Car is in the Shop and very important question about driveshaft

myfirstlincoln

myfirstlincoln

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2003 LS V8 at 150k. So I had a vibration in the driveshaft and my mechanic called me and told me the carrier barrier looks to be in decent shape but the U-Joint is shot. He explained to me that it has one u-joint and a yoke in the middle by the center bearing. He said he cannot find a u-joint to replace that and that it's not easily serviceable. My options would be to send it off and see if his shop guy could figure it out or for me to buy a new driveshaft. Anyone replace the u-joint and, how so? AND where does one find the u-joint?

Edit: They said they could get the u-joint out but cannot measure for a new u-joint until they take it out. At that point, if they can use a "generic" replacement that fits, they obviously will, but if there is not a replacement, I would need to buy a new driveshaft anyway.
 
Apparently they don't make just the u-joint and a new driveshaft would be necessary. I'm just wondering if anyone was able to press in a new u-joint and what u-joint they used/where they got it. Tasca wants about $500 for a new driveshaft where most u-joints cost about $20
 
Thanks JJCool - I saw that as well but I have no idea if the universal u-joint they have listed would work.
 
I suppose that another option is the driveshaft from an LS in a junkyard.

As cheap as it is, I would replace the center bearing while the rest was being done.
 
I already have the center bearing which will be replaced. After 3 hours of research (looking online and calling around) It looks like a new drive shaft is in order - ugh. Bye Bye $500 for a $50 dollar part. Did Lincoln really not plan for the u-joint to wear out?

I'm hesitant to buy a used drive-shaft considering most probably have around 80-100K on them already so who knows how quickly I'll be in the same position.
 
myfirstlincoln said:
Did Lincoln really not plan for the u-joint to wear out?
Click to expand...

I sure they just didn't care...

the vast majority of buyers, wouldn't own there car for long enough for this to matter, and I'm sure that very few would fail durring the warranty period. as long as the car makes it to the warranty period, that is all they care about. after that, the more a repair cost, the better it is for them.
 
I'd try a driveshaft specialist. I used one to replace a bad universal joint on an XR4Ti years ago. They are not easy to find, many are truck only but someone should be able to either machine the ends of the crosses so the u-joint can be changed or be able to cut the old joint out and weld in a new one. Having written this its been at least 15 years since I had any work of this type done and the cost back then was around $175 so a new one for $500 might be the better route.
 
Loud - I completely agree and maybe I'm way off, but it seems like most cars (especially older cars) at least allow for just u-joint replacement - not necessarily a quick/easy job, but at least you can just buy the u-joint(s) without replacing the entire drive shaft. I understand I have a lot of miles and have no problem replacing parts, but it's stuff like this that gives me a sick feeling - it's like having to replace the entire wheel simply because you have a flat or replacing the head when a plug goes bad.
 
the newer cars get the more integrated parts seem to get, the more complicated parts seem to get, and the more expensive having anything done seems to get (and not just talking about inflation here either)

especially in the luxury car market.

myfirstlincoln said:
it's like having to replace the entire wheel simply because you have a flat or replacing the head when a plug goes bad.
Click to expand...

its also kinda like replacing seven plastic cooling parts because one crumbles into pieces, or replacing eight coils and plugs because one of them doesn't work right some of the time...lol
 
Haha - yeah, I had fun with the cooling and I've pretty much gone through all the other problems common with the LS. This car is very lucky I like it otherwise it would probably be in a junkyard somewhere. But 10+ years later it's still one of the better looking cars on the road.
 
myfirstlincoln said:
Haha - yeah, I had fun with the cooling and I've pretty much gone through all the other problems common with the LS. This car is very lucky I like it otherwise it would probably be in a junkyard somewhere. But 10+ years later it's still one of the better looking cars on the road.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. I'd rather dump a grand or two every year into my LS than give in and buy some hybrid robot that can self park.

The LS is gorgeous, always will be. A high class woman requires high class maintenance. Still beats the hell out of the maintenance bills that these new spaceships will be racking up in the next few years.
 
And the bad news continues - Tasca emailed me after I ordered the part and said the part is obsolete. Therefore, I have to buy a used one and cross my fingers that the ujoint is ok....yuck
 
See if you can find someone local on craigslist parting out their LS that has low miles.
 
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