I am in the middle of getting this one finished so please bear with me until I can finish the write up and add photos
By Tony Konovaloff
Don’t be fooled by the factory service manual. The double carden driveshaft from a wagon can be re-built. It went together so it can come apart. Just don’t plan on re-using any of the u-joints as you pretty much have to destroy the grease seals to get them out.
What started the idea to rebuild my driveshaft was the realization that there was a wobble in the front shaft currently on my rig. And I still had the original from the 4 speed but it was in rough shape and it was too short for the 5 speed. So not only do I get to put in new u-joints and center pivot, I also get to make it longer. But that shouldn’t be too bad as the only thing I need to do to make it the correct length is to change out the spline section of the shaft for the longer one off of a non double carden shaft which I happen to have laying around.
Cutting out the spline part of the shaft is not difficult, it just requires some care as you are going to re-use parts so you only want to cut deep enough to seperate the tube from the spline. The tube is only about .080 thick.
To get the new spline section in without too much hassle, put it in the freezer for awhile. When it’s time to put them together, heat up the tube and they will go together with some gentle persuasion from a rubber mallet.
