This makes sense. A local company in Sunshine, Melbourne AU. called M&S DriveShafts have been converting Touareg/Cayenne drive shafts to use Holden V8 (Pontiac GTO) centre bearings for a number of years with great success. The end product is also hand tool repairable.

As you show, there is Nothing special about a Tpuareg Centre Bearing.

Nice looking product.

Stuart.

 

Thank you Stuart. The thing we have seen on the CTS-V when people attempt the install themselves are issues with separating the two halves of the driveshaft, maintaining correct clocking, and the most common is the center CV boot leaking grease. For our purposes we build a jig table that keeps the driveshaft clocked correctly and aligned, we also created special tooling to correctly seal the CV boot so that grease wont leak. Since construction of the cts-v shaft and touareg shaft are the same, our tools also work on the touareg shaft.

 

What's the difference between solid red and drilled orange?



























Apart from the fact one is red and solid, and the other is orange and drilled . . .

 

haha well apart from those visual differences.. the two units are different durometers which is a hardness factor.

the red 30a solid unit... has a durometer (hardness) of 30a. Its a pretty soft polyurethane but much more sturdy than the OEM rubber carrier.

The Orange unit has a durometer of 50a and is a pretty firm unit. The relief holes to to provide a little bit of movement under load.

There are scales online that have comparisons to each durometer rating but that is just a general idea, because the thickness of the poly highly affects its ability to withstand pressure. 30a might be compared to the softness of a rubber band, but at a little over 1/2" (17.78mm) that rubber band becomes pretty tough.

 

haha well apart from those visual differences.. the two units are different durometers which is a hardness factor.

the red 30a solid unit... has a durometer (hardness) of 30a. Its a pretty soft polyurethane but much more sturdy than the OEM rubber carrier.

The Orange unit has a durometer of 50a and is a pretty firm unit. The relief holes to to provide a little bit of movement under load.

There are scales online that have comparisons to each durometer rating but that is just a general idea, because the thickness of the poly highly affects its ability to withstand pressure. 30a might be compared to the softness of a rubber band, but at a little over 1/2" (17.78mm) that rubber band becomes pretty tough.

So, what is the functional and price difference in the two? In other words, why do you make two different ones?

Yes, one is harder (firmer) than the other but you drill holes thru it which effectively softens it up.

 

So are you selling the tooling to DIY the bearings or are you selling the service along with the poly bushings?

 

For now just the bearing units separately or with installation. We've been kicking around the idea of creating DIY'er friendly tooling, but that hasn't come to fruition yet. I had ordered a nice quality touareg bearing kit last week to see if our setup will work, and it appears it will. We already have all the systems in place for the current platforms we service and supply. It wouldn't be a big deal to add the touareg into the lineup. Currently when we install our poly units, we utilize the factory steel carrier bracket.

For our current line up of platforms, we offer the poly installation as a service which entails the customer remove their driveshaft, ship it to us. We service the unit within 48hrs of arrival and ship it back. The cost of the service covers Parts, materials, labor, and return shipping currently in the continental US. We also offer a ore exchange service for the CTS-V (that may expand to other platforms) where a customer will purchase our service, we ship them a driveshaft, they install it and send theirs back in the same box. At which point upon inspection and approval, we refund the core deposit.

Im thinking we can adapt our current operations to accommodate the TOUAREG Driveshaft.

 

So . . . how much$

 

So . . . how much$

Ah, $345 plus carriage . . . and you've been doing this since March this year? Or is there more history?

How many miles has anyone done on your bearings?

Replace that driveshaft bearing!!! - LS1TECH

 

The core replacement would be perfect

 

We started working on this a year ago. By march of 2014 we were tooled up to start offering OEM rubber replacements on various plat forms. Our poly units went through a 6month test phase to determine which durometers would work best. We have logged over 10,000 miles on test vehicles across the country and on several platforms. I have over 4000 miles on my personal vehicle with poly carrier bearing. We have a good reputation for customer service, quality work and speedy turn around. We also utilize the countries leading polyurethane manufacturer who has been in business for 40 years. $345.00 was what we had been charging for the OEM replacement. That price went to $385.00 for the polyurethane. That price includes parts, materials (towels, gloves, orings, sealant, packing items, tape, boxes, fuel), labor, and return shipping. That is for the Cadillac cts-v.
I imagine the touareg being so similar would require the same steps and processes.

