Replacing the carrier bearing on the driveshaft for the 1965 Buick Riviera turned out to be a bit easier than I expected. Replacing the Double Cardan U joints proved to be much harder than what I experienced here. Let’s get into the nitty gritty of what went on.
With the the driveshaft removed, and using the giant (for classic cars, anyways) 1 ⅞” wrench to loosen the nut that holds the drive shaft together, i cut the rubber of the mount to make it easier to get access to he bearing. It is worth noting that the new bearing and rubber mount does not come with the Slinger to keep dirt and debris away from the bearing, which will need to be reused. I used a dremel to separate the housing from the bearing and then found that the bearing itself was not much more than an interference fit. Using a large flat blade screwdriver, I was able to work the bearing off the end of the drive shaft. I cleaned everything up and repacked the center splines with grease, installed the new bearing and got it seated against the shoulder. Next I put the drive shaft back together and tightened the nut down. The factory spec is 65 ft/lbs. Finally, it was time to paint. I don’t feel right about not putting on some fresh paint to help preserve this.
Reinstalling the drive shaft made me wonder if this is what it would be like to wrestle a big snake… it went back into place smoothly, take care to not mark up the yoke to the transmission. Tighten down the carrier bearing housing to the frame and then bolt the driveshaft to the pinion yoke. The factory spec for those is 75-95 ft/lbs. Take care to get those tight and then verify that everything works smoothly. I ran the car on jack stands to ensure that it did what it needed to do, which is spin the rear wheels!
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