I sent my '83 into the shop for a brake job, and they noticed that my universal joints were worn out on my drive shaft. Apparently, the drive shaft on my car cannot have new u-joints installed. Also, they said that only some of the '83s have this kind of shaft.....

A new shaft costs too much to be worth it, so I am looking for alternative solutions. Is there any way to install a drive shaft from an older model on my car or am I pretty much stuck up a creek?

Any help would be great, I love my car to pieces and would hate to have to get rid of it.

Thanks.

I would call around and ask a u-joint place if they can replace the joints for you.

That shop is half right, you will need a new drive shaft, but all '83 have non-replaceable joints. Mazdatrix sells new drive shafts (expensive $242) for you car that come with replaceable u-joints so if in the future they go bad you can have them replaced.



If you are looking for a used a drive shaft as an alternitive you can use any from a manual tranny 83-85. Earlier years have a smaller flange on the diff.



Good luck



Ryan

call some junk yards

The dealership wants $485 for a new shaft. O.o ...but then again its a dealership :P

Do you know how good the ones from Mazdatrix are? I can drive pretty hard so I want something thats pretty durable.

Yeah, getting a new shaft can be expensive. As stated before, you might find a local shop that makes driveshafts and have them replace the u-joints.

I had one made for my T2 conversion for somewhere between 150-200 bucks.

I just replaced my drive shaft.. order it from mazdatrix, it was $269 including shipping and bolts right up, took me like 15 minnutes to replace everything. Its a nice shaft too with replaceable u-joints.