2ZZ RH drive shaft bearing separation

[machine7 29]

Hi, was wondering if anyone has any tips for separating the driveshaft bearing from its mount on the side of the engine block.

I have removed the 2 bolts holding them together,  but after 150k miles, the bearing holder on the shaft and the bracket on the engine don't want to separate.

Bit weary of using heat in that area, as there are bearings and rubber cv joints close by.

Undoing the bracket on the engine block doesn't help as one of the bolts is blocked by the drive shaft. Not sure if it would help anyway, as the shaft has to slide out of the gearbox, and the webbing on the engine block would stop that.

[tom kilner 199]

 there's not much separating elite and elise on paper but quite a lot when it comes to nuts and bolts and driveshaft bearings

Hope the Elise members have the solution though. My favourite unseize trick is zapping the piece you're replacing with a mig welder - the sudden heat stress seems to break most bonds. No idea if that's suitable though.

 

[Hangar 111 302]

Have you tried putting the two bolts back in that join the two parts together, so threads are through but bolts not tightened, then give them a whack to drift the driveshaft. There's enough plunge in the joints to get things moving. Obviously you will need to reattach the mount to the engine block.

After that, penetrating oil and heat, and keep working it.

Dave

[machine7 29]

Thanks Tom, I realised I had posted this in the wrong section, was hoping a moderator would be able to move it.

Thanks for the suggestion Dave, I have tried hitting the bolts as you suggested, but so far to no avail. Will continue with the penetrating oil, and will try heat if it can be applied without risking the surrounding parts.

[machine7 29]

Many thanks to the tips.

I had a go at it again with a blow torch to heat it up and after a few cycles of heating and hitting, there was enough of a gap between the brackets to be able to get a wedge in between. Still took a bit of heat to finally split them.

I found it easiest to use the drive shaft as a guide for the hammer and hit the protruding flange of the driveshaft bearing holder, rather than hit on the bolt heads.

I also tried applying heat with a hot air gun, supposedly gets to 630 degrees, but wasn't enough to get them to separate. Maybe I could have held it longer to get it hotter, but gave up and used the blow torch (~1750 degrees).

Whilst it may be tempting to remove the bolts in the bracket into the engine bloc, this is of no benefit as there are 2 dowels locating the bracket to the engine block and so cannot be removed with the drive shaft.  

Hope this helps anyone else in the same situation.