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been having this reoccurring issue with the driver side drive shaft in our 04 forester. basically it keeps coming out.
have had it to a drive shaft specialist a few weeks ago to fix the issue, they installed a different clip hoping it would hold, unfortunately not as it came out again yesty so i am not very happy at all . I called back the place going in Wednesday, they said it will have to be machined to make a bigger groove so the clip can bite in better.
they said that they have only seen one other car model with the issues which was the Mitsubishi pajero from a few years back.

i was wondering if anyone has had or heard of the issue happening?

It's very odd. I'll be keen to hear what the solution is. Are you sure you've got the correct driveshaft or there's not another issue with the rear end - diff sitting centre, not twisted etc?

Cheers

Bennie

yea its the correct shaft.
they said the clip wasn't biting in the grooves hard enough, so they did put a smaller one on to allow it to bite in better worked for a little bit.
i can only assume the rest of the diff is ok, i dont believe its been looked at too closely

I had the same thing in my Liberty
I found where the clip goes the groove was a little tight for the clip
so i filed the groove a bit and put a new clip in it seemed to work.

Jan

at least im not the only one with the issue then. the clip has been replaced so i assume im getting step two done for what you did yarney

got the car back today from trembath in ballarat (highly recommend them)

they machined the end of the shaft so that the groove was more square so that the clip will hopefully bite in and not come off. did the work for free due to the what they did before not working and they couldn't guarantee that it would work this time, but we are hopeful that it will

could be a blocked injector

TOONGA

TOONGA wrote:could be a blocked injector

TOONGA

wrong thread

but yes at this stage that's what we talked about, and if thats the case will be able to use an injector from my old motor

wow how did that happen I posted that in your other thread, I even wrote it in your other thread. mind you this isn't the first time I've seen this happen. and I hope they have fixed the problem with the shaft as well.

TOONGA

TOONGA wrote:could be a blocked injector

TOONGA

I guess the 'blocked injector' makes too much power and in turn pops out the CV joint???


I too think something is wrong with the length of the shaft.. is the car lifted?

car is standard hieght and are stock drive shafts

rather than being lifted, what about the opposite, won't the axles try to lengthen (to the clip popping point) if load in the arse gets too much and diff near scrapes the ground

its standard height and haven't had any loads in the rear to do what you are describing.

we did talk about if it wasn't standard height than that could be the cause the issue, im going to test out the new machined shaft and put it through some articulation and see if it stays in, im hoping it does

See how it goes and report back

Just to understand it better, did you have any work done to the rear suspension or cv/shaft since you've owned the car?

nope all standard, the person before me did have it lifted with different struts and springs but they were taken out before i brought it do you think that could of caused it?

will report back

There is always another way to go. put a male diff in and shafts. That way the shafts are pined in. That is what i have done in my liberty. That way the shafts cant pull out at full droop.

so far so good, the machining of the drive shaft has worked. hasnt moved out of place for the last few thousand ks. hopefully it stays that way

it happened again

i have been in tassie, on a two week camping trip and i noticed it on the 12th day:(

i was able to get the shaft back in but come out about 3 more times until i got home yesterday.

not sure what the next step is, the drive shafts are original so perhaps a new one might fix the issue?
i thought it could be the weight making the rear sag causing it to come out, but with the self levelling struts the rear didn't really change all that much so not sure why it has decided to stuff up again

They're original? I was wondering if perhaps it had been replaced at some stage with a cheapy before you got it.

I reckon the best idea is to put in a new or reco unit. If that doesnt fix it then I dont know...

Its certainly a shame your Tassie trip had a sour note to it

EDIT: Just wondering if something in the rear suspension has shifted. Perhaps measure each side from the hub to diff. If one side is further from the diff than its meant to be, that might explain it popping out like that. You would have to measure pretty accurately as only a few mm could do it

The only other thing I can think of is the CV Joint boot is the wrong length and is pulling the joint in too much.