Dust cover on propeller shaft / driveshaft

[Peter60]

I noticed that there was no forward/back movement in my rear driveshaft. The rear diff was pressing on the transmission. I initially thought it was because my rear springs didn't flex. The Patrol drove OK with no obvious signs of stress. It may have been like this for a long time.

Recently when softening my springs I went to put the driveshaft back in but decided to clean it first.

What I found was the dust cover 'cap' had unwound taking up the slack. See below image.

Its possible that the USA patrols don't have this feature, well that according to the manuals. I am running the H260 diffs.

Driveshaft.jpg

Part A has a thread at each end (actually one is a reverse thread). Each thread screws into a cap marked B above. Each thread is about 12mm (1/2inche) long.

In my case both caps were screwed half on, thus restricting any movement back and forth of the drive shaft. Had I not decided to clean the driveshaft I wouldn't have noticed the threads as the were fill with dirt and grease.

Now I have tightened them and I now get about 12-20mm (1/2 inch plus) movement. There doesn't seem to be any stress in the drive chain any more.

How much movement would you expect?

[Esteban]

I think all Patrols have the same design for the driveshaft, at the front and rear.

I guess that this is an area normally neglected, and just thinking that applying grease periodically is all we have to do. After reading your post, it's clear we have to pay more attention and do a thorough cleaning sometime and tighten the sleeve. Compounding the problem is the fact that you seldom have to change U-joints, so the driveshaft remains in place forever.