Grinding Noise Coming from Driveshaft

[sleepinsilvia23]

I recently swapped out my diff on my s14 and i had the whole driveshaft out. I put everything back together recently, took it for a ride, it drove fine and then parked it. When i looked under the car again the piece that covers the part of the trans where the drive shaft meets was not connected and it seemed to be leaking gear oil out of the trans. In the FSM it is called the dust cover.
I lightly hammered the piece back in but now it makes sort of a grinding/dragging noise when ever the driveshaft spins.


Has anyone had this problem? If so how did you fix it?
The dust cover may be slightly bent and thats causing it to scrape. Does anyone have one for sale thats not bent?
I guess this dust cover serves as a cover but also keeps oil from leaking out?

As usual, Thanks for your help

[sleepinsilvia23]

Has noone had this problem?
Or am i not being detailed enough?
I just want to get rid of this problem

Thanks

[clark]

you really don't need the dust cover. most of us just take it off because alot of us are running custom drive shafts and the u joints are too big. the dust cover doesn't really prevent oil from leaking out tho...... anytime you're removing your DS just jack up the rear of your car so oil doesn't spew out of the tranny when you pull the DS out.

oh yeah, and if you're leaking tranny oil out of the tailshaft, you fucked up yoru seal. buy a new one!

http://www.frsport.com/Genuine-OEM-Nissan-Transmission-Rear-Seal-Driveshaft_p_9010.html

[bubzb20z]

is the driveshaft rubbing against the tailpiece of the tranny?

[sleepinsilvia23]

Just to be clear here were talking about an s13 SR trans.
Really it doesnt prevent leaks? i must of had the front jacked up when i removed the driveshaft and some oil spilled out.
I had thought of buying a new seal, i guess i will do that now.

To bubz, no when i knocked the dust cover off of the trans and it was just sitting there i spun the driveshaft and there was no noise.

Thanks for your guys help! Ill be removing the dust cover and ill order a new seal soon.

[racepar1]

Was your original diff ABS or non-ABS and did you put the opposite diff of what you originally had in the car? If you had an ABS diff and you swapped in a non-ABS diff then the leak may be because the driveshaft is too short. If you had a non-ABS diff and you swapped in an ABS diff then you need to remove the dustshield as the driveshaft is a bit too long and it is rubbing on the dust cover. I have a j-30 vlsd w/ABS in my s-13 with a non-ABS driveshaft shop one-piece shaft and I had to remove the dust cover because it was rubbing.

[sleepinsilvia23]

I had a s14 Diff with ABS and the shop i went to sold me a welded s13 Diff, i do not think that it is abs tho. It did not have the sensor like mine did.
Are you saying that non abs diffs are not supposed to be swapped for abs diffs?
The shop told me it would work. Ill have to see tommorow i guess haha.

Thanks

[DJ_Sunrise]

Huh.. wierd.. ABS diffs are longer than non-abs, so that should not be your problem. Did you take your exhaust off? It may be hitting something. Replace the rear trans seal for one, and two.. you do not really need that dust boot on there. 3.. Jack the rear of the car up, and have someone manualy spin your wheels, and see where it grinds.

-Bart

[sleepinsilvia23]

Yeah i will check to see where it grinds but im 95% sure it was the dust boot. I hope its not a problem with the driveshaft length or what not. But the best i can do right now i guess is just take the dust cover off and see what happens. Thanks for your help guys.
I will be posting more soon im sure haha.

[mmeedd26]

When swaping an S14 diff and pumpkin in an S14 and putting a S13 lsd and pumpkin there are a few issues that people over look.


first the s14 pumpkin is a bushing mount system. The s13 pumpkin is not. Most people say just swap the covers and you will be fine, this is not true exactly.

The s14 cover has bushing that allow for movement, the front of the S14 pumpkin where it bolts to the subframe also has bushings.

The s13 cover and where it bolts to the subframe in the front have no bushings.

So by swaping the cover and putting a S14 bushing cover on a s13 pumpkin with no bushing over time will stress the front bolts and crack them.

