Driveshaft refurbishment

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, all.

During my NSX Health Check Service, quite often, I found the damage to the driveshaft boot or grease splashed around the boot. Also, I can feel the loose movement of the internal parts when moving the shaft up/down/left/right.

I refurbished many drive shafts in the past and as I received similar questions about it, I decided to share the information with you. Please note that following procedures include the process not even explained in the Service manual and it is based on my own experiences. Therefore, it may not be suitable for your case.

Unlike other production cars, our NSX requires frequent maintenance on the drive shaft. My NSX is everyday car and it covered about 120,000miles in 15 years. I normally refurbish my drive shaft every 20,000miles. I don’t track my NSX as I have other cars for this purpose but even with this normal driving condition, the grease inside the drive shaft boot was getting soft.
If you track your NSX, it is better to service your drive shaft frequently especially if you have aftermarket header/exhaust.

When the grease is new, it looks like yellow/cream custard colour and very-very sticky. The grease will hold its original position inside the container even you place it up side down.

Quite often, I found damage to the boot like this one or lots of grease splashed around the boot even there was no damage to the boot. The grease got leaked from the side of the boot.
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Because of the damage to the boot, lots of debris, water, etc could get inside the boot and thus, degraded the quality of the grease. Also, the grease will be leaking to the outside world resulting in loss of lubricant capacity.
If you ignored or didn’t notice the early sign of the damage/leakage, your grease will turn into very soft character and it would look like this. When you open the boot, some of the grease simply runs down like gravy or melted mocha ice cream…. Not a good sign as it has contaminated the grease inside the three rollers with lots of tiny roller bearing inside.
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[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Also, to remove the spider, normally you’ll need to use the standard puller tool.
However, if the grease was not performing well, extra force would be applied to the spider resulting in loose fitment. Quite often, you can remove the spider with just the fingers without any tools.

If your grease was too soft and looked like melted mocha ice cream, you may want to consider re-packing the grease inside the roller. Please note that roller contains the bearing inside so under normal situation, you SHOULD NOT wash it with the degreaser. You just wipe off the old grease and that is good enough if you have looked after your drive shaft well.
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Before, you remove the rollers from the spider, mark them so that you can put them back in their original position after cleaning process.
At the same time, mark the spline of the shaft and the spider so that you can keep the original 60deg offset between the two ends of the spider.

There are lots of tiny roller bearings inside the roller. Remove the circlip on top and disassemble the roller. Never loose any of the roller bearings otherwise you will need to buy a new joint assy which will be very very expensive.
When you re-pack the grease for the roller, it is best to carry out the process inside the Clean room or at least, dust free environment.
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[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Apply reasonable amount of grease to the internal roller surface and plant each roller bearing carefully. Once you have planted most of the bearings, re-built the roller.
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Then, insert the remaining bearing from the top and apply another coat of grease from the top. Rotate the roller several times and confirm that the roller is filled with the new grease. Put back all the parts to finish the re-packing of grease inside the roller.
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[Kaz-kzukNA1]

It’s time to rebuilt the drive shaft.
Put some tape on the spline of the shaft for protection and slide on the new boot.
Place the new thick set ring into the inner slot of the shaft. Unless you have carried out this several times, you will struggle to place it in the correct position.
Insert the spider at its original position by looking at the marking. You may want to use some sort of tool for this. I use old brake calliper piston as its opening is just the right size.
Place the new thin set ring on top. This one is easy.
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Place the three rollers at their original location.
Fill up about half of the required grease inside the joint housing and place it on top of the spider/roller.
Pay extra attention to the direction of the rollers to avoid any damage to them and to the joint housing. It will only slide into the housing when it is at the right orientation. Never force it.
For the outer joint, there are other parts such as spring, cup and circlip but you can follow the service manual for these.
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[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Put the remaining specified amount of grease into the housing.
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Because of the spring inside the outer joint, it is best to secure the boot bands on the inner joint first and then move onto the outer ones.
If you order the OEM replacement boot kit, the boot band will be different from the original ones. It is double loop type and it is best to use the special tool for tightening it. It is recommended to face the free end of the band towards the forward of the car.
After the double loop, hand tighten it first and then use the special band tool. You will need to tighten it for about 10-14mm from the point after hand tightening.
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Then, look at the manual and adjust the length of the driveshaft before securing the boot band on the outer joint. Right side is the same for both MT and AT but the left one is different.

As you don’t want to create any rust or attract any dirt on the spline of outer joint, cover it with some grease. On the left inner joint, you don’t want any dirt on it as it will be inserted into the GBox which means that it will be in contact with MTF or ATF.
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Now we have the refurbished driveshaft.

I need to clean my camera now as it was covered in grease…


Regards,
Kaz

[TheQuietOne]

Kaz,

Your posts really are fantastic. I don't think we can thank you enough for bringing the depth of knowledge you have here to the club. I just need to find time to get my car to you for a good seeing to know! :)

Thanks,

Matt.

[Silver Surfer]

Kaz,

Can you PM me the cost and time for you to do the same to my driveshaft if I chose so.

Cheers

Kare

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, Kare.
Good to hear from you again.

Replied back through email so I hope you can have a look when you have a time.

Regards,
Kaz

[Silver Surfer]

Received..

Cheers Kaz.

SS

[NSXGB]

Kaz, is the yellow Honda driveshaft grease available separately form the boot kit? I need a bottle like the ones that come with the rebuild kit or smaller.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Not sure it's cost effective than buying the whole boot repair kit including the grease but if you want the OEM, try 08798-9003. I think it was about 150g tube.
In US, probably you can buy the whole boot kit at the same price (or even cheaper) though.....
How much do you need? I'm in the process of refurbishing 2 x driveshafts so if you need just a little, I could send you the left over.

Or, as long as you don't mix up the different type grease (you must disassemble the pin bearing inside each roller to remove existing grease), you could go for the good quality aftermarket CV joint grease.


Kaz

[NSXGB]

Thanks Kaz, I'll try the 98798-9003, less than £5 so that will do. I only need a little bit but after this driveshaft is done I will be refurbishing another pair so it will be good to have some spare.

Thanks again for your help.




Not sure it's cost effective than buying the whole boot repair kit including the grease but if you want the OEM, try 08798-9003. I think it was about 150g tube.
In US, probably you can buy the whole boot kit at the same price (or even cheaper) though.....
How much do you need? I'm in the process of refurbishing 2 x driveshafts so if you need just a little, I could send you the left over.

Or, as long as you don't mix up the different type grease (you must disassemble the pin bearing inside each roller to remove existing grease), you could go for the good quality aftermarket CV joint grease.


Kaz

[NSXGB]

98798-9003 is unfortunately discontinued.
Will drop you an email Kaz.