Drive Shaft

[Treeffy]

Hey there folks, my car is knocking regularly and the garage says its the drive shaft. They want to charge 400 quid for a new one, I find them online for 138 quid. They said that the part has to be a genuine one from ford and that's why it's so expensive, is this cosher or am I being ripped off?
I have a Mk Ford Galaxy - CU51DUT.

[drober42]

It's a rip off!! Mine went back last year(LHS) found one on-line OEM quality with a lifetime warranty for a lot less than the Genuine Ford, I think I paid around Ã,£130 for that, which is 3 times cheaper than Ford, so I would be inclined to keep looking on-line, the only thing is make sure it is for your car i.e check the output different shafts for the 130bhp,the 115bhp and so on, It doesn't have to be a genuine Ford part, mine isn't and has lasted the past 12-18 months with no problems!

[SilverBeast]

I've just replaced one of mine on a TDI 130.  The shafts were Ã,£36 new from ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140570192477?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
As you have a 115BHP (from your reg) you may need a different one.

Driveshafts are the same on both sides.  They may mean the Intermediate Shaft (between the gearbox and Right Hand Driveshaft).  This is considerably more expensive.   Mirez has a section in the Technical Section https://www.fordmpv.com/smf2/reference-library/galaxy-mk2-gearbox-drive-stub-axel-and-half-shaft-%28inner-drive-shaft%29/

[Treeffy]

Yeah, it's the intermediate shaft they are talking about. So it looks like the price they quoted is inline with the article you posted. Thank you so much for the information, it's painful but I'll just have to take the hit, at least I know the garage are ok. Thanks.

[SilverBeast]

The actual part may be cheaper if you contact the (Polish?) company that Mirez used, evn if you still have the garage fit it.  Obviously you may not be able to afford the wait.

If you have read hsi post and look at the pictures you can see that his new intermediate shaft looks far superior to the original.  No doubt he will be along soon and let you know if it's still going strong.  It will be worth asking the garage to grease the splines on the intermediate shaft before fitting as it seems that VW didn't always do this, and this seems to contribute to premature failure.

[Mirez]

Its still going perfectly well

I actually took it apart about 3 weeks back since I was replacing a CV gaitor and its still perfect under there, if you can't wait and get the factory unit then deffo ask them to grease it up and maybe see if you can get a rubber boot to fit over the joint - theoretically its only the ingress of salty water and lack of lube that causes the original to fail so if its protected it should last significantly longer.

[Joey P]

I actually took it apart about 3 weeks back since I was replacing a CV gaitor and its still perfect under there, if you can't wait and get the factory unit then deffo ask them to grease it up and maybe see if you can get a rubber boot to fit over the joint - theoretically its only the ingress of salty water and lack of lube that causes the original to fail so if its protected it should last significantly longer.

Is it still going well?

On the subject!
A Galaxy I looked at, i noticed had some welding around the joint you mention.

Do you think that was possibly a attempt to stop salty water entering and extending life?
I am no mechanic, but did wonder what they were doing, as the rest of the car clearly had money spent on it!

[Mirez]

I haven't't separated it again since but there is no movement from the joint so I assume all is well under there!

I doubt that, I suspect it was more likely a repair to get drive again. I have seen people weld the joint together as a fix but if you do that then you can't access the stub axle bolt so can no longer separate it from the gearbox if you need to remove it in the future.

[Joey P]

So does that mean! they can be repaired by a weld?

And if you did, is it safe and would it last?

If so, would it eventually mean that you had to replace more of the drive shaft.

I like these cars (Galaxy Sharan Alhambra) and plan to stick with them, they suit our needs.
I am trying to learn as much as possible.

[Mirez]

Depends entirely on the skill of the welder I would imagine. You have a rotational force to deal with, being held in theory just on the outside of the shaft - not sure Id trust it

The big problem is that the stub axle is bolted into the gearbox through its middle. If you weld the halfshaft to the stub then you have no access to this bolt!