However, if you decide to mount it up anyway because it does bolt up, you need to make sure that the spacing on the front between the subframe and the pumpkin is the same. Again, because of the bushings, the s14 will bolt on level. If you just bolt the s13 on without putting some good size washers between the frame and pumpkin in the front, you will create a bad angle between the DS and the pumpkin which will cause the DS to grind(especially if you didnt match your DS and LSD considering the ABS, NON-ABS size)

ABS = shorter DS and Longer Pumpkin
Non-ABS = longer DS and Shorter Pumpkin

Since you have the shorter DS with a Shorter pumpkin you should be ok.. The thing I would look at is the washers between the subrame and front of the pumpkin. By adding almost inch washers it will drop the front of the pumpkin so the shaft goes in level and not at an angle which will cause problems.

Also remember the Bushing thing I fist mentioned, if you are going to keep the s14 cove and s13 pumpkin keep and eye on those bolts especialy if your running higher HP and torque because they will stress out.

[DisEpyon]

you really don't need the dust cover. most of us just take it off because alot of us are running custom drive shafts and the u joints are too big. the dust cover doesn't really prevent oil from leaking out tho...... anytime you're removing your DS just jack up the rear of your car so oil doesn't spew out of the tranny when you pull the DS out.

oh yeah, and if you're leaking tranny oil out of the tailshaft, you fucked up yoru seal. buy a new one!

http://www.frsport.com/Genuine-OEM-Nissan-Transmission-Rear-Seal-Driveshaft_p_9010.html

OMG!! thank you so much for posting that link, ive been looking for that seal forever and now i know where to get it and what its called :)

[racepar1]

When swaping an S14 diff and pumpkin in an S14 and putting a S13 lsd and pumpkin there are a few issues that people over look.


first the s14 pumpkin is a bushing mount system. The s13 pumpkin is not. Most people say just swap the covers and you will be fine, this is not true exactly.

The s14 cover has bushing that allow for movement, the front of the S14 pumpkin where it bolts to the subframe also has bushings.

The s13 cover and where it bolts to the subframe in the front have no bushings.

So by swaping the cover and putting a S14 bushing cover on a s13 pumpkin with no bushing over time will stress the front bolts and crack them.

The bolts will NOT break! If they don't break on s-13's why would they on s-14's? THEY'RE THE SAME SIZE BOLTS! Also SPL sells solid bushings for the s-14, z-32, j-30, etc. diffs and strengthened bolts are not part of the kit.

However, if you decide to mount it up anyway because it does bolt up, you need to make sure that the spacing on the front between the subframe and the pumpkin is the same. Again, because of the bushings, the s14 will bolt on level. If you just bolt the s13 on without putting some good size washers between the frame and pumpkin in the front, you will create a bad angle between the DS and the pumpkin which will cause the DS to grind(especially if you didnt match your DS and LSD considering the ABS, NON-ABS size)

Have you actually measured said angle or are you just guessing? I assume you are just guessing because my j-30 vlsd mounts with bushings as well and there is no mis-alignment issue at all on my s-13!

Since you have the shorter DS with a Shorter pumpkin you should be ok.. The thing I would look at is the washers between the subrame and front of the pumpkin. By adding almost inch washers it will drop the front of the pumpkin so the shaft goes in level and not at an angle which will cause problems.

An INCH!!!!!!!! You are fucking nuts!

[sleepinsilvia23]

Haha, a very reputable shop around here gave me the bolts for the s13 diff and it bolted right up.
Theres some controversy going on here.
I would like to hear some more opinions on this matter. Anyone who is running a s13 diff in a s14? chime in please!!!!

I took the dust cover off and everything seems ok. There is no leak but there is a pretty wide gap between the tailshaft of the trans and the round piece where the driveshaft goes in.
If that made any sense??
Is there supposed to be a gap there?
Anyone have any pics of there driveshaft installed with no dustcover?

Thanks again everyone

[racepar1]

Post a pic of what gap you are talking about please. It will help us figure out what is going on for you.

[GSXRJJordan]

If you're running an ABS driveshaft (shorter) with a non-abs differential (also shorter), you create a gap. This can let some additional tranny fluid out if the tranny seal is not 100%.

You can try and replace the seal, or maybe get a non-ABS driveshaft (to match your non-ABS diff), and that'd fix ya right up.

About the whole "front diff bushings creating a weird angle", the part of the bushing that actually 'spaces' the diff away from the subframe is like 1/8". I'm with racepar1 here, there is no way I'd stack washers in there.