GTV6 Driveshaft Removal Problem

["David R Johnson" <johnsnd@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Alfisti,

time once again to draw on the knowledge of the digest.  I am working on
pulling the motor and transaxle from my 1982 GTV6 as part of my preparation for
welding and painting.  Everything has gone smoothly except when I got to the
point of removing the driveshaft.  I have unbolted both ends and the center
bearing so it is now attached to nothing.  However, it doesn't want to come
out.  The transaxle yoke is blocking it, even with the DeDion tube as far up as
it will go.  Is there a special trick to this?  I can just about bend the shaft
in the middle enough to clear the transaxle, but then the bearing hangs up on
the center crossmember.  I could cheat by pulling the transaxle first, or
splitting the shaft in the middle, but I am curious as to how you are supposed
to do this.

Another curious thing, my shop manual (CarDisc CDRom) instructs me to remove a
crosspiece attached with 4 bolts from just ahead of the torsion bar rear mount
crossbar, as far as I can tell from the diagram.  This piece does not seem to
be present on my car, and I don't even see any mounting holes for a missing
piece.  I am assuming that there were minor differences from year to year and
this is one of them (the manual is one size fits all years).  I have seen other
evidence of this; my '82 has no power steering, I appear not to have an
altitude correction module for the computer, coil is on the opposite side, etc.
 Can anyone confirm this?  Even if there was a piece present that I should
remove, I don't think this would solve my driveshaft problem since there still
is the welded-in crossmember to get around.

BTW, an amusing note regarding driveshaft balance: the car exhibited no
vibration whatsoever on my 120 miles drive home from place or purchase, but the
front donut is missing one of the 6 segments entirely!  Hope it doesn't start
to shake with a new donut in there...

All assistance appreciated.  Thanks in advance,

Dave J.
1982 GTV6

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