When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
It's been years since I replaced one but it's a matter of removing the propshaft, partially disassembling it, tapping (or, sometimes, pressing) the old bearing off, install new bearing, reassemble.
It is essential to carefully mark the prop shaft segments so they can be reassembled in phase.
The bearing mounting plate allows left-right adjustment of the propshaft position. Before removing the propshaft carefully mark the position of the bearing so you can install it in exactly the same spot.
It appears there are TWO prop shafts - a forward one and a rear one. Do both of them need to come out? And when under the car (it's up on jack stands now as I just emptied and refilled the diff), I do see the elongated slots on both the center bearing to the plate and the plate to the chassis. I will take lots of pics before disassembling whatever I have to disassemble.
There are two parts to the prop shaft, yes, but to replace the centre bearing the whole assembly has to come off, because if you look at the diagram carefully, the centre bearing is behind the UJ connecting the two halves. It looks like one half of the UJ is bolted onto a taper, as there are no splines shown or hexagon or whatever. Doug Dwyer should know, he's probably done this job loads of times. One thing I do remember when I was doing a job on my XJ6, was that I replaced the propshaft and got driveline vibration, which I think occurred only on the overrun. I looked in the manual, and it told me to move the centre bearing across to the RH side of the car on the slots until the vibration ceased.
Last edited by Fraser Mitchell; Jan 22, 2021 at 11:08 AM.
Hope this helps. It is in the second half, after the Final Drive section. Something feels like it is trying to jog my memory about only removing the rear section only to do this job. The center bolt can be backed off a few turns with a open ended wrench, 5/8ths I believe. There is a open ended washer that will fall or slide out when the 5/8ths headed bolt come out far enough. Then the rear drive shaft can be unbolted, flange and plate unbolted and the drive shaft removed. Before sliding off spline to see if there is one spline larger then the rest. This larger spline orientates the front to the rear.
Remove the driveshaft assembly from the car. As Doug says: It is essential to carefully mark the prop shaft segments so they can be reassembled in phase. Disassemble the middle u-joint.
Remove the bolt holding the yoke that is forward of the center bearing.
Note the orientation of the center bearing and tap it out.
Install new bearing and reverse the procedure.
WOW! As usual you guys have been a BIG help! Thank you. My manual did NOT have this writeup at all. Well... my first mistake was a while back when replacing the rear transmission rubber mount and spring, and replacing the rear transmission seal, I had no idea there were two arrows that I had to line back up when I removed the sliding U-joint off the front of the propeller shaft. I'm sure they were not put back on the same spline position they were taken off of. But for all I know maybe even the PO didn't know that, cause I know he had it off at some point too. Whatever - my bad. I'll have to look and see if there are arrows or not. Hope I didn't create any problems.
Sanchez says to disassemble the middle U-joint to gain access to the bolt. Is this entirely necessary? Larry doesn't seem to indicate that it needs to come apart. I'm trying not to mess with the bearing cups if I don't have to. Any other tips you've got are much appreciated.
Bill Side of bolt with bent holding tab Side of bolt with slide out fork washer Entire assembly up close
It is possible to remove the bolt without disassembling the U-Joint. Turning that bolt 1/16 or 1/4 turn at a time is not my cup of tea. You already have the driveshaft out. How good are your U-joints? When I did mine I separated it and replacing the Center bearing was a walk in the park.
Well you all ready have it out so you might as well check all the U-joints for smooth movement or looseness and do them now before you put it back in. The bolt I was talking about is right there. Loosen the bolt just enough to let the U-shaped washer come out. then with draw the rear drive from the front one. Is there one bigger spline then the others?
So... Indeed it is a spline that joins the two propeller shafts. I was easily able to turn the 5/8" bolt out of the rear propeller shaft. Then a bit of WD-40 into the spline joint, a few raps with a hammer and the spline separated just fine. Then a few raps on the Cernre Bearing and off it came too. Yes, I marked everything before taking apart. I did find arrows on the forward propeller shaft spline and the rear transmission spline. Have no clue whether then were aligned when I took them apart. So now I'm waiting for a NOS Centre Bearing to arrive and back together it goes.
I never had one apart, and it is interesting that the parts diagram shows no splines on the rear half where it goes into the UJ coupling by the centre bearing. Maybe the technical drawing draughtsman went off to get a coffee and never completed the drawing !
Okay - I've now completed the job. Am very pleased how everything went. Replacing the Centre Bearing got rid of the thumping sound. The only difference I could see on the NOS one and the old one was the rubber mounting of the actual bearing seemed to be more flexible than the new one. The bearing felt the same; no play in the old one at all. So... I installed the left and right adjustment exactly the same as the old one (bearing assembly all the way to the right in the slots). Absence the alignment tool, any suggestions as to how to tell if it is aligned properly. I think I hear a bit more drone sound inside the cabin when the windows are closed at speed. But definitely don't feel any vibration.
Long sheet of paper on the floor and four plumb bobs, Two on the front, two on the rear. Draw points where the plumb bobs point Draw long lines and see if they are parallel. Done.
Absolutely Brilliant!!! To further you thoughts (and to get your input), Plumb Bobs are $2.99 each at HF. So that won't break the bank. I would use thin monofilament line going from the PB's over the shaft and back to the PB's. I have a 6' aluminum measuring stick that's perfectly straight. I can lay that on the floor below the jacked up car, hanging the PB's down to just barely touch the side of the yard stick. And do the adjustment.
Hi Bill.
This is a piddly aside, but I see you have new jack stands. Just above the brand sticker there is a U-shaped tab that should be bent inward, toward the adjustable leg. Doing this prevents the leg from coming out of the base if you pick it up or move it around while holding onto the leg. It will also prevent you from over-extending the leg. If you ever feel a need to take the leg completely out of the base, just bend the tab back out. Just sayin'.......
Center Bearing AAU6066
