OK brains trust. I have a conundrum to air. (Apologies for the long post, too)
Firstly the background. Maurice is a 1967 1100S with only 90,000 miles under the belt and nearly all original in the mechanical department. As he was beginning to dribble a little more than his owner, I decided it was time for replacing driveshaft, timing cover and primary gear seals, so out came the whirly bits. All the evidence suggested these were in fact the originals!
As I have an extreme dislike of the rubber cross joints I also have sourced over time a set of Hardy-spicer inner joints and the associated bits such as diff output shafts etc. While the mechanicals were on the bench I figured that sine I had to dismantle the diff assembly to change the shafts, I'd also go the extra mile and fit the 3.444 crown wheel and pinion I had standing by as well.
Maurice is a 12Y engine so had a 3.765 crownwheel/pinion assembly. My calculations indicate this should drop the revs at a 100kmh cruise by about 400rpm. Easier on the ears, but still in the power band. All fine in theory. I am given to understand that the joint assemblies are an easy interchange. Hmm, but are they?
Diff installed, gearbox and engine gaskets and seals all buttoned up, in went the motive lump. H/S joints bolted up at the diff fine. Then I proceeded to re-install the hubs, only find that the top of the hub simply wont go far enough in for the ball joint to drop in. Empirically it seems that the actual drive shaft must be a few mm longer than required, or, conversely, that the H/S assembly is a tad longer internally than the rubber bizzos and their associated drive flanges.
A search of the parts book isn't very helpful. It shows the drive shafts for both manual and automatic boxes (auto fitted with H/S joints) are the same part numbers (RH 17H8598 & LH 17H8599) This says to me that the bloody thing should fit?
Am I missing something here? Is it a rookie error that I'm making? Having never dabbled with H/S joints or rubber cross thingies before I accept that if there's a mistake to be made, I will make it. My first thought is to perhaps grind off a couple of mm from each drive shaft spline, but that does seem a bit butcherous.
I treasure your thoughts and advice people!
Cheer, Pottsy
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