The driveshaft is covered in surface rust and as I need to remove it to replace the pinion & tailshaft seals I will remove the rust and paint it. Once removed I’ll also inspect the u-joints and see if they need replacing.
12th Dec 2021 – Today was the day. I started by loosening the U bolt nuts at the rear, which undid very easily, presumably as they were coated with grease/oil. I also put a drip pan below the yoke at the transmission tailshaft as I had read that transmission fluid will come out when its removed.
Before fully removing the driveshaft I marked the ear which was at the bottom (2nd picture above). This is so I can put it back in the same location which should mean I don’t introduce any balance issues. Once the four nuts were undone, I pushed the shaft towards the engine which allowed it to drop below the fitting. This then allowed me to pull the entire driveshaft towards the rear of the car. The yoke slid out of the transmission easily.
With the shaft fully removed I then started to remove the U-Joints to replace them. I pounded on them for a few minutes before realising I first had to remove the clips (Idiot!). Once I removed the clips I was able to hammer them out after soaking them in WD-40.
The next step is to sand down the shaft and paint it. The slip yoke seems ok although it does have some surface rust which I will deal with. I have the U-Joints on order so I will think about tackling the front and rear seals whilst they are in transit.
I started to sand the shaft down and found some codes that signify that this may be a stock 66 shaft.
After sanding it down as much as I could I then coated it in rust inhibiter primer. I let this dry for a few days and then laid down the first coat of gloss black. Luckily the garden chairs needed painting also 🙂
After a few more coats of paint I started to install the new u-joints. It seems that the previous owner(s) had used anything that worked so although there should be a different u-joint for each end I found that I had two of the same sort on the car. I ordered what I thought was correct (for a 66 289 car) and they were wrong!
I bought two of the same size, matching what was on the car, and they fit. As they have been on there for who knows how long with no issues, that is what I will go with. Using a hammer and a socket just smaller than the u-joint cap I was able to install them both. The inner clips were a bit fiddly but I got them on (wear eye protection!).
The shaft was put back on the car but when I checked for play I found that the transmission end had a few MM of play on the shaft/yoke axis. I thought I hadn’t seated the u-joint caps far enough into the yoke but what I found was that I had used the wrong inner clips!!
I had managed to mix up the clips when I was comparing the u-joints. Thankfully the correct clips were still sitting on my work bench and when I compared them with what I had installed they were about 1mm thicker. Once I had installed the right ones, the play was gone and the shaft was installed back in the car.
With that issue resolved I was able to reinstall the driveshaft, which was a great feeling!
My Mustang Journey 