replacing U joints

[kevs250]

hey guys, I wanted to know if replacing the u joints would be a DIY kind of labor. I went to an auto repair for a noise under my truck and told me that I needed to rebuild my drive shaft. I've been told it is hard to do but from other people, they say its simple. So if you guys could, give me steps on how to replace the ujoints and tell me other little things I will need to know.









1970 Ford F250 Camper Special

[fmartin_gila1]

You can DIY on the U joints, but if the splines are worn, you will have to have a driveline shop to replace the spline and rebalance.

Fred

[mrsnicks]

The only difficult part about ujoints is they have to be "pressed" in.

There are some ingenious ways of doing this without a press... Hammer ... c-clamp and sockets.

It's kind of tricky and I don't think I'll be able to explain it properly. Maybe someone else can chime in.. possibly with pictures also??

Patrick

[kaptnkaos]

Hey kevs250

U-joints aren't to bad to replace...
The carrier bearing on the other hand can be a real bugger.
You usually have to have it pressed off or cut it off.

To remove the u-joints
Clean the caps ends with a screw driver or similar tool.
Remove the clips that hold the caps in.
I use a good pair of lineman pliers (flat square head).
You can use two 1/2 drive sockets and a hammer to press them out out.
You need one that is just smaller that the cap and one that is larger.
The larger one is the receiver and the the smaller one the punch.
They are directional and have to go one way in order to get them to come out...
You will easily be able to tell once you get started...
one direction the joint won't go far enough to get the cap off, the other way you can.
Assembly is just the reverse...
Here's a little trick, get yourself a couple of heavy duty rubber bands, put one over the the two caps your not working on.
That will hold the caps in place so they don't fall off and scatter your needle bearings all over...
If they haven't been replaced for while they can get pretty corroded.
When you reassemble it, the joints have to go in so you can access the grease fitting.
I can't remember off the top of my head which direction they go.
When I did them on my "68 CS, I got the rear one in facing the wrong direction...

KaptnKA S

[fitzwell]

Do NOT beat on the ears of the yoke. A large vise is your best bet here. Before you remove the shaft, note which way it rotates, relative to the yoke. When you install the u-joint. orient it so the grease fitting is "compressed" if you will, as opposed to being "stretched". I wish i had a better explaination, but watch the shaft rotate...you'll get the idea. Dont forget to grease said u-joint.

[unclejtl]

I just did mine. I used one of these and it worked great. it's not as nice as the expensive ones, but it will work for this.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=38335

try this link for a general discription

http://www.extremehowto.com/xh/article. ... e_id=60402

jason

[kaptnkaos]

Hey unclejtl...

That's a pretty snazzy tool for sure...
I wonder if it would be worth my getting one...
Nah...
I have replaced u-joints in just about every rig I've owned for the last 40 years just using two sockets and a hammer...
The hardest thing I ever ran into was getting the clips out...
In all that time, I got one on backwards, that was the very last one I did on the '68 CS a couple of months ago... the rear one

KaptnKA ) S

[unclejtl]

when I start beating on things I usually end up breaking or bending something, so i'm not a big fan of the hammer.

guess you have more finess than I do.

[willowbilly3]

That is a loaded question. For me it is a simple proceedure.
But I had a little bone head from Missouri working for me and even after I explained it and walked him through the whole thing, he still destroyed 4 u joints trying to replace 2 and spent all day trying. Mostly 'cuz that was the way his bonehead daddy did it, and his bone head grandaddy.

Oh, yeah, all I use is a hammer and a vise or some sort of pounding fixture. Fitz gave you some great advice on the zerk orientation, not many people pay attention to that but a ujoint is several times stronger in compression.
I also like to leave the grease fitting out during assembly. I fill the caps with good grease to hold the needles in place during assembly, about half full I guess.