D60 u-joint install

[Mastiff]

I decided to go with non-greasable U-joints, SPL55-3X for my D60. Just messing with the joints a little, the caps seem very tight due to the seal. Can anyone shed some light? Should I just pull them off anyway in order to do the install, or is there some other method? I don;t want to trash the seal or send needle bearings flying.

Also, I was reading a guy's tutorial on doing this job and he suggested marking the axle-shaft and stub so they could be put back together the same way. Does this actually matter? I can't see how it could since people buy new stubs for use with old axles anyway.

 

[sweetk30]

spicer life series joints have tight seals . they almost pop off like a snap .

and live axle shafts like in the front don't need to be indexed to realign as there not balanced like a drive shaft HAS TO BE INDEXED for sure to get back in balance when a joint is swapped.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

You have to take the caps off to install the joints. The seals are really good, they are tough to get off. You should mark the caps to make sure that each cap goes on the same part of the joint it came from, supposedly they have only the exact amount of grease they need to begin with. I've exploded some seals in a press by adding grease to one (stupid).

As mentioned, you don't need to align the inner/outer shafts, no balance issues there.

 

[Mastiff]

Thanks for the help.

 

[6.2Blazer]

The caps on my Spicer greasables were very tight, even after being removed and reinstalled a couple of times. It was very hard to pull them off by hand and wound up using a couple pieces of wood inside a vice to hold the cap while I pulled the cross away. There is no way you can install them without removing the caps.