Moving Shaft Forward with Transaxle in Car - 944

Hello Everyone

I am trying to move my driveshaft forward in the torque tube with the transaxle in place. Is there a tool I can buy to do that? If not, does anyone have a pic of what they used to do it?

Thanks,
Ed

i just had this issue somewhat recently and honestly i just moved the locking collar and then got the long flat skinny part of a big prybar in the gap to give the shaft a bit of a bump with a hammer on the neck of the prybar so i could get the nub more seated in my pilot bearing as it was just off by maybe an 1/8" that just need a bit more alignment. This shocking block got the movement i needed it for it to seat better.

if you need more movement than this for it to align better than its possible you won't have enough room for the prybar to slip in the gap; not sure. worked for me though and not sure if this will help or not. hope it does?

mred2nice wrote:Hello Everyone

I am trying to move my driveshaft forward in the torque tube with the transaxle in place.  Is there a tool I can buy to do that? If not, does anyone have a pic of what they used to do it?

Thanks,
Ed

Ed...

If you have not yet accomplished your goal, you will need to remove the circular and trapezoidal access covers on the bottom side of the central tube bell housing, then remove both drive shaft clamping sleeve screws (M10 x 1.50 x 40mm, Grade 12.9 Allen Head bolts - 8mm hex socket).  Note: You will have to rotate the engine to access both bolts and they must be taken all the way out.  
Then, you can slide the drive shaft clamping sleeve all the back toward the transmission, exposing the end of the central tube drive shaft that you want to move.  Below is what that gap will look like:

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In my build, the correct placement of the drive shaft in the crankshaft pilot bushing placed the back end of the drive shaft "exactly" flush with the end of the central tube (torque tube).  If your drive shaft needs moved forward, you should have plenty of room to pry apart the space between the two drive shafts, or as Gutterboy mentioned, tap on a pry bar to move the driveshaft forward.

One word of caution, you do not want to OVER insert the drive shaft nub.

If you have an LS swap in your car, I suspect your drive shaft should have a similar position.  You only have about 1/4" of adjustment available in the rectangular spline gap machined in the central tube drive shaft.  There is no adjustment in the circular spline gap machined in the transmission drive shaft.

Below is what full insertion of the drive shaft nub in the pilot bushing looks like.  This is impossible to see with the clutch and pressure plate installed...not to mention without having the Corvette bell housing with removeable bottom section.  Unfortunately, these components will likely need removed to fully check the drive shaft position.

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< Drive Shaft Nub Length >                                           < 100% Nub Insertion >

Reach out if you have more questions.  Best of luck!!

Thank you for your responses. In the photo, is that a SBC conversion or an LS SBC?
I do not have that bearing like the image shows.

Ed

Ed... 2002 LS1.

If you have a manual transmission, the end of the input shaft always resides in a pilot bushing located in the rear flange of the crank shaft... regardless of the engine.  With a 944 conversion, the nub of the Central Tube Drive Shaft takes the place of the traditional transmission input shaft...but, it must be "adapted" to the engine crankshaft flange.

The TPC conversion kit comes with the correct adapter that fits in the LS manual transmission crank shaft, and accepts the correct pilot bushing (bearing) that fits the Central Tube Drive Shaft nub.  Below are some pics from when I was putting my engine together.

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< TPC Pilot Bearing Adapter & Bearing >                  < TPC Adapter Prepared for Installation>

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< Empty Crankshaft Flange  >                                   < TPC and Pilot Bearing Installed >

Hopefully this illustrates the relationship between the engine crankshaft and the 944 Central Tube Drive Shaft nub.  Again...none of this is visible with the clutch and pressure plate in place.

Hello. Thanks for your response with all the detailed information.

I am working with a 400 SBC from 1972. The driveshaft nose goes into the standard pilot bearing about 1/4 inch. Is there any needed adapters(back of crank) for this type of engine? The driveshaft nose goes into the standard pilot bearing about 1/4 inch.