Dented prop shaft

[Soundstorm]

Hi,

I'm fixing a friend's Transit. The rear center bearing was gone. So I just replaced it, thinking it was just it's age. While the prop shaft was off, I noticed a dent in the rear section. The center bearing carrier was also deformed.

I thought to take the risk, and put a new bearing on. That way, I would have some time (and the friend some finance) to either re balance the shaft, or find a new one. Now, 10km later, the bearing disintegrated from the rubber. Fair enough, it's not an OEM Ford bearing, so it might not be as strong as it should, but 10km is nothing...

Now, today I'm going to look for a prop shaft at a breaker. How much should a LWB, 3-piece shaft go? Also, if he doesn't have a LWB shaft, are the 2-piece SWB shafts the same (except for the middle section of course). I might take the risk to then re-use the middle section. As that way, it will probably be balanced better than now.

Thanks!

[MinorMatt]

AFAIK the middle section is all that is different

The propshafts fitted to different Mk5s are different (they use a different carrier bearing) but are interchangeable as a complete unit.

[Soundstorm]

It's a '96, don't know if that's a mk4 or 5.

[MinorMatt]

mk5

you need a propshaft from a "smiley" front - '95 - '00