disposable driveshaft ?

[Guest Anonymous]

Last week my 78 200sx driver lost a U joint.So I call the parts house and they tell me that the drive shaft is not servicable.I look in the MSA catalog and they say the same thing about the Z,thru a few years.Has anyone tried to press one of these apart?Am I at the mercy of the driveline shop?I have a few shafts from other datsuns,but it would be a lot easier to fix the one in the car,than to make one and have it balanced.Any thoughts? The sooner I get it fixed,the sooner I get back to the Z.

[fl327]

any driveshaft shop can replace those u joints,

they may charge a little more, but they can do it.

if a driveshaft shop trys to say they cant, they are weak.

[Mike C]

I'm not sure that they can be replaced except by an extremely good driveline shop. In looking at the non-replaceable u-joint driveshafts I have, the u-joints are staked into the yoke and there is no groove for a circlip. If the stakes are ground and the yoke machined for circlips, they can be rebuilt. Machine work will eat you up however. Probably best to have a custom driveshaft made unless a new one from Nissan is cheaper. For a 280 you can get a 240 driveshaft where they ARE replaceable, don't know about your 200.

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies,I was thinking about machining some grooves myself,(I run a CNC lathe for a living) but its probably easier to shorten a longer drive shaft and have it ballanced.I would have to cut it apart to grab on to the side of it ,or get one of the mill guys to use a wheel cutter.I was really hoping the parts house was mistaken.I have an 84 pickup for parts,I'll size it up in the morning.