are all drive shafts the same lenght?

Bought a drive shaft with cv joints yesterday for my 74 kombi. The mechanic who put it on today commented on the length of it all noting that it seemed shorter than the one it was replacing. (I got it from a vw wrecker who sold me one last week...no problem with that one).
anyhoo...I drove off down the road and lost all gears. The shaft on my newly fitted one had popped out of the circlip and was spinning wildly. I put my old one back on.
My question is...are the drive shafts all the same lenght with kombi's?

maybe just the circlip was loose in the first place...?


cheers, Ian

Not too sure about Kombi's, but the semi auto beetle has one shorter than the other. Maybe Auto Kombi's are the same ?

Just a guess, never owned or played with Kombi's !!!!:jesus

Bay window Kombi's with a manual GB have the same length shafts. Auto's have DIFFERENT length shafts.
I can't remember the difference in lengths though.
If you got the shafts from the wreckers because you need new CV's, just put the CV's on you shafts!!!
It's also worth cleaning them and packing new grease (good molly stuff) if you havn't already done so.
:thumb

Oh, and also, the clips that hold the CV's on are not all that good and can loose tension if they have been on and off a few times. It's worth replacing them with new if you can!

Andy's correct, but it is also worth noting - some circlips (aftermarket??) when manufactured are "pressed" this leaves them with one side with the edges "rounded". When using these always check which side/edge is going to take the "thrust" ie not the rounded one.

Craig Torrens wrote:Not too sure about Kombi's, but the semi auto beetle has one shorter than the other. Maybe Auto Kombi's are the same ?

Just a guess, never owned or played with Kombi's !!!!:jesus

T3s autos are even shorter so yeah there'a few different lengths