All the instructions I have ever seen say to tap them out holding the ujoint
in your hand. I even have pictures of some clean whacko holding the ujoing
tapping it lightly with a plastic hammer. I have come to believe that these
people who advise this are on some serious drugs.
I have used a 12 ton press to get the ujoints apart (drive shaft et al) and
have even had trouble with that. I also have come to believe that the
engineers that designed these things about 3000 years ago had quite a sense
of humor. you push the joint out far enough to get the one cap off and then
you end up with the other end jammed. Getting them on without pinching a
needle bearing is even more fun. This job is one of my most despised jobs
(if you couldn't tell).
I would say the chances of just tapping the joint apart are next to none. If
you are lucky you can squeeze it out with an appropriate sized socket in a
vice (if you don't have a press) You put a small socket on one side and a
large one on the other and squeeze them in a vise. The small one pushes
through the ujoint pushing the end cap into the larger socket. This has been
my most effective method.
Curt Hoffman
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