i have a rumbling noise that seems to be travelling down the offside driveshaft of my focus down to the wheel making it sound almost like a wheel bearing, but its not !! anyone any ideas please are there any other bearings that couls go, further up the driveshaft for instance ?? and how do i change it ???

 

off side shaft has a support bearing that can fail, not sure if you can change it easily though might require a new shaft. could also be cv joint or tripod joint mate.

how do the cv and tripod boots look? ok good condition or split/leaking grease everywhere??

 

all the joints look ok , no leaks or anything. where is the support bearing located ?
im not very clued up on these matters, but i know the shaft is in like 2 halves joined at the centre, is it in the join ? would it be easier to just replace the whole driveshaft or could it be anything else ?

 

the support bearing is on the long thick bit of shaft that comes out the diff and its butted upto the tripod joint.

best way to test the bearing for definate is to remove the shaft completely (requires draining the gearbox oil) an easy task and feel it for roughness and play. if it is fucked its prob easiest to just replace the whole shaft though they aint cheap!!

 

thanks for that. i will have a look at it tomorrow and let you know the result.if its not that bearing it must be the intermediate bearing in the gearbox, but im sure the noise was already there before we changed the gearbox.