I went back and re-examined my parts. The lower parts were not as 'perfect' as
the upper parts, there was more wear. And some of that wear resulted in minor
deformations in the yokes. These deformations create pressure on the caps and
extracting them by 'tapping' suggested by the manual is useless.
These parts have been together for 40 years. I began applying Liquid Wrench on
all the caps and circlips. I let this soak 24 hours. I think this helped
some. Using a smaller socket and larger socket, I was able to push one cap out
far enough to grasp, wiggle and lift the cap. I used a pin made from a nail
inserted though the hollow journal to push off the remaining cap. The process
is repeated for all three u-joints. The next step is to clean up the yokes to
accept the new u-joints.
Thanks for the suggestions,
Curtis
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Curt" <choffman9@cinci.rr.com>
> 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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