TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:17 am

Hey all. Just wondering is the drive shafts are the same for both automatic and manuel vanagons. Mine are stuffed and have found a reco pair off a manuel but mine is an automatic.
thanks

Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:51 am

yes, they're exactly the same apart from being different lengths.............

and i s'pose austrlian ones might be upside down too. :?

Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:53 am

Yours will have arrows that point to "down".

Sat Nov 07, 2009 6:51 am

they wont work. the automatics have two different sizes of axles. i believe the driver side is shorter than the passenger side. im not sure if the longer one is the same size as the manual ones, but i would just go ahead and fine automatic tranny ones.

Sat Nov 07, 2009 2:31 pm

when you say driveshafts are stuffed i 'd expect you to be meaning that the CV joints are busted or noisy.

or maybe you just mean that the rubber boots are ripped.

more specifics might help get you a more constructive answer, but maybe it's just some vw specialist /neighbor/highschool kid on a forum told you they're stuffed and you don't know what the problem really is.

it's possible (but unlikely) that the splines on your shafts are stripped out, then you really do need new shafts.

auto shafts are different lengths per side and neither side is the same length as a manual box shaft( they're both the same size l+r).

all CV joints are the same on autos and manuals, all rubber boots are the same as well.

repairing or replacing the CV joints and/or the rubbers is not a big job although you will get durty fingers(at least) should you feel like attempting it yourself.

online instructions are easily found or you COULD buy a nice fix/maintain your vw book for not much AUS$ and to make things even easier, it would be in english and not the original factory germanic !

Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:26 pm

Yeah to be more specific, it is the cv's that need replacing not the drive shafts. The reason I am pretty sure it is ay least 1 or more of the cv's is that after doing a 2000km trip I had the shocks replaced and noticed that the bolts holding the cv's to the hubs had loosened and after tightening them the car has a pretty bad vibration and humming noise when accelerating. I just mentioned the drive shafts because a local VW mech has a reco set of cv's on the shafts and would of been good to just swap them over. But any way.

Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:53 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=258256&highlight=axle+length

Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:54 pm

stuffed is ozzy slang.

Sat Nov 07, 2009 5:17 pm

satori wrote: Yeah to be more specific, I had the shocks replaced But any way.

having the shocks replaced sounds like maybe a bad idea, if you'd done it yourself maybe the CV bolts would never have been loosened. what kinda cow(sheep)boy workshop do you go to down there? :P