Driveshaft Repair Issues

ab777

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Took the driveshaft out of my ‘65 Imperial to a driveshaft shop as the center assembly needed to be replaced. I just recently acquired this car and it was’t stored the best or treated the best way.

The car has a two piece driveshaft, but unfortunately the cv joint on the driveshaft is in rough shape and would need to be replaced. The driveshaft shop wasn’t able to find any replacements anywhere, and I was also unable to find anything. Did anyone ever encounter such a problem?

They did recommend making me a single piece driveshaft….
 



 
Last edited:
Took the driveshaft out of my ‘65 Imperial to a driveshaft shop as the center assembly needed to be replaced. I just recently acquired this car and it was’t stored the best or treated the best way.

The car has a two piece driveshaft, but unfortunately the cv joint on the driveshaft is in rough shape and would need to be replaced. The driveshaft shop wasn’t able to find any replacements anywhere, and I was also unable to find anything. Did anyone ever encounter such a problem?

They did recommend making me a single piece driveshaft….
They should be able to convert the existing driveshaft.

This link is for an A-body, but it should be similar to your Imperial. https://earlycuda.org/techdocs/ConvertFrontUJoint.pdf My '65 Barracuda was converted before I bought it and it works fine.

This link is for a Chrysler and again, should be similar. Drive Shaft Conversion Information
 
As big as the Houston area is, car-wise, the "we could not find" might not be completely accurate, unfortunately. When I needed a center driveshaft bearing assy for my '68 Buick LeSabre, I was referred to an "embedded" driveshaft repair shop in Dallas. Its ownership was in its second generation, in an older part of the center of Dallas. They had one. I went to get it and it had been there since the earlier 1960s. I dealt with the owner's son, who was in his earlier 40s at that time. He knew exactly what I needed and went and got it. The part was New Old Replacement Stock in all respects. I paid his asking price, which was reasonable, and took the part to my repair shop, which was ALSO in its second generation of ownership.

I somewhat suspect a similar situation CAN exist in your region of the country. It was a bit easier when we had the Yellow Pages to look in!!

You might also investigate the Online Imperial Club website for possible fixes or hints, too. Some of the information there might be "old", but still accurate. It might help fuel your search, too.

So, look for the old, embedded driveshaft shops that used to specialize, a bit, in the two-piece driveshafts of General Motors, hoping that they might also have an old Imperial part hidden on the back shelves of their parts room. Houston would have been a great market for Imperials, back then. Just as there are probably more convertibles in Houston than other parts of Texas. Might NOT find these shops in Internet searches, other than a mention in a car forum or website (as the Online Imperial Club). The ONE downside is that many of the older shops might have been in what is now "flood-prone" areas and did not survive those events, or "moved to higher ground" in later years.

Good Luck!
CBODY67

CBODY67
 
As big as the Houston area is, car-wise, the "we could not find" might not be completely accurate, unfortunately. When I needed a center driveshaft bearing assy for my '68 Buick LeSabre, I was referred to an "embedded" driveshaft repair shop in Dallas. Its ownership was in its second generation, in an older part of the center of Dallas. They had one. I went to get it and it had been there since the earlier 1960s. I dealt with the owner's son, who was in his earlier 40s at that time. He knew exactly what I needed and went and got it. The part was New Old Replacement Stock in all respects. I paid his asking price, which was reasonable, and took the part to my repair shop, which was ALSO in its second generation of ownership.

I somewhat suspect a similar situation CAN exist in your region of the country. It was a bit easier when we had the Yellow Pages to look in!!

You might also investigate the Online Imperial Club website for possible fixes or hints, too. Some of the information there might be "old", but still accurate. It might help fuel your search, too.

So, look for the old, embedded driveshaft shops that used to specialize, a bit, in the two-piece driveshafts of General Motors, hoping that they might also have an old Imperial part hidden on the back shelves of their parts room. Houston would have been a great market for Imperials, back then. Just as there are probably more convertibles in Houston than other parts of Texas. Might NOT find these shops in Internet searches, other than a mention in a car forum or website (as the Online Imperial Club). The ONE downside is that many of the older shops might have been in what is now "flood-prone" areas and did not survive those events, or "moved to higher ground" in later years.

Good Luck!
CBODY67

CBODY67
Our main issue unfortunately here in Houston, is that over the years many of the specialty shops have moved away. I still remember as a kid here we had a couple classic cars dealers that sold all kinds of classics. But after 2008 most either moved away or closed down.

This driveshaft shop is pretty huge and well known and they’ve done some work on another driveshaft for me recently. I do have the center bearing assembly and the u joints. But it’s just those cv joints that are a hassle to get.
 
Might there be some similarities to the more common (by volume of sales) GM "double-jointed" center mechanism that might be adapted to the Imperial chassis?

Just curious,
CBODY67
 
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