Brandon, I contacted Malibu and they told me I needed a 3/16" packing for my VLX. So I bought the GFO, Gore-Tex "dripless" packing from SKIDIM.com and replaced it a couple of weeks ago. I have a V-drive, so it was difficult to get to the gland nut, but after scraping the old packing with a small screwdriver inside the gland nut, it finally came out after 15-20 minutes. (believe me, that stuff gets crammed up there....) After getting all of the old packing out, it was simple. I cut the new packing to the length that would fit around the shaft and butt up the ends when wrapped around. I stuffed each piece of the new packing into the nut and hand-tightened down each one before stuffing the next. I put three pieces in total and then tighted the gland nut all the way down to the stop, and then secured it with the tightening nut, and it was done. Very happy that I did it myself as the total job cost me around $13 and I had heard people were paying their mechanics $400 and $500 to do a V-drive. (which is high even to a dealer) If you have a DD, I would definitely go for it. If a V-drive, you better have some patience and long arms to get under there to get that old packing out. My shaft does not leak at all now (it used to flow like yours), and the shaft does not get hot after driving a couple sets. I believe the shaft is supposed to drip when running, but not when idling, so I have been watching it to see if it will start to drip slowly when in gear. Hope that helps. Good Luck!! Mook (Message edited by mook on October 25, 2005)
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