Last Monday I changed the oil in my 1973 TR-6 and did my nut and bolt check.
I had a clunk in the rear and though maybe the nuts at the connection to the
diff had loosened again. They were tight but the U joint had play in it so
I changed it, fortunately having three of them on the parts shelf.
Unfortunately I didn't have new nylock nuts so I got on line to the Roadster
Factory and ordered 4 of them along with a new turn signal blinker unit with
the hope that a new one would make the lights blink faster. I'd already
cleaned all the connections and bulb bases which helped a bit. The nuts and
flasher unit came in on Friday and I decided to do the install today. It
all went without a hitch. Clunk is pretty much gone and turn signals flash
at an acceptably fast rate. After cleaning up I took the car out for a
test drive -which really means that I headed over to the Ice Cream Machine
for a cone of ginger ice cream. It was such a great day for a ride. The
weather was PERFECT. However I did get to wondering about the U joints on
the drive shaft. I have never replaced them on this '73 with 85K on it and
I never did on my first TR-6 which had 95 K on it when it was wrecked back
in 1979. Sooooo, why do the rear axle U joints need to be replaced more
often than the drive shaft U joints. I think the are the same size/part
number, right?
Grinning still from the nice ride today,
Ron L
** triumphs@autox.team.net **
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