240 Something broke free in driveshaft?

Hi all,

I've been on a conquest getting my driveshaft carrier bearing replaced for the past few weeks. I farmed out getting the bearing replaced, and the first time, the shop destroyed the dust cover in the process, and I had to wait a few weeks for a replacement to arrive from Sweden. Yesterday, I finally brought the driveshaft back to the shop, dust cover in hand. I was at work when they called, so my girlfriend picked up the driveshaft from them, and I got home after they had closed for the day.

Come to find out, they ignored the marks I provided to line up the splines, and seemingly pounded it in as best they could. I could not pull the two parts apart to realign them, ended up bringing it back to them, and they used an air hammer to get them apart. It appears '93 driveshafts for 240s may be keyed.. I saw a few mentions of 900 series driveshafts being keyed in '93 on, but that practice may have made it's way into 240s near the end.

There was some light scuffs made to two of the splines, but luckily it still fit together smoothly when lined up correctly. Unfortunately, after getting the shaft back together with a new rubber support, I noticed a clanging when handling the driveshaft..



It appears something has broken free in the tube. Has anyone heard of this happening before? The object is too large to be removed, and clangs around when rotating the shaft. Aside from this potentially throwing off the balance of the shaft, I imagine it's going to make a racket going down the road. Am I in the market for a new driveshaft at this point?

I bet is a Swedish penny. Call Volvo corporate

Shoot some silicone down there and try to center the swedish penny. Turin up and wait for it to dry. I've never heard of anything like that though. Maybe try to shake it out, it must have went in somehow.

VB242 said:

Shoot some silicone down there and try to center the swedish penny. Turin up and wait for it to dry. I've never heard of anything like that though. Maybe try to shake it out, it must have went in somehow.

Click to expand...

long needle nose pliers


maybe he won a free trip to Swedish fish candy factory. Hopefully the winning cake is still good

Telescoping magnet? Are you able to even get a look at it?

Well, what I could get a look at, it was thin like a washer, and had a little hole drilled in the middle.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, and needing to drive about 1000 miles Thursday night through Friday, I installed the driveshaft with that loose in there. It makes a racket when driving under 20, kinda like I'm dragging a wrench through the dirt, but above those speeds, it quiets down. Thankfully it doesn't cause any nasty vibrations going down the road.

I have this week off from work, so once I'm back from this wedding, I'll likely drop the driveshaft again and try to get it out of there.

Reminds me of the pressfit "cap" in the 7xx/9xx series driveshafts, mentioned in this FAQ from brickboard.com:

https://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/Driveline.htm#CenterSupportBearingReplacement

(He's explaining about a possible pitfall when removing the carrier bearing via alternate method-- when no press is available.)

"...[CAUTION from Stephan Brendler] On my '94 Volvo 940 wagon (European spec. B230FB with M47 manual transmission; driveshaft with rubber-cuppling , center support bearing and two u-joints) there is a cap inside the driveshaft separating the forward 'pipe-section' of the shaft and the splined portion. This cap is installed in a relatively loose pressfit inside the driveshaft. Identification of this cap is simple - it has a small bore (about 3 mm) in its center. If you use the puller as described above and you push this cap back into the driveshaft, there is no way other than to cut open the driveshaft to get this thing out. If left there it will wiggle forever and possibly cause an imbalance..."

Might the 2xx series driveshaft have a similar pressfit "cap?"

Could the shop have inadvertantly dislodged the cap and that is what is rattling inside yours?

tintintin said:

Could the shop have inadvertantly dislodged the cap and that is what is rattling inside yours?

Click to expand...

Considering they used an air hammer to get the two pieces apart after they pounded them together incorrectly, this is likely the case.. Bummer.

My theory: It''s probably there to keep any excess spline grease from getting into the hollow shaft and settling in one spot, which would cause a vibration. Tiny hole in the middle lets air pass through as the shaft extends and retracts in use, while being high enough to be away from the grease. If the shop was "helpfully" trying not to damage the end of the splined hole, they might have shoved a 3-arm puller's forcing screw into the hole and pushed against the disk instead, just like pulling off some harmonic balancers.

As suggested, try gluing it in place, try to get it out and clean/reglue/reinsert it, see if it expands in place like a freeze (Welch) plug, or get creative and figure out what size chunk of dense foam you can carve into a sorta roundish mini-hockey-puck, to stuff down there, and shape it so it expands just past the inner ends of the splines to lock it in place, *and* hold the disk snug.

My 93 245 drive shaft only goes together one way. Seems to me their mongo treatment broke free what is described above. Maybe go with glue it and that should take care of it?

My experience with the '93 driveshaft being keyed is the same, which is good since there are no factory marks. I did try to make my own when I had to replace the bearing, but the keying is a nice feature.

Hello Dorvin,

Have you managed to pull the cup out in the end?
I am in the exact same boat and after playing fishing with a magnet for hours, it's driving me nuts.
Either a way to press it back in its original place, or a way to take it out?
Thanks.

kingkong said:

Hello Dorvin,

Have you managed to pull the cup out in the end?
I am in the exact same boat and after playing fishing with a magnet for hours, it's driving me nuts.
Either a way to press it back in its original place, or a way to take it out?
Thanks.

Click to expand...

I never did. I actually sourced out another driveshaft from a user on here that went to a T5 manual transmission. I have yet to install that driveshaft, it taunts me every time I'm in the garage. I've just been putting up with the jingle..

Well, expanding foam it is then

Interesting, let me know how it works for you! Are you planning on just cutting out the foam that expanded into the grooves?

Exactly.
Foam is curing as we speak. My new bearing is on its way. I will tell you how it turns out in a few days.

Foam didn't work. As soon as i removed the cured foam around the grooves, i noticed it was all soft on the inside. Maybe it didn't have enough fresh air to cure inside.
I gave it some good shakes, and the cap finally made noise again.
I ended up swaping another rear shaft in. All is good now.

That little cap is welded to the back of the splines to help keep dirt and large particles from building up in the shaft. Also the hole is for air to expand and contract as you move the shaft dueing use since it's a precision fit. It gets welded to the back of the splines then the splines get welded to the shaft. And on the other end the yoke is welded to the other side.

From your story. It sounds like they tried to use a bearing puller instead of a good proper press. Thus the puller punched the little cap loose. It WILL NOT throw off balance being inside but will make some tings at low speed due to not enough centrifugal force like higher speed. But filling it needlessly with foam will most likely cause an imbalance.

This "SHOP" sounds like hacks.

Hope this helps.