Driveshaft free play

[jack n rory]

Does anybody know if there is a bearing right at the back of the gearbox that can be gotten at and changed. It looks as though there is a casing that is reasonably easy to get to. I have a fair bit of movement where the shaft goes into the box, am starting to get a vibration and gearstick is getting hot which leads me to believe that if there is a bearing there, it is shot. It is a 89 NF manual. Anybody got any thoughts?

[dolphin]

we did a rear gearbox bearing and seal change a while back and what i can remember is you have to remove the tail shaft then support the gearbox and undo the rear case an withdraw this to gain access to the rear bearing which needs to be tapped out from the inner side. don,t forget to drain the box before you undo and withdraw this as you will get abit wet and messy.

[jack n rory]

Thanks for the info. So it is not too hard to get to, that is good to know. Just by chance would you have the old bearing so i could get the number off it. By the way did you find out that this job was messy if you dont drain the oil the hard way??

[6G74]

There is rear output shaft bearing, but this has no effect nor contact with the tailshaft, the slip joint where the shaft goes into the extension housing has a bush in there - you cant buy the bush on its own, you can still get the extension housing at 500 odd buks, you could have one machined up or apparently an l200 bush fits but is skinnier or something? Good luck!

[jack n rory]

I dont understand what you mean when you say that the rear output shaft bearing being worn will have no effect on the driveshaft. Driveshaft is connected to output shaft via the yoke and the uni.

[6G74]

I dont understand what you mean when you say that the rear output shaft bearing being worn will have no effect on the driveshaft. Driveshaft is connected to output shaft via the yoke and the uni.

You have the centre diff which is literally a normal diff in the tfc, off the back of that you then have the output shaft, the bearing for this sits right next to the centre diff, the spline then overhangs by some 100mm or something, then at the end of this you have a bush followed by a seal. If you have excessive movement in terms of up and down, or left and right in the slip joint of the tailshaft, the output shaft bearing will have nill effect on this. Further to that, its a semi common thing - my only surgestion, get yourself a diagram so you can picture it properly before you go pulling apart.

[OlgieD]

Hi Jack,

I've got a 88 NF manual and unfortunately, also started getting vibration. Over a few weeks it got worse and worse. Turns out the universal joints of the rearshaft were shot, which incidently also caused the seal on the transfer case to start leaking. The body right around the case was also getting very hot.
Not saying you have the same prob, but i guess it pays to have someone (or yourself) look at the uni joints carefully. While the joints themselves aren't too expensive, getting the old caps of the joints out was not easy (didn't do it myself).

Cheers! Olger.