The 'E' Type Forum

Good evening dear members,

I have to remove the drive shaft of a 1968 S1.5 E-Typ Jaguar. I already removed :

# The 2 exhaust lines,
# The safety cover under the drive shaft,
# The suspension's gearbox support.

I also unscrewed the 8 bolts and nuts (4 at each end of the drive shaft).

And now... ?!? How can I remove it from the underneath tunnel ?

I tried to disconnect the 2 parts of this drive shaft but I do not have space enough : the gearbox is too close from the front end of the drive shaft, and the differential is too close from the rear end of the drive shaft !! And the small apertures of the tunnel do not let the drive shaft getting out !!

There is certainly a tip that I don't know...

Thank you for your help.

Julian

You will need to remove the IRS.

Welcome to E Type frustration, Julian.

The drive (propeller) shaft can only be removed after either the rear suspension is removed, or the engine and gearbox are removed.


Regards

Hi Julian
I'm fairly certain that the drive shaft that you mention [that connects the gearbox to the differential] cannot be removed without first removing the complete rear suspension unit [IRS]. Someone here may well know better though? The IRS is fairly easy to remove although it is fairly heavy. There are 2 mounting points each side with 4 bolts in each [8 bolts in total] plus the handbrake cable and the brake pipe. The most difficult part of the job is disconnecting the radius arms from the mounting points on the floor. I think you will find that most people end up very carefully cutting the inner portion of the forward mounting bushes to release them from the floor mounting, and then replacing the bushes once away from the car. You need to get the rear of the car high enough to get the IRS out from under the car. I think most people take the IRS out by moving it to the rear of the car. If you take it out from the side you probably need a lot more room. The safety cover that you mention I think is just a heat shield. I'm sure that someone else will chip in with some other idea's or suggestions.

I'm glad this came up, as I will soon be re-fitting my engine & gearbox. You've saved me a lot of head-scratching trying to figure out how to then get the propshaft in ;)
But it wouldn't be necessary to remove the diff ass.y, would it? Just tip it out of the way a bit so you can wiggle the propshaft past it? Yes/no?

No ....needs to be disconnected from the car and moved out to get the prop in/out

Thank you guys for your fast and interesting answers. It's so incredible to have to remove the IRS or the engine/gearbox to get the drive shaft out !!

Anyway, I have no choice so come on.

Thanks again

PS : what is the best place to purchase a complete new drive shaft ? The two flange yokes have suffered...

Complete propshafts here from SNGB they also have a French office i think http://www.sngbarratt.com/CatalogueProd ... 62&a=13962

Hugo wrote:I'm glad this came up, as I will soon be re-fitting my engine & gearbox. You've saved me a lot of head-scratching trying to figure out how to then get the propshaft in ;)
But it wouldn't be necessary to remove the diff ass.y, would it? Just tip it out of the way a bit so you can wiggle the propshaft past it? Yes/no?

It's not necessary to remove the IRS if the engine and gearbox are out but it's easier to remove the IRS than to remove the engine and gearbox if neither are out.

If the engine is out then you remove the propshaft forward. If the IRS is out then it goes out backwards. No wiggling is necessary or, indeed possible. Complete IRS weighs about 200 kilogrammes so tipping it out of the way would be a neat achievement!

Yes Hugo, you'd be pretty miffed if you got your engine and box fitted and the car down on it's wheels just to realise that the prop wasn't fitted!

Regards

Thank you for the link. I asked a quote...

Series1 Stu wrote:you'd be pretty miffed if you got your engine and box fitted and the car down on it's wheels just to realise that the prop wasn't fitted!

I understand this has happened so I placed the prop in the tunnel months before installing the engine. The prop needs to be stored somewhere.

It would have happened to me had I not read about it here! Notice I say "would have happened" as though I were a victim of Fate rather than of my own stupidity ;)

All it needs is the Jaguar service manual......its all in there... Steve

Maybe it is, but I've never had to consult a shop manual to stick a prop-shaft in previously, and I doubt if I would have done so on this occasion either!

How did I know this? Perhaps I read the Jaguar service manual and restoration guides before I started work on the car. When you look at an E Type transmission tunnel your should realise that its enclosed by a lower panel so the prop can't be fitted by the "normal" method.

Regards

I will be dry docking my car this month and removing the engine, more later no doubt.
I plan to have the prop shaft out and replace the UJ's.
Not that they are shot, but preventitive maintenance.
I see that there are sealed for life UJs for our cars, why would I not fit these

'Sealed for life'. That means THEIR lifetime not yours ;). No telling how long that will be though. Another meaningless advertising phrase. Give me a good old-fashioned grease nipple any day.

“I see that there are sealed for life UJs for our cars, why would I not fit these“

The sealed for life UJs are ordinary UJs with the grease nipple replaced by a grub screw. Take out the grub screw and fit a grease nipple. Without continual greasing the ‘life’ of the UJ will be limited by the amount of grease used in its assembly. It will be a short life.

chrisfell wrote:“I see that there are sealed for life UJs for our cars, why would I not fit these“

The sealed for life UJs are ordinary UJs with the grease nipple replaced by a grub screw. Take out the grub screw and fit a grease nipple. Without continual greasing the ‘life’ of the UJ will be limited by the amount of grease used in its assembly. It will be a short life.

My prop shaft does have grub screws at present, which i replace with a long grease nipples for lube.
OK the regular ones for me then.
If they have nipples i will pop grub screws in.
Thanks lads.
Sorry for the thread hijack

The drive shaft has been changed. The IRS removal is not a so huge work, even for a man alone !

Thank you every body for your tips.

See you soon

Julian