406 D9 Manual Drive Shaft

Peter C

Peter C

Well-known member
1000+ Posts
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
5,785
Location
SWOTR
Well, here we go again! The clutch renewal went well, the speedo needle doesn't now sometimes drop to zero and the rear main crank seal doesn't drip oil.

However, although the drivers side drive shaft is snuggly fitted up against the diff housing, the same can't be said for the passenger (left hand) side. It is about 6 - 7 mm out and I can see the shiny surface of the shaft, which I don't think I should be able to see. The gearbox is not losing oil.

I've tried giving it a good push, to no avail. Am I not using enough force? Is there something I don't know? This wouldn't surprise as there are tons and tons of things I don't know.
 
Sounds like the C clip isn’t inserting properly. You can try rotating the shaft and trying at different positions - ie change the way it’s sitting and where the gap is.
 
I'd better look more closely at mine - passenger side driveshaft popped out while I was replacing LCAs. To get everything into position I used a ratchet strap to hold the hub & the driveshaft in position, while I bolted up the LCA bushes/ball joint. It does not appear to be leaking.

I was surprised that it just popped out - I would have assumed there would be a circlip holding it in place.
 
Yes, I share your concern. I hadn't noticed it till yesterday and wasn't aware of a circlip. Whenever I've reinserted 504 drive shafts, they've just slid right in. Mine isn't leaking either.
 
I'm almost positive I checked that the drive shaft was fully in, but it could have moved when reconnecting the other end to the disc hub and LCA.
 
So, today friend and I tackled the drive shaft problem. We took out the passenger side (the one with the issue) shaft. There is no spring clip - at least not on the drive shaft itself, and we couldn't see anything resembling a clip or retaining ring inside the diff housing. We even took some measurements of the depth of various landmarks inside the diff housing and compared them to the shaft itself. It should fit in without
6 - 7mm of the shiny machined part projecting.

So far as advice is concerned, one problem I see is that with few manual 406s around, there may well be a dearth of experience or knowledge about 406 D9 manual gearboxes.

What to do?
 
Driveshaft does not have circlip nor does gearbox. Driveshaft should just push in with a bit of resistance going through the oil seal.

Have you had a really good look down the splined socket in the diff? Perhaps you have dislodged the oil seal spring and it is sitting somewhere in the socket preventing the driveshaft spline from going fully in? You should replace the oil seal anyway when you remove the driveshaft.
 
When I took out the driveshaft last week, I had a good look down into the diff. The oil seal spring hasn't come adrift and there doesn't appear to be an obstruction. The oil seal was replaced when doing the clutch.

When replacing the drivers side drive shaft, I had to use quite a bit of force for it to be fully "home". As I don't know what is inside the diff/diff housing, I'm wondering if I could have caused the diff innards to move, thus causing the problem I now have.

As I mentioned earlier, as I couldn't see a retaining clip in the first place, I thought that the shaft would just slide in like a 504 drive shaft. I'm now thinking I should've stuck with this thought, rather than possibly using excess force on the drivers side.

Another thought is that I have put the oil seal and the white plastic thing with a toothed inner edge the in, in the wrong order. Although i can't see why this would be a problem. Currently, the oil seal went in first, followed by the toothed plastic thing.

One option I have is to drag out the 406 HDi auto out onto the driveway, jack it up and have a good look at what's what with its drive shafts. I'm assuming the diff/driver shafts are the same or similar.
 
Last edited:
Today, I dragged out the 406 HDi Auto and had a look at both drive shafts. Being an auto, they are somewhat different to my manual 406, and where the left driveshaft (the one in question) mates up to the diff housing, the view is partly obscured by the diff housing casting, which is not the case with my manual 406. I note that the oil seal is on the outside. This must mean that the toothed plastic thing must be on the inside which is the reverse order that I've installed them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top