can anyone point to replacing the O/S driveshaft on Xantia?

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 05 Jul 2009, 10:18

hi, has anyone covered replacing the xantia drivers side driveshaft please?

this is the long shaft with the intermeadiate bearing. I managed to replace the short N/S shaft about a year ago, is the O/S shaft any more complicated?

I had chronic wheel wobble owing to severely buckled wheels and now that the wheels and tyres have been replaced I am still getting some front end wobble accelerating esspecially uphill with the engine under load the gear stick also throws a wobbly fit, so I guess it must be down to the intermeadiate bearing comming to the end of its life 133,000 miles on clock.
I have checked the lower swing arm joints for wear and come to think of it have never experienced wobble with these wearing out they tend to cluck when going over a bump.

I have a 1.9 TD S reg Xantia estate.

any advice/tips would be gratefully appreciated as usual the haynes manual is rubbish when it comes to striping anything down or come to it putting it back together.

thanks in advance.

reards Nigel.

firstrebel · Post by **firstrebel** » 05 Jul 2009, 10:33

I have a similar wobble problem, started some weeks ago for no apparant reason. I got this car last Easter and it has been one job after another. The spare wheel has a sizeable dent that suggests it has been kerbed sometime.

I have not done anything about this yet, lack of time. I will be interested to find out if it is the o/s drive shaft.

Bob

addo · Post by **addo** » 05 Jul 2009, 10:46

Nigel, it's a job best done on a hoist but if you're one to persevere it's feasible on the ground.

At the same time, replace the lower rear motor mount. Note before removal, the "indexing" of the two slotted arcs in the old mount. You might need to take this part to a specialist who has suitable mandrels as the land to press out the old rubber's shell is not great, and it's a pretty tight fit.

Also while the mounting block is off check the plastic manifold behind the block, where several coolant hoses meet up. Access to these is best with the motor mount bracket removed!

A final note for both yourself and Bob, is to get a good wheel alignment check from someone who knows Citroëns. As they're built, you can only adjust toe-in but if greater than acceptable discrepancies are noted in the caster or camber a bit of cold bend correction might be possible. Were that the case (excess caster or camber on one side), I'd be looking for an old-school truck mechanic who understands cold bend suspension repairs...

Regards, Adam.

Post by **CitroJim** » 05 Jul 2009, 14:03

All good advice Nigel but the main crux of replacing this driveshaft is freeing the intermediate bearing from it's housing..

Before anything, loosen off the hub nut.

Up on stands, crack the lower swivel joint and track rod end.

Under car, undo the two 11mm "hockey stick" blots that secure the outer race of the bearing in the housing. Undo them nearly to the ends of their threads and rotate them through 90 degrees so they are clear of the bearing race.

Spray the bearing and housing with Plus-Gas and then go and have a cuppa.

Arm yourself with hefty, blunt cold chisel and a club hammer. Place the business end of the cold chisel on the driveshaft collar just ahead of the bearing. Give a few short blows with the hammer. If the bearing has not released, rotate the driveshaft 90 degrees and repeat. Repeat until the bearing is released from the housing whilst rotating the driveshaft. It may come easily or it may put up a good fight.

Remove the driveshaft, inspect.

It is a seriously good idea to replace the lower donut whislt you're there. And as Adam says, you will need access to a press to change it. The whoe casting is just held with four bolts and two tight dowel pins. The casting will need gently levering off.

Take good heed of Adam's words on the alignment of the donut in the mount.

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 05 Jul 2009, 21:58

That sounds tricky, not a simple job then, I was hoping that the whole driveshaft assembly including bearing was available as an exchange unit at an auto factors somewhere but it sounds like its going to be a bit more complicated than that? just finding someone with a suitable bearing press these days is half the job, not many good old engineers about I spose.

thanks for the advice I'm not to sure what you mean by replacing the motor mount (ie what motor)?

if its got to be done its got to be done soon summers nearly at an end.

thanks again regards Nigel.

Post by **CitroJim** » 05 Jul 2009, 22:07

The bearing is integral with the driveshaft so an exchange driveshaft will come with a new bearing which is a sliding fit in the cast housing. No worries there at all.

You only need a hydraulic press to replace the engine mount donut.

If you wanted, come down and see me as I'm not far away and have the necessary gear here...

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 06 Jul 2009, 12:41

Thats a relief and replacing the shaft with an integrel bearing will save some fiddling about trying to pull the old bearing and replacing withn a new one.

Just for fun I asked my local citroen garage for a quote to do this this morning and they said £630 incl Vat, blimey if it came to that i'd look for another xantia.

another thing I forgot to ad at the beginning of this post is that occassionally accelerating I get a sensation that is very much like clutch slip only it seems to slip only very slightly almost as though the splines are wearing out at the end of the inner driveshaft, it could be said that I am a farly heavy braker braking quite late because of the confidence that the citroen brakes give me, I also tend to use the gears to slow down sometimes, which makes me wonder if the splines are starting to strip on the end of a shaft. or perhaps a cv joint is breaking down I was reading somewhere that the inner off/side joint sometimes breaks down causing front end wobble between 40 and 50 MPH.
and one of the forum members had found this to be true on his xantia.

I guess the only way is to pull the shaft and give it the once over.

the clutch was replaced 22 thousand miles ago so thats not it at least it shouldnt be anyway. the N/S driveshaft was replaced last year so I reckon its got something to do with this intermeadiate bearing esspecialloy as the gear stick wobbles so violently with the front of the car almost as though an engine mount has gone soft. there must also be something out of balance though to cause this.

I will heed your advice and print it off for referance, when I get a quote for the replacement shaft with brearing I'll post that here to.

kind regards.

Nigel.