Well while the engine is out I decided to take a look at the bearings in the tube, there has always been a noise when pulling away which reduced with speed and the Ott X-over helped too. Seems this is the original tube so not bad mileage at all, there are a couple of links on methods to remove the T and the bearings so no need to repeat here:
http://www.nichols.nu/tip814.htm
A slight mod to removing the bearings (tip received thanks to another 928 owner up here in the PACNW) involved the use of a 2x4, all I can say is it worked for me! Bearings were purchased at a local shop for $11 a piece AND they were in stock, nice, of course 1st task is to clean everything as there is no point in putting a greasy mess back on the car or contaminating the parts with dirt.
The old bearings were gritty and one had definitely seen better days.
Removing the TT gave me the opportunity to replace the transmissions front seal which has been dripping oil since I bought the car, you can see the redline 'blue' oil around the old seal below.
Below you can see the bearing in its carrier inside the tube.
Here is the heavy balancer that sits between the rear bearings and the front and back of one of the bearings in its carrier
Here is a shot of a new and old bearing, note the inner sleeve in the old bearing that needs to be re-used
Part II
Make
shift press
All
new reconditioned assembly ready to go back in !!!
With a little lube everything went back together much easier than getting them out and it the shaft rotates very smoothly now also.
While the tube is out I decided to replace the infamous front ball cup, I made measurements to ensure it went back on in the same position, some has definitely been here before though.
And to cap it all of I fitted a short shifter.
10/30/05
Well on the 1400 mile trip to Shartoberfest the front bearing decided to migrate backwards, I didn't know this at the time. There was just a vibration which got steadily worse until it was all I could do to cruise at 80mph with the shifter zinging like mad. Mark Anderson very kindly offered the use of tool and lift at his facilities where the next morning myself, Tom M and Tony H changed the tube in 3 hours. I settled for a rebuilt tube rather than try and bodge it.
As you can see from the photo the insert has separated from the bearing, this may have been caused by the vibration but Mark did mention they had a special tool built to re-crimp the insert the same way Porsche crimped it originally.
Tom and I hard at work ......
Here is the pic of the front bearing waaaaay back there.
