the passenger side of my R180 has a blown u-joint (outer). How hard is it to repair or should I replace the half shaft?

 

Let me supply a little more info:
It's an NA 83 shaft, not a CV axle. There are two U-joints, inner and outer. The outer is crap. I'm guessing I need to take it to a drive shaft place?

 

Turn to page 180-181 of your Haynes manual (or download the FSM from XenonS130 - S130 Reference).

 

The factory service manual simply says to replace if worn. I'm looking for someone with actual experience...is it worth trying or should I take it to a shop?

 

It says some of the parts are not sold individually. I do suggest taking it to a specialty shop though. U-joints aren't the "friendliest" parts to work on. Or just source another in a junk yard.

Click: http://nissan4u.com/parts/280zx/us_s...r_drive_shaft/

 

This is helpful. It shows the spider journal and bearings in detail unlike the FSM I downloaded. I'm going to pull the axle out in the morning and take it into Nashville to a drive shaft shop.

 

^^^ All the 280zx FSM's should be the same in this area. Did you look in the section RA-10 ? (that's the page I scanned for you)

 

u joints are easy if you have a larger vise thats well bolted down. the hardest part is the clips if they happen to be seized. just remove clips and hammer the joint over the vise, it will push one cap out the one side, flip 180 deg, hammer til the other one pops out. the joint will remove from each other at that point. do again on the other part. then to install use the vise and socket as a press to install the caps back in. make sure the needle bearings are in place before you push it together and dont use a hammer as it will dislodge the needle bearings. i should really do a write-up with pix. lol

 

You should man, that would help out a lot of people. I know it would help me out in the future when I need to change u-joints again.

 

Update:
Finished the job. Used sockets to pound the bearing caps through. Test drove the car and it drives great. The nasty whine is gone and the gear ratio is much better.
Next project: ball joints.