 

Some recent activity here, worth reading.

Driveshaft carrier bearing

 

Bump to see if Voodoochikin04 has worked anything further with the Touareg

 

Bump x 2 would be a good solution if they have done it..

 

We can currently service the touareg driveshaft with polyurethane carrier bearing units. It had appearred there wasn't much interest.

 

Can you PM me with the price including postage to Melbourne AU for the carrier bearing alone. I have a spare shaft and I am deciding which way to go. Either what you are offering, or M&S Drive Shafts, Pontiac GTO Centre Bearing Conversion. I have access to a good machine shop to do the fitting.

Kind regards.
Stuart..

 

Will do!

 

Most of us were waiting for an update and (of course) from the report back from the first Club Touareg member installs one.

 

Who wants to step up to the plate? lol. We've proven ourselves with these other platforms. So we are willing to help the touareg community.

 

ttt.... to keep this topic somewhat fresh.

 

My T1's centre bearing has gone.

Would you like to send one of yours to the UK for me to fit, trial and report?

 

Hey nooby, i'm not sure it's really fair to ask that question and make the vendor feel pressured in public, just so you can get ( lets face it ) "free s**t" , why not ask them via PM with an outline on what you can actually offer them in return for their "investment"? AND Maybe offer to pay shipping?
Just my 2 cents...

 

I don't know if it is fair or not, but Nooby is very well known around here and nothing is happening which equals no money in the vendors pocket.

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to surrender one sample to a respected post-aholic, but that is the vendors call.

 

The issue lies here.... We potentially would be willing to offer a Poly unit at no cost, BUT is that person capable of correctly separating the driveshaft, install our unit, and reassemble properly to ensure that the cv joint wont puke grease all over and ruin the joint. Or clock the shaft wrong when reassembling and then be off balance only to blame our carrier on the vibrations? Our units are on many many other platforms with ZERO issues. SO we would be willing to offer a promotional Poly carrier to someone who is 100% sure they can correctly complete the install. Or if they wanted to send their driveshaft in for servicing, we would deduct the poly unit cost from the total standard fee. Thats what we can offer.

 

[QUOTE="For our current line up of platforms, we offer the poly installation as a service which entails the customer remove their driveshaft, ship it to us. We service the unit within 48hrs of arrival and ship it back. The cost of the service covers Parts, materials, labor, and return shipping currently in the continental US. We also offer a ore exchange service for the CTS-V (that may expand to other platforms) where a customer will purchase our service, we ship them a driveshaft, they install it and send theirs back in the same box. At which point upon inspection and approval, we refund the core deposit. Im thinking we can adapt our current operations to accommodate the TOUAREG Driveshaft.[/QUOTE]

Would you be willing to do this for a Touareg Driveshaft? I have a 2004 (V-6) purchased in SoCal & would be willing to ship the driveshAft to you

 

We dont have a core program for the touareg at the moment. If the service becomes strong enough, we would then offer a core program. But for now that doesnt make financial sense. However, youre more than welcome to send your driveshaft in for servicing.

 

Thanks for that info and for your timely response. I just posted this question separately - but do you know of a good place to find drivetrain removal instructions without my having to buy the full-blown, 2004 V6 Touareg repair Manual? It's a couple hundred bucks and I'd rather put that $$ into buying fancy aftermarket parts such as yours

Also - if I send it to you for servicing - would that enable me to purchase your fancy, aftermarket part? I know I'm bring a bit dense here, but it's early where I am and my brain is just not quite "there" yet...lol

 

Here is a link that should help with driveshaft removal.

http://www.clubtouareg.com/forums/f43/driveshaft-removal-68050.html

also here are some instructions I've found:

Step 1: With your 12mm triple square socket remove the 6 bolts on the back of the drive shaft.
Step 2: Remove the 3 18mm nuts and bolts from the front of the drive shaft.
Step 3: Remove the 3 18mm bolts on the Flex Disc.
Step 4: Remove the 13mm bolts on the plate that cover the center support bearing.
Step 5: Support the exhaust and loosen all exhaust clamps.
Step 6: Remove the center, passenger, and lastly the drive's side exhaust hanger bolts.
Step 7: Pull drive shaft forward to separate the drive shaft from the differential.
Step 8: Remove the drive shaft.

and YES, by purchasing our carrier bearing service, that entails installation of our new Polyurethane carrier bearing unit onto your driveshaft.