Help! (another driveline vibration thread)

[KliersLC]

Any progress or mangled extremities to report?

 

[scottm]

Wife is supposed to pick up bearings at NAPA... ok, she just called, hasn't picked them up but will today. I'm working late every day I can, and they close at 5:30. T-ball game tonight, not sure how much I'll get done, but I'll be posting the results. IdahoDoug never called me back, where are you bro? It's his birthday tomorrow, so everyone jamb his mailbox with greetings I'm not sure if he's getting online, travelling with the family. I'm amazed at how smooth this truck is in RWD, I hope it'll still be smooth when I get that front driveshaft back in.

 

[scottm]

I'm about to pull the retaining clips, hopefully I can press the bearings out at work. My brother's post elsewhere was specific about these clips being different thicknesses to shim the bearings for balance and alignment. Should I mark them and reuse them at the same locations? The NAPA bearings came with new clips if I need new clips.

Any other tips on getting the new ones in properly?

 

[landtank]

My brother's post elsewhere was specific about these clips being different thicknesses to shim the bearings for balance and alignment.

Are you sure your reading your brother's posts? The clips are standard hardware and there is no difference that I'm aware of. And how much weight could a couple of thousands of an inch on a clip be anyway?

Just take out the joint and toss everything in the trash and install all the new stuff that came from NAPA.

You're way over thinking this job.

 

[Tools R Us]

I'm about to pull the retaining clips, hopefully I can press the bearings out at work. My brother's post elsewhere was specific about these clips being different thicknesses to shim the bearings for balance and alignment. Should I mark them and reuse them at the same locations? The NAPA bearings came with new clips if I need new clips.

Any other tips on getting the new ones in properly?

Some of the factory clips are different thicknesses, the thicker ones are different color, one pair on the rear of mine were blue/purple. Just note where the different ones come off and reuse them in the same spot.

 

[landtank]

I personally won't reuse clips especially on joints that aren't the same manufacturer.

 

[scottm]

You're way over thinking this job.

But would you expect any different from me? Wife is getting nervous about me having this truck ready for our trip on Monday. I'm more worried about getting all my projects done at work so I can go on this trip. I'd be happy to bring the driveshaft, parts, and tools along so I can enjoy the vacation!

 

[Grench]

We just did these last night on my wife's truck. Two shafts out, joints replaced via pounding them out, back in, about 2.5 hours while BSing lots and being casual about it. It can be intimidating if you haven't seen one done before. Take up someone here on giving you a hand with it. There are a few, 'art' points with the hammer to properly tune the joint so it moves freely once their in. Hands on with someone who knows what they're doing goes a long ways.

I used the clips that came with the U joints and I bought them from Cruiserdan. The Toyota U joints come with a set of 'standard' clips and a sheet telling you to measure the play and put in other not included clips if the play is beyond a certain spec. Has anyone sourced the outsize clips or felt a need to?

 

[Tools R Us]

...
I used the clips that came with the U joints and I bought them from Cruiserdan...

I did the same, when I hammered the joint to settle the caps one of the crosses had slight play. Looked at the old clips and sure enough two were slightly thicker and blue color. Pushed the cap back tight to the cross, one at a time and replaced the clips with the blue ones, problem solved.

I am sure Dan can get them if you need new ones. If you don't mangle them when removing and have the needed thickness I see no reason not to reuse them. My old ones looked like brand new, but we don't have the rust issue to deal with.

 

[scottm]

...when I hammered the joint to settle the caps one of the crosses had slight play.

Settle the caps? I'm still trying to get comfortable with how this will work. When I press/hammer the caps in, can they get too tight on the spider? Can they be moved out a bit if they're too tight? Sorry for all the novice questions. I've pressed hundreds of bearings into industrial machines, and it can be touchy sometimes, I don't want to mess this up.

 

[Tools R Us]

Settle the caps? I'm still trying to get comfortable with how this will work. When I press/hammer the caps in, can they get too tight on the spider? Can they be moved out a bit if they're too tight? Sorry for all the novice questions. I've pressed hundreds of bearings into industrial machines, and it can be touchy sometimes, I don't want to mess this up.

When pressed in the caps are tight to the spider and there will be slight slack, looseness at the clips. I use a big soft hammer to settle the caps, clips into the yokes. Support the flange yoke on something like wood, with a cap side towards the wood, hit the drive shaft side yoke a couple of times, flip and repeat for the other flange side cap. then switch and do the driveshaft ones by hitting the flange yoke.

It's simple, one of those things that is hard to explain but only takes a couple of seconds to do.

 

[Tools R Us]

Support where the wood is and hit where the hammer is. Don't be afraid to hit it, as long as your not hitting or supporting the tube you can get pretty medieval without issue.

 

[scottm]

That is awesome, thank you! Now can you come design an assembly line and write up a bunch of quotes so I have time to work on this? If I don't sleep the next two nights, I might get caught up enough to wrench.

 

[KliersLC]

The basic idea is to get the caps settled in such a way that the joint turns freely on both axis. or is it axes? axises? Whatever. As long as they turn freely without any binding or play, everything will be just peachy. You could probably do this on two of your lunch breaks......

 

[scottm]

Ok, that didn't really take me very long, I just didn't get much time for it. I had one cap that couldn't be pressed back through the yoke, it jambed and messed up the inside of the hole in the yoke. I ended up sanding the edges of the cap to help it slide through. I wonder if pounding on it might have mushroomed the top a bit? One joint was full of powdered rust, cracked, totally dry. I wonder if the grease didn't get through to that bearing.

The grease fittings on the NAPA joints were tiny, and used a smaller grease nipple, and they were oriented wrong. I ended up pulling those fittings, pressing the old ones from the old joints into the NAPA joints.

It's all back together, and it feels smooth. I can feel a faint gear feel in the steering wheel under accel that I didn't feel without the front driveshaft. Maybe.

 

[KliersLC]

Sounds about right, you are powering the fronts now, so a little feedback through the wheel is normal..

No biggie on the gooned up cap and yoke, it happens a lot.

 

[scottm]

Right, it's buttery smooth, feels perfect. I had commented earlier about how smooth it felt without the front driveshaft, had some questions about that, and whether the 80 would drive smoother without the front ds. Most of us haven't tried it, so I just wanted to mention what difference I could tell.

 

[EricE]

Ok, that didn't really take me very long, I just didn't get much time for it. I had one cap that couldn't be pressed back through the yoke, it jambed and messed up the inside of the hole in the yoke. I ended up sanding the edges of the cap to help it slide through.

I had two U joints that were messed up enough that they would not press out. The cap somehow compressed into the joint to make the over all length short enough that the normal method of removal was not an option. I ended up using the cutting wheel on a dremel to cut the caps in half (so that the two halves separated and the cap came off). I had to cut both caps before the U joint would come out. What a pain. Still, it got the job done.

 

[scottm]

Ouch, that's doing it the hard way! I thought I might have to saw through the spider when things got stuck, figured on using an abrasive saw, but a little larger than a Dremel. Since one cap had already cracked, I wondered if I could just set it on an anvil and smash it with a hammer, or in a hydraulic press?

 

[Tools R Us]

... I had one cap that couldn't be pressed back through the yoke, it jambed and messed up the inside of the hole in the yoke. ...

When joint are run too long and they crack a cap like pictured, it expands the exposed part of the cap making them hard to remove. This is another chance to get medieval. Remove the clip, support the yoke, get your BFH and a punch, start at the crack and knock the exposed part of the cap off. The caps are hardened and pretty brittle, so it’s relatively easy to snap them at the ring groove, then the rest of the cap will easily press out, most of the time without burring the yoke bore.