Front Driveshafts

[Nev Bertwistle]

Next to the gearbox the RHS driveshaft is the second hardest part to find. This is because you must have a manual one as the auto driveshafts are approx 15mm too short and do not engage with the splines in the diff. They are also different as they are thinner to go through the centre of the transfer case. Note all Volvo S40/V50, XR5 & Kuga driveshafts are 26 spline into the gearbox. The MK2 RS and some of the V8 & diesel Volvo's are 28 spline (more on that later).

The AWD manual driveshaft on top verses a standard XR5 driveshaft below.

This shows the difference in length between an auto (bottom) & manual driveshaft (top).

There is also a difference in the tripod size between the XR5/Volvo shafts and the Kuga/RS shafts. This is not so much an issue when doing a Focus XR5 conversion as you effectively use the Volvo RHS driveshaft and your XR5 or Volvo LHS driveshaft (they are the same). For reference, here is a photo of the different tripod size (RS/Kuga left, Volvo/XR5 right).

The good news is that you can still by the RHS driveshaft new direct from Volvo but it will set you back approx. $1600. However like the Ford shafts they are the best quality available.