Hi, guys, disregard this if you've 'been there an done this', but I thought I would share the process of replacing the center bearing that supports my two-piece drive shaft if no one objects. I began late this afternoon. I drove the car up onto two front ramps. I then carefully used a 3.5 tonne garage-jack to lift the rear by placing the jack under the center of the frame section as required. I then set up 3 tonne jack stands in the recommended locations (under the control arm mounts right 'in and slightly behind' the spot you place the regular jack for changing flat tires.)I put pieces of 2x4 between the jack stand and the mounts. I then lowered the garage jack very, VERY, slowly but left it about three milimeters under the frame after the jack stands accepted the full weight of the car. Being under 1,700 Kilos of automobile without a 'reserve' is a bit unnerving so I left the Jack there; if a jack-stand were to fail, I'd have something stronger than my rib-cage to support the car. Next, I tried to undo the oxygen sensor in the exhaust system but it would not come out and I feared damage to it and, as it is a realtively expensive part, I decided to disconnect it further up the wiring harness and I left the sensor in the pipes while I duct-taped the excess wire that was connected to the sensor to the exhaust pipes. I then moved up to the exhaust manifold so I could begin to take off the exhaust system. (You must remove the exhaust system to get access to the drive shaft.) I sprayed some 'Gunk Liquid Wrench Super Penetrant' onto the nuts and gave them a few good taps with a hammer, and waited a few minutes. There are two pipes which later come together just before the oxygen sensor and the oxygen sensor is right in front of the catalytic converter. These two pipes connect to the exhaust manifold and each one funnels the exhaust of three cylinders and each connects to the manifold with a total of three nuts on each pipe to take off. However, even with the penetrant, I made quite a spectacle to my neighbors who were Bar-B-Queing next door with my legs flailing about from under the front of my car as I tried heroically, with many verbal grunts and epithets, to leverage each nut loose. I managed to loosen four of the nuts with only minor damage to my body in the form of a hand cut that will heal and a wrist slice that will leave a nice scar. Still, the last two nuts would not come out. I was saved by a good neighbor who bought over an electric impact wrench, set it beside me, grunted, and walked away. The wrench, with a socket extender, took the other two nuts off easily. Even so, one of the nuts seems to have been 'lock-tighted' on from a previous exhaust system replacement and the impact wrench helped me pull the entire bolt out with the nut still locked solid. But with darkness about me and mosquitos biting, I called it quits for the night. If this sounds like an adventure, it is! But if you all don't mind, I will continue posting my progress. This board has been a G-dsend to me and I would like to try to give something back. Maybe someone can avoid a scar or two.
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