Problem with driveshaft removal on 61 convertible.

[Tom and John Binder]

 Has anyone had diffuculty removing a drive shaft?We have a 61 convertible with a bad center bearing support. We disconnected the universal at the rearend, removed both bolts from the center bearing support and tried to slide out the shaft assembly. We found that the front yoke at the tranny gets caught on a steel  frame support plate which is welded at the top of the frame just between the front of the center frame tunnel.There appears to be no way to remove the shaft assembly without separating the front universal while in the car,athough the shop manual makes no reference to this. Is this steel plate only on the covertable frame? I don't recall this problem when I took out the shaft on my 62 sedan. Any advice and insight would be apreciated.

[Doug Houston]

Without being there, I'd say that the plate is on convertibles only. The frames on those cars have to have a lot of extra bracing because the upper structure of a roof isn't there.

I once had a '61 convertible, but I never had to get the driveshaft ot. I did remove the engine and trans for rebuild, but the driveshaft never came out. (worst Cadillac I ever had)

Again, I haven't anything here to look at, but if there is a removable rear transmission mount on the tail housing, could you remove it, and slide it out of the way to get the driveshaft out?