MY and L series drive shafts

subybrumby · Post by **subybrumby** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 7:05 pm

Hi everyone..

I'm trying to work through some issues here with my brumby. Sorry if this sounds a bit basic but I'm getting confused.

1. What is the difference between the L series and the MY drive shafts. What is the diffence exactly in length and are there any difference in the splines etc or is it just the length??.

2. When these cars are jacked up and the wheel is hanging loose, is the axle
fully extended or retracted. In other words, so when the wheel travels up inside the guard, the axle is what? extending or retracting??

Thanks

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:43 pm

G'day SubyBrumby,

When the wheel is down at full extension of the front strut the drive shaft is at extension (maybe not full), same when the front shaft is at full compression the drive shaft is at extension. About the middle of the strut movement (and at usual ride height) is where the shaft is at its most retraction for the movement of the strut if that makes sense.

As for the lengths - the L series shaft from what I understand is longer than the MY counterpart and will not fit an MY without the L series control arms. As for the spline counts, I know the inner cup is the same if its from a carbie fed L series at 23 splines, the MPFI and MPFI turbo are 25 spline - same as the EJ's.
As for the splines on the shaft itself I don't see why they would change from MY to L series but I don't know this for sure.

Cheers

Bennie

subybrumby · Post by **subybrumby** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:59 pm

Thanks Bennie.

I have an 89 Brumby sitting on stands in my shed with the front wheels hanging down. It has L series control arms and axles. It would appear that at full wheel hanging down that the axle needs to be fully or near fully compressed for the bottom ball joint to fit into its socket.

I have had the control arms modified to bring them rearward a bit. It would seem that this has altered the distance slightly of the span of the axle, about half an inch. I did this to bring the driverside axle and inner boot away from the steering column where it was fouling. I may have to put brumby axles back in on the modified L arms if they are not too much shorter. What do you think?? Or try something else.

Trevor

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:16 pm

Trying to put the ball joint in is always a PITA! I've never done this conversion, but have seen Phiz mod his L series arms to replicate the bend that the MY arms had - he did this to put the wheel further back where they should have been. AFAIK he didn't have any issues with the drive shafts as the car was used after the mods were posted.

Have another go - really give a it a shove and see what happens. Sometimes the CV boot grease can be behind the ball cage inside the CV cup - you may be pushing against the pressure of the grease as it tries to move through the ball cage to allow the CV to further retract into the cup.

Cheers

Bennie

subybrumby · Post by **subybrumby** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:46 pm

Ok,, That is what I have done. I have brought the angle of the L arms back so that the ball joint is three and a half inches rear of where it was so that the wheel is back in the arch, same as the MY arms. It appears to have altered the distance slightly from the gearbox to the ball joint making this distance about a half inch shorter. I'll try again as you say and give it another go.

I wouldn't have thought that it would have made much difference as the arm has been swept around in a slight arc.

I'm going over to noosa for a couple of days and will tackle this when I get back on Sunday. Thanks again.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:03 pm

Maybe sent Phizinza a PM to find out exactly what he did, he may hold the key to the problem you're experiencing...

Have fun in Noosa

Cheers

Bennie

subybrumby · Post by **subybrumby** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:08 pm

Sent a PM to Phizinza and Discopotato who appears to have done a lot of research on Subaru axles. Just waiting to hear back. Noosa was good. Gonna shelve this project for a while until I get the axle problem sorted. Could probably shorten the existing axles but its starting to run into a bigger project than I expected. I will re install standard L arms in the meantime.

subybrumby · Post by **subybrumby** » Thu May 14, 2009 7:25 pm

Just an update on this thread. I've finally run the white flag up on this. There is another thread running on this site about the same issue from me..

showthread.php?t=13309

I ended up getting information from Phizinza (Thanx mate) that the L series knuckle and the brumby knuckle are not the same (Wasn't aware of that). Therefore if as I suspect, L series hubs were put onto brumby control arms, excessive positive camber was achieved which is how I bought it.

I have tried but I have been unable to keep boots up to the drivers side double offset joint because of fouling on the steering column after becoming heat affected from the turbo. The L series control arms just bring the axle too far forward. I attended the all subaru day in Brisbane and had just finished putting it back together and drove from Toowoomba to Brisbane and Back, and the brand new boot has exploded and grease and muck everywhere.

So...I have robbed the guts out of the front end of an MY Wagon that is wrecked in a nearby yard and have installed all near front bearing and seals to the MY hubs, new ball joints, new MY Tie rod ends and Two New Axles arrived today. So I am putting the brumby front end back in and early indications on the Jacks suggest that the Camber might be ok. The axles will be swept back away from the steering as standard, so fingers crossed. Hope to get it back on the road shortly.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu May 14, 2009 7:34 pm

subybrumby wrote:So...I have robbed the guts out of the front end of an MY Wagon that is wrecked in a nearby yard and have installed all near front bearing and seals to the MY hubs, new ball joints, new MY Tie rod ends and Two New Axles arrived today. So I am putting the brumby front end back in and early indications on the Jacks suggest that the Camber might be ok. The axles will be swept back away from the steering as standard, so fingers crossed. Hope to get it back on the road shortly.

Painful, but good to hear you've got something sorted that'll work - I guess that's the problem with buying projects from other people if everything is not fully disclosed.

Hope its all good soon.

Cheers

Bennie

subybrumby · Post by **subybrumby** » Thu May 14, 2009 7:40 pm

Amen to that Bennie....