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axle u joints help fast!

screamer*145

screamer*145

1/2 ton status
Joined
Oct 23, 2003
Posts
174
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Location
cottage grove, mn
i just got 3/4 ton gear /forums/images/graemlins/woot.gif but the u-joints are bad and i cant seem to get them out of the axle yokes yes i pulled the clips or most of them anyways they are really rusted in and i just cant get them out now this is my first time doing this but i have a book. and did what it said but they wont come out so please help quickly so i can be 3/4 ton soon! /forums/images/graemlins/1zhelp.gif
 
How are you trying to get them out? I usually use a vise and they pop right out. Maybe some penetrating oil and/or some heat /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
 
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i just got 3/4 ton gear /forums/images/graemlins/woot.gif but the u-joints are bad and i cant seem to get them out of the axle yokes yes i pulled the clips or most of them anyways they are really rusted in and i just cant get them out now this is my first time doing this but i have a book. and did what it said but they wont come out so please help quickly so i can be 3/4 ton soon! /forums/images/graemlins/1zhelp.gif

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I use a BFH (ball peen). I've tried vises with sockets and couldn't get the stock (injected plastic stock) u-joints out of my 1985 K5. I got all three u-joints (two rear, one front) out in about 5 minutes a piece including heating them up. As long as you can hit worth a damn, and your ball peen OD is smaller than the OD of the U-joint, your good. /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
Put them in the same way, no drive line (vibration) problems. /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif
 
Wait a second, they are stuck in the pinion yokes? Once you remove the ubolts or straps (whichever it has), it should be easy to get them out. Just pound a little with a hammer or use a prybar.

If you really are talking about the driveshaft yokes, then I agree with the above, a Socket bigger than the cap, a socket smaller than the cap and a Big Ol Hammer seem to work the best.
 
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Wait a second, they are stuck in the pinion yokes? Once you remove the ubolts or straps (whichever it has), it should be easy to get them out. Just pound a little with a hammer or use a prybar.

If you really are talking about the driveshaft yokes, then I agree with the above, a Socket bigger than the cap, a socket smaller than the cap and a Big Ol Hammer seem to work the best.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see pinion anywhere there... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
But if he had mentioned it, another reason you could be having a hard time getting it out of a pinion is because you don't have the wheels chocked and your on a hill. Ask me how I know /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif
No, I didn't get run over (almost) and my K5 didn't almost run into a tree and off a 4 foot retaining wall (almost)... /forums/images/graemlins/screwy.gif
It was super late, or early, 3AMish and I just wasn't thinking..... /forums/images/graemlins/doah.gif

As fer u-joints, I don't use sockets at all. With my luck I'd split one. /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
 
I just changed mine. I had to hit them HARD with my 3 lb. mini sledge and a chunk of round stock. Spray some penetrant oil on them and let them sit for a few minutes. Then crank the shafts down solid in a vise and go to town. I had to clamp the round stock into a set of vise grips (to keep my makeshift punch from flying off every time I whacked it /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif) and smack the h#ll out of them till they broke free. Once they break free, they'll move pretty easy with some light taps. it's getting them to break free that's the hard part.
 
I have changed a lot of u joints in my life. I have never had to beat on them. Put them in a vise with sockets. Make sure everything is nice and square in the vice. If they don't pop once the vice is tight tap the sides with a hammer and they pop. Sometimes very little heat makes them pop when they are stuck.

The key is to make sure you set everything up square and are pushing on the center of the u joint.

-Chris
 
I have had tons of tools at my disposal including a press when I worked at the auto parts store. I have never used anything but a hammer to get them out, except when I first got my 3/4 ton axles and the joints were very badly rusted, I had to use a press to get those out.
 
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I have changed a lot of u joints in my life. I have never had to beat on them

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Then you are very fortunate. Also, I guess I just don't have the coordination to hold the shaft, line up the sockets, and tighten the vise all at the same time. I'd much rather use a press, but since I don't have one, I had to make due with a BFH. I think my u-joints must have been at least 10-15 yrs old too. They were not easily removed. I bent the handle on my vise into an arc trying to press them. /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif
 
I've changed probably 500 u-joints when I worked at a parts store with a machine shop--like Tim said,we had about every tool at our disposal ,except the u-joint tool that looks like a C-clamp(its used for ball joints too)my boss didnt think it was really nessasary because we already had a 100 ton press in the shop,we used a hammer and sockets or solid round stock to change 90% of them--the other 10 % were the ones held in with that injected plastic-nylon stuff,we had to heat most of them up and boil out the nylon goop and use the press on those--sometimes that stuff works TOO good,and you end up bending a yoke--I hate that stuff!~. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
The plastic ones you heat and use a hammer.

The only time I used a press to change u joints, I thought I was going to bend the ears of my front axleshafts for my old 10 bolt so I decided that wasn't going to work.

Ball peen hammer is the best tool. And when your truck has been apart as many times as mine, you can damn near push them out with your fingers. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

On a related note, Jesse has told me that the U joints in the 42* CV are such a bitch to service, that he would rather I NOT take it apart.
 
Had to use the good old /forums/images/graemlins/weld.gif to cut them out and a BFH to get the caps out and got the new ones in and ready to rock. the truck that they came out of was used to lanuch boats with its front at a marina i work at and man where they rusty and beat to [censored]!
but i have 3/4 Ton now /forums/images/graemlins/woot.gif /forums/images/graemlins/woot.gif /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
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