Driveshaft Alignment

[H.J. 1981]

Hey guys,

The driveshaft in my e30 is not properly aligned and i am confused on what i have right now verses how it should be like.

There are two white factory dots (alignment marks) on both shafts, as expected.

However, with the white dots aligned, virtually perfectly, both U-Joints are NOT on the same plane. The rear U-Joint (for the diff) is offset by 15 degrees or so.

I am experiencing some vibrations at high speed (150kph/90mph) and i would like to be sure, i got things aligned correctly.

Should i split the driveshaft and align both U-joints to be on the same plane? if i do that, the alignment dots (factory) would be offset a bit.

Previous workshop sure did a number on this shaft....

Thank you in advanced.

[superj]

i hate when there are driveshaft issues like that. its a bummer because you have to do so much stuff to take it off and put it back on and hope its going to be balanced. if you take it off and it vibrates worse, are you going to go the other way so the flanges are 90 off each other?

[H.J. 1981]

I am unsure Superj.

Last time i removed the driveshaft, i replaced everything from the front guibo, the small bearing in the front and center bearing. It was also missing the expensive dust shield on the rear, so i ordered two new ones from BMW. I even got a new locking nut, snap ring and rubber bushing (the 3 pieces that connect the two halves).

As i said, the factory white dots were 15 degrees off, as i aligned the white dots, the front and rear u-joints were offset a bit and not on the same plane as explained in every manual.

If i were to align the u-joints, then the white marks will be off.

Now, there is a shop in munich that does nothing but balance drive shafts, E30 shafts are his speciality. But thinking about the turn around time, leaving the car at the DIY shop and paying fees for the car "sitting" at the shop, as i wait for the specialist to receive the shaft, balance it correctly, mark it etc etc.

Ontop of all that, i work 10 hours a day and moving around 200kms (120 miles), so any free time i get is spent on the moving.

Nearly 4 years of owner shop and everything wrong with the car, always turns out to be some sloppy job the PO's shop did.

[doctorx69]

i had the same problem... however it turned out the ds was actually bad... replaced it with https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and problem went away. Been vibration free ever since.