So I took off the ebay catback that came on my car and installed an AVO exhaust. While I'm underneath the car trying to diagnose an exhaust rattle I notice that the former ebay exhaust might have been rubbing my driveshaft.

On the rear most shaft about 5 inches before the rear diff there's a 1/2 inch band worn down about 1/16". Enough to eat through the black coating and form a small valley. There's nothing else anywhere near it, so I'm assuming it's from the old exhaust.

I no idea about the stock d/s as far as thickness is concerned. Is it safe to drive with this amount of material missing? I haven't launched or dyno'd the car in a long while, and won't for the winter, but i don't want this thing falling apart at 80 on the highway either! I'm going to be p!ssed if a $200 exhaust costs me a new d/s!

Also, if it does need to be replaced, is it possible to just pull the rear shaft or will I need a whole new setup? Any suggestions? Thanks for the help guys!

 

lil help...anyone? There must be some "rule of thumb" for this sort of thing??

 

im not sure if its safe to drive but that definately cant be good. id get it checkd out somewhere

 

I don't know the wall thickness of the tube but the width of the weld at the end should approximate the wall thickness.

 

i dont think its a high stress point of the d/s, i think it should be okay not to be replaced right away

 

Thanks Barney, that's a good tip on how to check the wall thickness. I might have found a rear drive shaft on ebay from a 2003 evo, does anyone know if there were any changes to the drive shaft lengths due to acd or something?

I think if i drive it like I own it (as opposed to stole it), that it could hold up for awhile...but my trigger foot gets itchy

 

bump up to see if there's a difference in driveshafts between the years? Will a 2003 bolt up to an 06?