A friend and I took my driveshaft apart this past weekend, to replace worn parts.

I couldn't get the sleeve off, so had to cut it off.

As you can see in the photo, my Dremel put a small nick in the shaft, under the sleeve. I want to use the Modern Drive Shaft pinion bearing assembly. As I understand it, this means I don't need a new separate sleeve.

My question: will the nick affect anything?

Tom

Most importantly what is the exact diameter of the shaft along the non tapered surface where the 2 bearings will ride. Use an accurate micrometer and simply measure it. If the shaft is worn then the bearing won't have a light press fit and that is not going to work because the inner race will then spin on the shaft. Some shade tree fixes will advise you can use loctite to make up the difference and others will use a center punch to try and swell the shaft to make things tight but the whole job will then be a pile of future problems. Check the taper and its fit to the gear to make sure it is going to fit correctly and finally check the keyway for the gear to make sure the pinion key is going to be tight.

Tom,

That nick won't hurt anything.

There isn't anything wrong with the original Ford setup! And yes, the nick won't hurt a thing.

Press a new inner race on it and use original Ford/Hyatt bearing and an NOS outer sleeve. You can easily find good ones. The original setup works great.

John,

Since the sleeve was near impossible to remove, I assumed the shaft was just fine to use. I just measured with my micrometer = 1.002.

Thanks, guys, re: answer regarding nick and your thoughts on using the original setup.

I'm also concerned about how wallowed out the u-joint receiver was after I removed. I assume it's made so it's softer than the shaft? The shaft end looks good:



Tom

That nick will be fine. If it was me, I would dress down and blend the sharp edges with a fine file, then crocus cloth before I used it.

Polish it smooth install new sleeve and go

If you use a file, just kiss it. You don't want to make it undersized.

Polish it smooth and put on new sleeve youl be fine