Thanks Rainer,
I was appalled by this setup.... the dif sides were open to the dirt (& they
were dirty) and I just can't get over the feeling, that the over-all front
suspension would be weakened... No doubt the hacked outer CV halves are
toast... the new
owner was told by the PO, it was done by a VW dealer, so
the speedo would work???.... the shafts would turn the speedo gear in the
front dif, even if you removed the main driveshaft.. I figure the front
VC/dif  must be bad and this is a different work around to just get it back
on the road & into the hands of another unsuspecting owner.... thanks for
your comments
Rob

----- Original Message -----
From: Dr. Rainer Woitok <woitok@rrze.uni-erlangen.de>
To: Robert Rountree <rountree@planeteer.com>
Cc: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, June 11, 1999 6:38 AM
Subject: Re: Drive shaft removal (Syncro)

> Hi Robert, hi Syncronauts,
>
> On Thu, 1999-06-10 08:09:36 -0400, Robert Rountree wrote:
>
> > ...
> >                                                                      the
> > main front to rear drive shaft is still IN, turning the VC, but NO CV
shafts
> > are connected to the front dif, only the outside CV halves are used to
hold
> > the wheel bearing together....
>
> It   seems  there's always a  way  to  achieve a goal   in  a still more
> complicated  manner.    Instead of having  to  undo  just eight bolts to
> remove the  main drive shaft,  it's now twenty  four bolts and twelve of
> these bolts have then to be inserted again (or maybe have to be replaced
> by   shorter bolts).  And  then  ... the inner    sides of the CV halves
> exposed to dirt and debris ...  ugh.  Can you really expect to get these
> CV halves operational ever again?
>
> Other than  that, I think   the effect with   respect to castrating  the
> Syncro is exactly the same.  And  no, I can't see  how this could do any
> damage to the front diff or to the VC.  In this case the VC is driven by
> the  main drive shaft,   the VC drives  the  fron diff, which turns  the
> flanges for the half shafts, which in turn turn air.
>
> In the standard castrating set-up it's exactly  the other way round: the
> half shafts drive the front diff, which drives  the VC, which then turns
> air at its input flange.  Well this input flage  has perhaps an eigth of
> the square inches   of both those half  shaft  flanges combined  ...  so
> probaly less air is turned by this standard set-up, but that's about all
> the differences I can think of :-)
>
> So, to sum it up: no, I don't think that could ruin  the VC or the front
> diff, but I definitely think it will ruin the front CV halves.
>
> Have a nice weekend, everybody :-)
>
> Sincerely
>  Rainer
>
> '89 Caravelle GL Syncro 16"
>
>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> | Rainer M Woitok                  | Phone: (+49-9131) 85-27811,-27031 |
> | Regionales Rechenzentrum         |                                   |
> | Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet | Fax  : (+49-9131) 30 29 41        |
> | Martens-Strasse 1                | Telex: d 629 755 tf erl           |
> | D-91058 Erlangen                 |                                   |
> | Germany                          | Mail: Woitok@RRZE.Uni-Erlangen.DE |
>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>