Right Angle Drive Installation

Figured it out. I had to pull the whole drive from the gearbox. It was just so different than the British ones that I have worked with before...

If you pulled anything out of the transaxle case you did it wrong.

I suspect you undid this nut and pulled out the drive gear. If so, you got lucky.

Once that bolt has been loosened/removed, it is possible for the drive gear to fall inside the case. A pair of vise grips clamped onto the drive tab prior to removing the bolt removes most of the danger, but should the drive gear fall inside the case, retrieval will require opening the ZF case. Which requires removing the ZF from the car.  ☹️

The LH & RH threads are most definitely a brain teaser. I don’t remove/install mine often enough to have the procedure memorized; but I seem to find enough patience to figure it out each time I face the task.  

it is critical that the rotating drive tabs are fully engaged. There are numerous failures caused by inadequate engagement.

Glad you got it resolved, but in the future definitely leave that bolt alone. 😉

Larry

Well I dodged a bullet then because I did not grab the top of the drive spindle with a channel locks. I rebuild the gearbox myself but that was a year ago and I couldn’t remember how I put the spindle in at the time and I didn’t have the right angle drive to install with the spindle. So I’ll take this as just being lucky and hope that the speedometer in the dash works after 50 years of sitting.

Roger that! Remember, the ZF was originally designed to run upside-down in the GT-40 and Mangusta. So if you pull that critical bolt on those cars, the 4" long extension shaft slides outside harmlessly. On a Pantera, it slides inside and there's just not enough space for it. I've had to weld ZF cases back together and replace chipped gears when this happens- $$$$.

To fit an angle drive, you screw the nut all the way onto the gearbox fitting, fit the angle drive to the double-thread nut, and turn the nut back onto the angle drive until it bottoms. That maximizes threads on the angle drive and positions the drive tabs correctly so they won't shear. Leaks are take care of by o-rings, not how tight the double-nut is.

Second, the original grease inside is rock-hard after 50 years. Some guys soak the angle drive in solvent, then in light oil for a week or so. It's also possible to drill & tap a hole in the angle drive body and add a Zerk so the pricey assembly can be serviced now 'n then. Or use an electronic speedo and eliminate the angle drive and drive cable completely as DeTomaso did in the Pantera Si.

Bosswrench, the VSS in the Si screws onto the angle drive, in place of the speedo cable. The only way that I know of to eliminate the angle drive is to use a Milwaukee Speedometer VSS.