Random question, but I dread every time I remove driveshafts as I can't get any sort of ratcheting tool on them. The propshaft tool from AB/Britpart doesn't fit the Tom woods double cardan shafts.

 

I've just trimmed/ground down a couple box end wrench and spin them off. The upper bolts are captive, so no holding necessary. The lower bolts are somewhat more difficult, but I don't remove those to grease the cardan joint.

Brian.

 

9/16 craftsman box wrench works great for me.

 

I bought a set of these many years ago and had never used them until I went to change my driveshaft last week. I used a 1/4" drive ratchet with a 14mm socket to get the nut most of the way down and then held the bolt with an open-end when torquing the nut. The 14mm offset wrench is a good fit, possibly because it's a cheap Harbor Freight set and the metal is used sparingly around the ring, but it's long enough that you can achieve proper torque easily. Whatever that spec may be, hahaha. Being German I go with gutentight but I'd be interested to hear what the British use.

 

The actual size of the bolts is SAE 9/16. Not metric, 14mm is close but just a tad larger and thus could cause damage.

Just did this on a P38... two 9/16 combination wrenches using the open end.

 

You're thinking of it the wrong way round. You might have to discard the 14mm and get a 9/16 but 9/16" is actually 14.28mm so if anything the 14mm wrench would be too small. 9/16" = .5625" and 14mm = .5511". Since manufacturing tolerances for general hand tools are usually not to within one one hundredth of an inch, a 14mm wrench will almost always fit on a 9/16" fastener, and without fear of damage. In 40 years of wrenching however I cannot remember an instance where they couldn't be used interchangeably. A 9/16" wrench will tighten or loosen a 14mm fastener without incident as well, the extra tenth of a mm on either side of the fastener is not enough gap to create a problem. The same goes for 7/16" and 11mm, the difference there is half that.

 

15mm tends to be sloppy.

 

Cheers for the input

I put both driveshafts back on yesterday and somehow it went really smooth, using the same tools. I was able to ratchet the nuts 90% in, and got lucky with the flange positioning... only had to jack up the rear to rotate and reach the last nut.

I use a harbor freight extra long 9/16" box end to torque it down, and a gear-wrench ratcheting 9/16. I also have a craftsman 6 point box end that I like to use too

Don't forget to remove the transfer case end and grease your centering *****!