driveshaft tripod joint spring

[smutts]

Just sorting out a knackered inner driveshaft boot & I find the dreaded little spring that keeps the shaft pushed into the transaxle (and the oil seal!) is broken.
Bugger.
And it is of course unobtanium, despite that it would cost about 30 pence to make.
Double bugger.

Seems to be a common enough problem
https://frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/viewt...hp?t=57496

So for those wanting a business opportunity, or searching high & low on Fleabay;

Sizes are as measured for my HDi..............

Coil outside diameter....,,,,,,,,,.........   26mm
Wire diameter.........,,,,,,,,,..............   2.1mm
Free length.............,,,,,,,,,.............    55mm
compressible coil turns......,,,,,,,,,,,,...     4
total turns, including squared ends ...   7.2
stiffness (online calculator) ..... 3.5N/mm2


  citroen tripod guess.pdf (Size: 1.56 MB / Downloads: 7)

So order a few from china about a month before you get stuck in.

Just found some from Flexo Springs up in Bristol, I will let you all know how I get on.

[brodfather11]

Were there any symptoms before you discovered the knackered boot? ie thumping noise sometimes when hitting a small pothole, (if such a thing exists) ?

Ever since I changed a broken n/side road spring there's been a thumping noise from , I thought the suspension , changed top bearings and bushes etc but the noise is still there , now I'm thinking could it be the drive shaft hitting the inner cv joint because the spring is broken ?

Any thoughts?

[smutts]

Probably not, as I didn't have any of those symptoms.
But I do have some oil leaking from the transaxle, despite new seals.
I'm assuming the bit of driveshaft that goes into the transaxle diff can 
wander about without the spring to keep it pushed into the gearbox.

[brodfather11]

Probably not, as I didn't have any of those symptoms.
But I do have some oil leaking from the transaxle, despite new seals.
I'm assuming the bit of driveshaft that goes into the transaxle diff can 
wander about without the spring to keep it pushed into the gearbox.

Ah well , that's another theory bit the dust !

[smutts]

Probably not, as I didn't have any of those symptoms.
But I do have some oil leaking from the transaxle, despite new seals.
I'm assuming the bit of driveshaft that goes into the transaxle diff can 
wander about without the spring to keep it pushed into the gearbox.

Ah well , that's another theory bit the dust !

Easy to test your shaft spring though, with the weight on the wheels, reach under & grab the shaft & shove it towards the gearbox, there will be about 5mm of movement  which is the slack of the outer cv joint. If the shaft isn't pushing back with about 5 to 10 pounds of force across that 5mm, then the spring is likely busted.