Steven:
I am replacing all of my U joints now as part of my rebuild. The
drive shaft was easy, the half shafts are a B&%$*#.
I noted that the U Joints I obtained for the drive shaft were
Japanese and were cake to install. I don't know what the rest are, as
they are in a plain white box, but they are NOT the same manufacturer. I
ordered them all from Moss, BTW.
Problem #1 - The Zerk fittings don't fit. They came with little
stumpy Zerk Fittings (1/4"?), and the hole for the fittings is down
between two arms on the joint. The result is that there is not enough
room for the fittings to seat against the joint. So I drove to 4
different places to pick up some 3/4" tall Zerk fittings (they were hard
to find). These do not have a shoulder at the base of the fitting, and
are sort of like a pipe nipple in that regard. They screw in all the way
and seat firmly in the joint. Problem solved.
Problem #2 - The bearing caps themselves seem to be *slightly*
larger. I could not press the caps into the joint with my vise. I tried
tapping them in with a socket and hammer, but all I succeeded in doing
was dislodging the needle bearings in the bearing cups. I even managed
to break a couple of the needle bearings, so I had to buy another U
Joint to replace the one I buggered.
Problem # 3 - With fresh determination that I would NOT get in a
hurry and use my hammer, I cleaned the yoke and bearing, lubed
everything up so it would slide in, and reefed on my vise so hard I
broke it! So I disassembled the joints, and I am going to the auto parts
store to get a brake cylinder hone to "tweak" the yokes. I will also be
picking up a new vise. Dirty #@$%*&^!!!!!!
So, my advice:
1. DO NOT succumb to temptation and use a hammer/socket
to drive the cups into the U Joint
2. If you need to use an extension on your vise handle
to press in the bearings, something
is wrong, so STOP!!!
3. Have a brake cylinder hone handy to "adjust" your
yokes if necessary.
4. Make sure the Zerk fittings (if any) on your U joints
will seat fully in the joint.
Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Steven Altomare
Sent: March 16, 2005 8:50 PM
To: 6-Pack
Subject: TR6 U-Joint Failure
Hey listers,
Well, I've been driving the trusty TR a lot this year (over 5500 miles
so far), and thought I'd let you all know of the latest occurrence with
my baby.
On a page of my website,
http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gtg124h/trdamage.html, I have some pictures
and explanations of the u-joint failure that happened last night.
I was only moving at about 10-15mph when it happened, and luckily
there's not too much damage. It looks like the u-joint (obviously!),
the yoke on the axle, and a shock link will all need to be replaced.
My dad's coming down this weekend to help me get her back on the road,
wish us luck!
Steven Altomare
74.5 TR6
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