International Lancia Forums

My 16 Thema is now getting into seriously big miles and is just a whisker away from 180K miles. Accordingly, I am starting to see wear and tear items that may not have occured to many others.

My problem is the bearing for the centre driveshaft. This is the bearing that is built into the engine mount that sits below the power steering pump.

Has anyone ever replaced this before and if so have you any advice? It looks to me as if the whole engine will need to be lifted up out of the cradle of the engine mount bracket so that it is possible to then slide the centre shaft out of the diff.

On the Beta it was just a simple case of removing 3 bolts and sliding the shaft and bearing out, but on the Thema it looks as if the engine mount bracket is trapping the centre shaft in place.

My advice is don't bother and buy a Kappa )

Yeah I see there Coupe 2.0 Turbo for sale on this website. It looks very nice, but I'd prefer one in Black.

Phooey, they're all black, red or blue. Light blue a nice rare one, and the only white one I have ever seen on autoscout or mobile. Green is the best by far!

For the future referance of anyone else replacing the centre shaft bearing this is how I did it.

Most importantly I just replaced the whole centre shaft complete with bearing from a donor car so I didn't have the hassle of taking the bearing off the shaft. This made life a lot easier, but the strip down process will be the same.

1) Jack up front right corner of car and remove wheel and wheel arch liner.
2) Disconnect inner CV joint and undo the two bolts holding the wheel hub carrier to the shock absorber. This allows the outer drive shaft to be moved sufficiently to the side to allow the centre shaft to be slid out.
3) Undo the nut on the rear engine mount and disconnect upper enhine stabiliser arm. This all ows the engine to be jacked up in order to remove the rear engine mount bracket that hold centre shaft bearing in place.
4) with engine jacked up and the weight of the rear engine mount, remove the three 13mm bolts that hold rear engine mount bracket in place. The bracket then slides off the engine mount.
5) at this stage it should be possible to slide, tap, hammer, thwack the centre shaft and bearing out of its housing in the rear engine mount arm. As you withdraw the shaft from the differential you can expect to lose a 1/4 litre of oil.
6) The rubber seal and collar that fits on the differential end of the shaft will need to be slid off the shaft in order to remove it from the car.
7) re-assembly is just the reverse process but make sure that the shaft is driven all the way home into the diff and that the rubber seal and collar are slid as far a long the shaft as they can go.

I replaced the bearing just yesterday! We fitted a new bearing on the shaft, but then you need a ehh, we call it a hydraulic"press".. The bearing is held on its place by a heat shrink ring (?) wich you can use again. Press the new bearing on its place and heat up the ring. Then simply put it into its place and when its cool down the ring is stuck. We also fitted a new engine mount, and a new wheel bearing.

I fitted a stage 3 turbo gearbox in my stage 2 SW turbo, because of the visco drive. But the car was making a noise, and the 2 bearings where the problem...

Hello Ronald,

Its a small world!!! To think that we were probably cursing and swearing in unison albeit in different time zones.

I actually found it to be quite a satisfying job and the transformation in the car's cabin noise is worth all the effort.

I was amazed at just how rough the bearing had become and I can't have had many more miles before it seized. Still 180K miles on one bearing isn't bad going. What mileage was yours at?

I don't know the mileage because the bearing belongs to the gearbox wich I got from a s3 turbo with a broken belt... I can't remember the mileage... Of coure I fitted new seals in the gearbox, two for the driveshafts and one for the input axel.

Everyone with a s1 or s2 turbo have to consider a gearbox swap with a s3 turbo gearbox, because of the visco.. It is really a difference! No longer one spinning wheel when the turbo kicks in!

Hi Ronald,

For future reference, do you have the part number and manufacturer of the bearing for the centre driveshaft?

I've tried to make out the markings on the one that I removed, but they are too worn to be identifiable. All I can tell is that it appears to be made by SKF.

Thanks