DRIVESHAFT (3 of 3)
So how to fix it ? I found a support unit only (less the bearing) that I thought I’d try next since it wasn’t too pricey. When I got it home I compared it to Mr. Squeaky. I found that newcomer Mr. Slim was one-fourth of an inch narrower than ol’ Mr. Squeaky, and that the rubber was much stiffer, too. This seemed like a good thing. Maybe the rubber on Mr. Slim would clear the shields and provide firm, dampened support like it is supposed to. I put it all together one more time (how many times now ?? ugh) and lo and behold, it worked like a charm. Well, except the alignment was off a little (the flanges of the shields were not parallel to the metal stamping, so the rubber isolater was distorted a little). So I shimmed the front attaching bolt a little at the crossmember support bracket, then it was prefect. Below are pics comparing the two different isolators; Mr. Squeaky on the left and Mr. Slim on the right. Quite a difference.
Left - National Driveshaft Support Bearing, Part No. HB206FF (from O’Reilly’s)
Right - Balkamp Driveshaft Center Support Rubber, Part No. BK 6021087 (from NAPA)
So in conclusion, I probably should have bought the NAPA thing right off the bat, left the original bearing alone, and saved myself almost 50 bucks and a lot of troubleshooting. I’m going to take back the O’Reilly stuff next time I visit them (minus bearing) and see what they will or won’t do. After much ado, the finished installation is shown below.
Support brng, u-joints………............$.85.88
Rear u-joint……………………............…….38.05
Driveshaft center support rubber …..…11.84
Hardware, grease, wire wheel……....….20.53
Total……………...............……...………$ 156.30
Added info on 7/8/11: O'Reilly's gave me a refund for the entire purchase amount of the support bearing, even without the bearing (it's pressed on and I was not of a mind to remove it and get another). Thank you very much O'Reilly's.
Old Total..............................$.156.30
Less refund.............................(46.32)
New Total..............................$109.98