Should the Driveshaft be able to do this in a Torque Tube?

[rmartens]

After not finding anything immediately and apparently wrong in my mostly disassembled Dynaflow, I pulled the rear end out from under the car this weekend. I locked up the rear brakes and tried turning the drive shaft with an 18" wrench on the front u-joint I had pulled off the transmission. There didn't seem to be any excessive play and the driveshaft wouldn't turn with the brakes locked.

After talking to a buddy of mine and describing the way Jim had described the driveshaft to pinion coupling, my buddy suggested trying to pull the driveshaft out of the torque tube.

I tried, and it moved 4-5 inches out. When it was in the pulled-out position, I turned the driveshaft and could hear the splines slipping. But when it is pushed in, it is as tight as ever.

If this is the problem area, where is there enough room for the driveshaft to move that far forward to cause the noise and slip I experienced?

How do I disassemble the rear end? Or at least enough to confirm or deny what seems to be happening? Does any one have copies of a pertinent manual they could scan in? Thanks!

[The Old Guy]

What year is your Buick? I have never seen a drive shaft that was not pinned to the pinion shaft on a Buick with the torque tube. You can remove the torque tube by removing the bolts that hold it to the axle housing. You should then be able to see the coupler that connects the drive shaft to the pinion shaft. I usually have a hard time getting them separated even with the pin out.

[rmartens]

It's a '56 Century. So you're saying I should separate the TT from the rear end to check it out? Sound's like the logical next step...

Thanks!

[Judd]

Rick

The drive shaft in my 56 Special slides out and in I didn't try 5"s but the car drives fine no noise no vibration.