Ever since I've gotten the new driveshaft installed, I've felt a slight vibration at 75-80 MPH. Nothing serious, but just loud enough to bother me. I checked under the car this morning, and one of the two hanger bearing mounting bolts is stripped. Won't tighten or loosen...it just spins in the hole. The other bolt is fine. I called the driveshaft shop and explained the problem...they're the ones who installed the new driveshaft and cross-threaded this bolt. They say they won't be able to look at it until next week. I'm thinking of just fixing it myself...use my impact tools to try & get this stripped bolt out. If it looks okay, maybe I'll look for some kind of thin retaining nut to hold it from the other side...but I'm not sure how much clearance I'll have if I need to use a longer bolt. The driveshaft runs through the frame, so I can't see how bad the insert is on the hanger bearing without dropping the shaft, and I'd rather not get into all that. Anybody else have this problem on 1st-2nd generation Rivieras?
I decided to try and see what could be done on my own, and the problem is now solved. The bolt wasn't stripped...it was the retaining nut inside of the hanger bearing housing which had come loose from the surface. It was spinning around with the bolt. I busted out the low-profile crow's feet, and used a 9/16" to reach inside of the frame and grab the nut from the other side. One good hit with the impact screwdriver and *bang*, it was nice & snug just like the other one. Thank the maker for proper tools. :grin:
