[TR] More on the drive shaft

[Dave1massey at cs.com]

Far be it from me to get in the way of your malty beverage but there may be 
many reasons for a sliding joint in the drive shaft on an IRS car.  One may 
be the fact that the engine/trans and the diff are both mounted with 
compliant (rubber) mounts.  Another is that if the shaft length were fixed the 
length would have to be more accurate.  With a sliding joint it only needs to 
be able to adjust the actual distance wetwen the two ends.  Another reason 
may be that it is the same shaft they've been using all along so why change?

Cheers.

Dave

In a message dated 3/23/2012 4:42:48 PM Central Daylight Time, 
fishplate at charter.net writes: 
> After a week of soaking with Deep Creep and random tapping with a copper 
> hammer, I'm still no closer to having a sliding drive shaft.  I still 
> intend to get it moving somehow, but I can't help wondering:  Why does 
> it need to slide?  The transmission is (more or less) rigidly mounted, 
> and the differential is also.  So, it's possible that it won't slide, 
> not from corrosion, but from 37 years of not having to slide.
> 
> But if so, why go to that expense?  I think I need a malty beverage...