I am in the process of removing the transmission from my car (a Chevy metro) and was not sure about the procedure for removing the driveshafts. The transmission manual says that I can simply remove the transmission end of the driveshaft without removing the wheel end. The GM manuals says that the driveshaft must be removed completely. In either case, is the correct procedure to simply pop the shaft out of the transmission end and then compress the joint far enough to let it pop out of the case. It is not clear to me if the horizontal movement will be sufficient to get it to come out of the case or if the wheel end must also be removed.

 

you will have to atleast seperate the lower ball joint and probably the tie rod to allow the shaft clearance to be poped out of the transmission you can leave the shaft in the hub part of the wheel if you wish but at that point you just have removeing the nut from the cv shaft to remove it completely out of your way.

 

Thanks. I did see a mention of this in the manual. I don't see any ref to tie rods but speaks about removing the "ball stud bolt". Does removing this allow the wheel to spread outwards and so remove the driveshaft? I presume once this is removed the wheels must be jacked up and cannot bear any weight.

 

you will want to support the vehicle on jackstands as the control arm or wheels will not be able to support any weight after you seperate the ball joint the wheel will move outward to allow you to remove the axle shaft the tie rod is optional dont leave your wheel in the locked position if you do not remove the tie rod.

 

Thanks again - appreciate the info.

 

Don't forget to support the engine.

 

I did remember that one . I purchased en engine support arm with the J hook arrangement. I'm following the GM instructions as closely as possible although they seem to be about 90% accurate. The incorrect 10% has to be based on visual inspection as to what to do.