after reading a lot of positive comments about the surtrack part. The vendor is willing to send replacement. Hope that one is better quality.

I disassembled the inner CV joint of the left driveshaft. It had a little bit of play.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7289/16414318440_1c1db6e69f.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7393/16601341605_eb90525b38.jpg

Started cleaning and found that again a stupid mechanic messed up. The cup is full hardened yellow grease. I assume that was the originale grease. Everywhere inside the new grayish grease were particles of the old grease. Visible wear on the rollers. Have not taken the right driveshaft apart but assume it looks the same and even worse.

What to do now? Whats about those Legend inner CV Joints? Anyone has a part number?

Bernhard

[Pride]

Hello,

Got the new driveshaft and found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFXttWrpubc

that was not what I expected after reading a lot of positive comments about the surtrack part. The vendor is willing to send replacement. Hope that one is better quality.

Started cleaning and found that again a stupid mechanic messed up. The cup is full hardened yellow grease. I assume that was the originale grease. Everywhere inside the new grayish grease were particles of the old grease. Visible wear on the rollers. Have not taken the right driveshaft apart but assume it looks the same and even worse.

What to do now? Whats about those Legend inner CV Joints? Anyone has a part number?

Bernhard

I've got to say that if I found any where near the problems you found on the driveshafts from surtrack I would demand an immediate refund and buy one that Kaz would recommend or better still try and source a couple from a low mileage breaker that occasionally crop up on Prime.

You're certainly doing a lot of mechanical work on your car lately, where's it been for god's sake, thrashed a few hundred times around the Nurburgring???:)

[darock]

I think I just had bad luck with this driveshaft and the vendor is willing to replace it. I already ordered the replacement and will get a refund.

Regarding the car itself. It has around 235tkm done so far (which I did not know when I bought it because the clock says 80k, but thats another annoying story that involves lawyers).

From what I know about the history of the car, it had a pretty good life. When you see the car, you never expect it to have that many miles.

I have driven it 4000km last summer and it ran great. The engine is healthy and showed no signs of weakness on the dyno. 272HP and 290Nm with stock header/cats and a badly made custom silencer.

Anyway, its a fairly old car so naturally there are some issues coming up ... I own a Triumph TR6 as well and compared to this, the NSX is problem free :D No drive without braking something on the Triumph :D

Bernhard

[Pride]

Anyway ... I own a Triumph TR6 as well and compared to this, the NSX is problem free :D No drive without braking something on the Triumph :D
Bernhard

But surely Bernhard did you not know that in England, Triumph named it the TR6 because they knew it would always need a Total Rebuild every 6 Years.:)

Lucky it's not a TR1:D

[darock]

But surely Bernhard did you not know that in England Triumph named it the TR6 because they knew it would always need a Total Rebuild every 6 Years.

Lucky it's not a TR1

never heard that before :D :D

following your concept mine was more like a TR2 since I got it from my uncle ... So it must be a Total-Rebuild at best every 6 years :D

I hope the german pistons, chinese conrods, american cam and hardware will make it last 6.5 years ...

Bernhard

[mjames75]

I've got to say that if I found any where near the problems you found on the driveshafts from surtrack I would demand an immediate refund and buy one that Kaz would recommend or better still try and source a couple from a low mileage breaker that occasionally crop up on Prime.

You're certainly doing a lot of mechanical work on your car lately, where's it been for god's sake, thrashed a few hundred times around the Nurburgring???:)

Alot of Nsx actually have driveshaft 'clunking', mostly higher mileage but also how they are driven can also contribute, i.e harsh downshifts and not rev matching etc

[darock]

The saga continues:

Received a second driveshaft as replacement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yikEnl6qii8

Same ****, different day ...

I ordered the right inner joint from Honda. I will rebuild the left inner and reuse it. Already got the boot sets from Honda.

380 Dollars seems a lot for just a CV joint but as you can see in the video at the end, the 160k mile outer cv joint is perfectly fine. Can't beat Honda parts quality.

lesson learned...

Bernhard

[Pride]

The saga continues:

Received a second driveshaft as replacement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yikEnl6qii8

Same ****, different day ...

I ordered the right inner joint from Honda. I will rebuild the left inner and reuse it. Already got the boot sets from Honda.

380 Dollars seems a lot for just a CV joint but as you can see in the video at the end, the 160k mile outer cv joint is perfectly fine. Can't beat Honda parts quality.

lesson learned...

Bernhard

I don't like to tell I told you so, but I told you so.

[darock]

Yes you did :D

everything will be good in the end when I finished the rebuild of the driveshafts.

Bernhard

[Pride]

Yes you did :D

everything will be good in the end when I finished the rebuild of the driveshafts.

Bernhard

I'm sure it will as you seem like a competent engineer.:rolleyes:

[darock]

I did not get the new inner CV joint yet and also it was again way too cold to work on the car BUT I did some measurements of the rotational play on the two new driveshafts.

I know, this measurements are far from scientific but I did every joint twice to confirm. The measurements are repeatable and give the same measurements with 0.2mm accuracy. I also checked if the measurements are consistent over the length extension the joints provide, which they are. I also tried moving the joints to get the grease flowing inside the boot which did not change the measurements at all.

I made a scratch with a needle, twisted the joint an made a second scratch. Measured the distance of the scratches.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7628/16149129943_becc6df460.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7632/16581489668_ef81902fce.jpg

For even better comparisson I put together the already cleaned original 160k miles left inner CV joint. Totally free of grease.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7586/16769056895_b82f19f9de.jpg
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8685/16149131213_5e62b284c5.jpg

This are the numbers.
driveshaft 1:
inside: 1mm
outside: 1.1mm

drivehaft 2:
inside: 1.4mm
outside: 1.4mm

Original Honda 160k miles:
inside: 0.6mm (dry)
outside: 0.2mm (barely measureable, still with grease)

So the old dry CV joint is WAY better than this new crap.

Right now, the manufacturer itself is reviewing the issue ... Maybe they offer a better solution than paying twice the value of the driveshafts for shipping back to RockAuto.

Bernhard