Drive shaft dilemma

[stu28stu 1]

Morning 

 

so I removed the near side drive shaft and changed the oil seal , 

 

put drive shaft back in and now the bottom ball joint that attaches to the bottom of the hub assembly will not line up at all ? 

 

it looks about 10mm short from being able to line up and go in , 
 

if I turn the drive shaft it’s engaged and rotated both front wheels ,

 

have changed nothing else 

it’s frustrating as hell never had this issue before 

 

any ideas? 

 

 

[welshpug 1,656]

stick a bit of grease or oil on the seal surface and the outer splines and give it a good shove once the splines are engaged.

[stu28stu 1]

Ok will try now 

 

should I tap it in with force ? 

[stu28stu 1]

Managed to get loser joint on ;

 

however now when I turn the hub it turns normally for 3/4 of a turn then almost gets stuck and it raises the suspension a little when i force the turn round then frees up and gets stuck again at same point of rotation ,

 

what the hell have a done 

[xstian 12]

It sounds like the driveshaft is not correctly aligned at one of the joints. I would pull the driveshaft out again and just check the joints, it quite easy when installing them to pull the joint apart and for them not to engage again correctly. 

[stu28stu 1]

Ok 

 

just feels really odd like the shaft is too long 

so it makes sense the joints being apart 

will try again if that fails

 

will order a new shaft 

 

 

[xstian 12]

If they aren't seated fully the driveshaft will be longer. It shouldn't need replacing because of that, the only thing stopping them from falling apart is the rubber boot. You can probably get it to seat properly by just removing the bottom ball joint.

[Mac Crash 78 1 Cars]

Check the tripod hasn't come apart inside the inner CV joint - as above, only thing holding it together is the rubber boot while it's off the car.