A propeller shaft u-joint replacement (thankfully) isnıt something you will
need to do very often, but if you do and youıre in the D.C. area, use the guys
I just used -- Drive Line in Newington (703-370-1775). They are fantastic.
I wish I had taken my Spitfire propeller to them immediately after I had taken
it out, because it truly would have saved me considerable pain. Instead, I
wrestled with taking out the old joints, putting in the new ones, and doing it
poorly, having no experience with the job -- I ended up distorting the yokes
with my vice and the result was stiff joints and a couple incomplete circlip
insertions. To make matters worse, I got the shaft out of balance (which is
easy to do), and the whole car vibrated considerably after 40 mph. (I decided
then that there probably would be times I wanted to go faster than that.)
Enter Drive Line. In one business day, they repaired my sloppy u-joints,
stripped off several previous balancing weights, welded on some discreet new
ones to rebalance the shaft, and REPAINTED the entire piece (a cool gun metal
blue color)! Such quick and thorough service I did not expect -- and all of it
for the princely sum of $53. In addition, I also did not expect the guys at
the shop to be as polite as they were ... I mean, they work on DRIVE SHAFTS.
All day long. That could make a boy sorta mean.
Anyway, I just thought I would pass this along in case anyone in the Washington
area is working on their drive line. In this day, I think it is important to
note people who do things well, even ŞlittleŞ things.
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