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Did I do something wrong? Driveshaft....

E

epurdy2005

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Well when I rebuilt the tranny this summer i had the guy put a new U joint in so all I had to do was attatch the driveshaft to the back axcel.....I think I slid the bearings on and set it in there and put the 2 clamps on and tightened them....Well it has been about 6 months and I've drove it alot since then....The other day i put it in four wheel drive and went down the road to get some gas, had about 4 in. of snow....and on the way back BAM the drive shaft comes off.....Its back there flying around so I'm not sure exactly what happend but one of the bearings were gone and the other still sitting in the clamp......But both of the clamps that are supposed to hold it in were still there.....Did I miss something or just not get it tight enough? Thanks
Evan
 
Not sure what "bearings" you're talking about. Do you mean the caps on the joint? The ones that fit into the rear yoke and are clamped down? If so, you likely didn't torque or recheck properly. Those are very small bolts that hold down a bit of force. Loctite on them helps and check them.
d
 
Yes thats exactly what I'm talking about....I know the other part of the u joint has those clips that hold them in. Is there any clips you put on this or are they relying just on those 2 clamps to hold them in place...........The thing that was weird was that the clamps were still pretty tight when I took them off.....Guess I'll go buy a couple more and tighten the hell outta them and lock tight.....Thanks for the help.

Evan
 
Don't tighten too much, as those bolts won't take much torque. Do the loctite and check them every now and again. If your shaft isn't well balanced, the vibrations could be causing them to loosen up.
 
It might be the cups weren't seated in the yoke properly. Overtightening the straps or little u-bolts just crushes the cups causing premature failure. I don't see a need for lock-tite either.

Rene
 
well i tightened them down and I can tell that the one side isn't tight enough against it.....Should I put like something in between tehre to make it tight?
 
I'd say no..don't try to shim it or anything like that...if it doesn't fit properly it might be the wrong u-joint.
Some look very close but aren't exactly right...maybe the caps are the wrong size so they won't fit in the yoke all the way.
Is this on a 1/2 ton? S44 joints?

Oh btw when I did mine I had to tap it in w/ a rubber hammer...it was a nice snug fit but once in place it makes contact all the way around and the ends of the caps for the needle bearings sit inside the tabs on the outside of the yoke (if you have those).
 
I had a driveshaft fall out because I didn't put lock washers on when I re-installed it.
 
You need to inspect the yoke really well also. There is no telling how many joints have came apart on that one yoke over the years. Sometimes they move around over time and breakage. This allows the yoke to distort and not be perfectly round where the cap seats. Once they oval out it's only a matter of time before the ujoint moves around and comes apart. If that's the case just replace the yoke with a new one.
 
I don't think straps use lock washers, but it's been a long time since I dealt with those. The u-bolts use lock washers.
 
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