Driveline Service of Portland

[gale]

I used Portland for the custom d/s for my manual conversion and they did a great job. Absolutely no vibration or imbalance issues and all new components for the rear CV joint, center bearing, & front spiders. There is also Driveline services of Atlanta, not sure if they're an affiliate and have no feedback on them. Thrash in San Antonio, TX is supposed to be very good and are a bit cheaper than Portland. I didn't learn of them until after doing the swap.

[Rus]

Hello everyone,

After inspecting my car's rear end and driveline today, I discovered that the front u-joint of the driveshaft has visible play. So its new driveshaft time and I'm not too sure where to look. I've seen Driveline Service of Portland mentioned on several forums as a reputable rebuilder. Has anyone had experience with them? Who else does quality rebuilt driveshafts?

Thanks in advance!

[gale]

Are greasable joints a maintenance issue (since the middle u-joint is hidden behind the exhaust system)?

Yes, that is an issue. A zerk fitting doesn't do much good if one must tear the car half apart to get to it. I gave a brief fleeting moment of thought to drilling a hole thru the tunnel under the carpet to provide access to grease the driveshaft but decided not to bother with it. It will just have to wait to get greased until I have other reasons to tear things apart again.

If you do get a rebuilt driveshaft with zerk fittings, pump it full of high quality full synthetic high temperature severe service grease before installing it. I used a hi-temp heavy duty synthetic wheel bearing grease on my boat trailer this summer when installing new bearings. Turned out the problem was dragging brake shoes and I totally cooked one hub on the way to the lake. After it cooled, I tore it apart on the ramp & removed the shoes for the trip home. The grease was still like new.

Give Thrash a call. I think they can also provide replaceable/greaseable spiders in their rebuilt shafts upon request. At least that's what I remember when their name was floating around on numerous Roadfly e32 threads back when it was still a vital forum.

My custom Portland driveshaft cost me $400. It would have been less but I had to eat a $37 core charge since the front half of the donor shaft I sent them was damaged beyond repair.

[gale]

In your opinion, is it worth the trouble to have greasable u-joints?

I'd just go with the best price/warrantee & disregard what style it is. The driveshaft is good for 100k+ miles. I don't know about you but I doubt I'll ever put that many miles on my 2nd d/s. At my present rate of 5-6k miles per year, I'm good for another 20 years or more.

[CharlesAFerg]

What about Portland?

:D

You guys should come visit if this place is in Oregon & not Maine.

[Rus]

Gale,
Thanks for the heads up on Thrash. I looked on their website, and they also seem like a good outfit. They, however, offer the same type of joint as came on the car originally, that is "stacked" versus replaceable. I'm tempted by the serviceability aspect of having a circlip-retained joint. Their warranty is also a bit different from Portland's. Considering that I don't put a lot of miles on the car, having a 5year/50K warranty might be a better bet. So is there a big advantage in replaceable joints? Are greasable joints a maintenance issue (since the middle u-joint is hidden behind the exhaust system)?

[Rus]

What about Portland?

:D

You guys should come visit if this place is in Oregon & not Maine.

Portland Driveline Service are indeed located in Portland, OR. :) A roadtrip, unfortunately, doesn't seem feasable when exams are rolling up on me :-p

[CharlesAFerg]

Portland Driveline Service are indeed located in Portland, OR. :) A roadtrip, unfortunately, doesn't seem feasable when exams are rolling up on me :-p
From Lousiana, wow... on second thought - don't destroy your car, lol

[Rus]

Yes, that is an issue. A zerk fitting doesn't do much good if one must tear the car half apart to get to it. I gave a brief fleeting moment of thought to drilling a hole thru the tunnel under the carpet to provide access to grease the driveshaft but decided not to bother with it. It will just have to wait to get greased until I have other reasons to tear things apart again.

If you do get a rebuilt driveshaft with zerk fittings, pump it full of high quality full synthetic high temperature severe service grease before installing it. I used a hi-temp heavy duty synthetic wheel bearing grease on my boat trailer this summer when installing new bearings. Turned out the problem was dragging brake shoes and I totally cooked one hub on the way to the lake. After it cooled, I tore it apart on the ramp & removed the shoes for the trip home. The grease was still like new.

Give Thrash a call. I think they can also provide replaceable/greaseable spiders in their rebuilt shafts upon request. At least that's what I remember when their name was floating around on numerous Roadfly e32 threads back when it was still a vital forum.

My custom Portland driveshaft cost me $400. It would have been less but I had to eat a $37 core charge since the front half of the donor shaft I sent them was damaged beyond repair.

In your opinion, is it worth the trouble to have greasable u-joints? Thrash seems to go into a lot of detail regarding the OEM staked joints being a proper replacement. Like you said, tearing things apart to grease the joints is not my idea of regular maintenance....and I suspect greasable joints require this maintenance for long life. Is this correct?

P.S.: After reading some more info on the Thrash Driveline site I think I'll be hitting them up for my new shaft. Sounds like a staked permanently-sealed joint is the way to go in light of the maintenance issue.