Double CV Driveshaft Disassembly

[79'K5]

Im tryin to figure out how to get the front driveshaft disassembled. Its got the flat ring plate that bolts to the t-case with the double CV portion following that and then the rest of the straight shaft going to the front diff.

They are "Spicer"-type U-joints with the clip on the inside of the Ujoint rather than outside the caps, but i cannot seem to find these clips. it should be pretty obvious i would think but i cannot find them.

im half tempted to stick the thing in out 12-ton press and see if it moves....


and ideas???

 

[rcamacho]

Ether inside clips or nylon injected into the ring lands. If the latter than heat them up and melt out the nylon before pressing.

 

[79'K5]

Ether inside clips or nylon injected into the ring lands. If the latter than heat them up and melt out the nylon before pressing.

Thats gotta be it. Theres little knobs on each side of every u-joint where the cap is pressed in. I hammered on one of them and it crushed very easily which i thought was weird. It was some kind of blue plastic....

Thanks! I'll work on it tomorrow.

 

[cegusman]

yep thats them. Just use a small propane torch. wear eye protection, the hot melting plastic sometimes likes to shoot out.

 

[79'K5]

Worked like a Champ! Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Fordum]

I have a friend who runs a machine shop that does a lot of driveshaft work. He has a balancer and the whole works.

He made a lot of money off those injected U-Joints for a few years. It seems that since the plastic was holding the joints together, GM got a little sloppy with the machining and/or casting of the yokes.
They would assemble them in a jig that centered the caps inline with the shaft and then inject the plastic.
But, when you replaced them, you had to use the inside clips. That was when the fun started.
Often the caps would not be centered when the clips were put in place. In other words, the machined out spaces for the clips were not right.
So after you put in the new joints, you wound up with a vibration that would not go away.
Balancing would not work, since the joints were not aligned.

Some folks were able to grind off a little inside and shift the yoke over. They usually peened the other side to tighten up the slack.
But most folks just came to his shop and let him replace the yoke and balance the shaft.
That has probably been corrected these days, but if you have an older shaft, you might watch out to see if the yoke comes up center after you put in the clips.