So I've now owned my 83 280zx Turbo for two days and have yet to get a good drive in . One of my U-joints is about to pop. I bought two new joints but i can't get the old ones out of the drive shaft no matter what I try. Any tips? I have two drive shafts both have one bad joint, so I'm replacing both joints on my spare shaft then swapping them out.

 

Take it to a driveline specialist.

 

U joints are a beast, did it once, took a week. lol. NEVER DOING IT AGAIN!!!!! just pay someone that has the tools to do it, or at least to remove it. won't cost much i wouldn't think

 

That's what I figured I'd end up doing. I've been told that I can take the drive shaft to a shop here in town and he would put new joints in for around 60 bucks... wait a minute...snwbrderphat....do you have a Dodge Spirit?! I'm almost certain that is one in your picture hiding in the back.

 

The press that a machine shop has will do the work in 1 minute that it took Snwy to do in 1 week.

 

probably. dude the U-joint was funky!


and that was my grandma's dodge spirit. only had 30k on it from 91 i think. had the V6 from the single cam stealth/3000gt which i found interesting. oh and the old biddy overheated it so bad she warped the heads to fawk that coolant came out the exhaust in a liquid form when it ran. crazy!!!

 

The guy I took my drive shaft to said that the drive shafts were supposed to be "disposable" rather than repaired. After a few minutes of searching around and taking measurements he assured me he could make it work. So, we'll see what happens.

Nice! I drive a Spirit with the 4 cylinder... not a fun car. But luckily I got a Z!

 

He is right, those u-joints were not meant to be replaced.
I've never seen a 280ZX myself that had sloppy u-joints in the driveshaft. Even after 250,000 miles my old Z still had a solid driveshaft.

A used driveline should work if you can find one.

 

Well I must be unlucky. One u-joint on my Z now is bad, and one on the extra drive shaft I have is bad.

 

Who told you it was bad? Or why do you think it's bad?

 

The guy I bought it off of said it was bad, you can tell when you drive. There is a nice popping sound that comes from the drive shaft every now and then, mainly when letting off the clutch or the gas pedal. Unless its something else. It could be in the halfshaft... maybe.

 

could be the diff mount.

 

Yea, never thought of that. We'll see when I get a different drive shaft in it.