1987 Cali II driveshaft

[snobear]

Couple of questions as I have not received my manual yet.  What is the driveshaft end clearance supposed to be.  As well the spline in the pic I assume should slide apart but this one is solid.  Just want to make sure before I go any further.

[Don G]

That spline coupler should just slide apart, likely rusted together. Show it a bit of heat from a propane torch, grease well upon assembly. As far as end play in the shaft, I have never worried about that, make sure that the pinion nut is up tight and that there is a wee bit of backlash in the pinion shaft. DonG

[snobear]

Thanks for the info, who knew there were two of us from Saskatchewan

[Don G]

Thanks for the info, who knew there were two of us from Saskatchewan

There may be a couple more, not many in such a large area. DonG

[snobear]

Well the good  news is the coupling finally came apart, the bad news the spline on the pinion shaft and that end of the coupling are toast.  There was also a bit of spalling on the outer bearing probably due to only one of the three splines sliding freely.
So I will need a pinion shaft bearings and a coupling.  Can the pinion be installed wwith the current crown gear which looks like new or do they need to be a set?

[nc43bsa]

General practice is that the ring and pinion are a set.  Mixing and matching invites problems.

[guzzisteve]

Sold in sets, matched to ea other.

[John A]

Do you have a pic of the toasted splines?

[snobear]

[John A]

Easiest fix is to find another bevel box.

[bigbikerrick]

Easiest fix is to find another bevel box.

And Driveshaft as well, by the look of those splines.
Rick D.

[guzzisteve]

I'd be looking at the ujoint also, my Cal2 came apart at 35K mi but I pull a sidecar. My shaft & coupler looked just like yours, I also swapped rear drives.

[snobear]

I ordered a ring and pinion set from MG Cycle as well as seals and bearings.  Looked for a replacement box but thought better to just rebuild as never sure what you get when buying a used box and they are hard to find I think.
The driveshaft has no wear at all.  The bad spline was just the pinion shaft and one end of the collar.
Universal joint is still nice and tight so should be good

[John A]

Do a search for Peter Ropers articles on rear drive boxes, there are two of them, I believe called Rear drive rant one and rear drive rant two.

[snobear]

Very well explained process for shimming the box, thanks for the link