Rear prop shaft damage.

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Hi all. After a recent PP trip the grease nipple for the slip joint on the rear prop shaft has been torn off by the sub tank bash plate.

It has left its make on the sub tank too. I am just really surprise that this would even happen with my suspension setup.

I would expect this to happen if I had a custom panhard rod but as none of the rear linkages have been changed the rear suspension geometry should be largely the same as that of a none lifted Prado. The only difference I can think of is that the down travel of the OME shocks is longer than the Toyota shocks.

If this is the case, I suspect all 90 series owners running long travel shocks could be at risk of loosing the grease nipple the same way.



I'm not sure if I need to replace the whole prop shaft or if the grease nipple can be replaced.

If I am reading the parts reference correctly it looks like the grease nipple is availible as a separate part (96451‑00600) but I guess it all comes down to how easily the broken grease nipple can be removed.

http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_G_199...KQ_3701.2.html

Any thoughts from you mechanical gurus? croozza?

[D4D-GXL Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D-GXL]

You can get a new universal joint to suit from many after market suppliers a whole lot cheaper than OEM. Have you got any vibration in the tail shaft after the incident???? Would be interested to see if you have. Hope all is well and it doesn't cost too much to fix.

[FC_Holden Member Find all posts View Profile Close FC_Holden]

use an ezy out to remove the broken grease nipple stub, but a new nipple from any decent spare parts mob and screw into place

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

AS FC said use an easy out, if you dont have one; grease nipples are usually easy to remove due to grease usually making sure they dont bind up, tapping a suitable sized allen key into the old nipple may well do the trick, grease nipples are a dime a dozen from any auto store.

Cheers Andrew

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Well that sounds simple enough. I'll see if I can source a new grease nipple tomorrow.

I have a friend who may be able to lend me an easy out, but if not, I wonder if a Torx bit would be easier to tap into the broken nipple than an Allen head.

Have you got any vibration in the tail shaft after the incident????

None that I have noticed so far and I drove home at +100km/h so I guess any imbalance would have shown itself. I have notice some tail shaft clunking when torque is sharply applied. I might have to disassemble the slip joint to clean the contaminated grease out.

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

A screwdriver is also an option if you have a small enough one, might slip a bit less than an allen key. I haven't tried an allen key before though.

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

A screwdriver is also an option if you have a small enough one, might slip a bit less than an allen key. I haven't tried an allen key before though.

I'll give it a shot tomorrow

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Hi Declan, yes I have seen and heard of this before, You will definately have more down travel as the shocks and springs go with each other so to speak if its OME ?? Surprisingly I never had an issue with either of my 95's as far as this went (both had OME) but have definately seen and heard of it before, They did say it was if you exceeded more then a 2 inch lift this could very well happen (not sure what the theory is behind it) maybe do a google and see if you can find any more info on it. Regards Steve

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

The issue has been documented on LCOOL.

http://www.lcool.org/technical/90_se...t_fouling.html

As I thought, the longer down travel of the shocks is the cause.

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Well got the Prado up the ramps to see how bad the Prop shaft fouling is.



Its quite a bit worse than I though. The whole uni joint yoke is fouling on the sub tank bash plate.



The old grease nipple came out alright by pressing a Torx bit into the stump. I picked up a new 6mm grease nipple from Autobarn for about $3



I think I will have cut away some of the sub tank bash plate before I go out again.

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

That's really not ideal is it.

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

Maybe take your ramps down to ARB and show them and see what they say...

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Maybe take your ramps down to ARB and show them and see what they say...

The car park at Mannell Motors in quite sloped so that could be easier said than done

I might show them the photos and see what they say.

I figure there are 3 ways to fix this:
1. go back to standard Toyota shocks (there's a dumb idea)
2. extend the rear bump stops (it already hits the bump stops often enough so could give a bumpy ride)
3. cut into the sub tank bash plate (what next? will the prop shaft starts hitting the tank itself!)

I'm thinking option 2 is the safest option. I have no idea how easily this can be done though, I've never looked into it.

[croozza Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close croozza]

Has the bash plate moved, cause mine doesn,t hit at all.

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

I don't think so. I can measure the distance between it and the drivers side chassis rail and compare to yours if you can take the same measurement.