What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

how do you guys without a shop work on your trucks?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

R

RESTORE89

1/2 ton status
Joined
Jan 31, 2001
Posts
548
Reaction score
0
Location
CHAS SC
man, every time i do something on my truck it takes just about every tool i own to accomplish it.
for example
tonight i picked up a new slip yoke and 2 dana spicer u-joints
pretty simple right???????
/forums/images/icons/frown.gif WRONG!!!!!!!!!!
get the old one out no prob
start to install the new joints in the yoke, and can not squeeze the caps in enough.
tried big c-clamps with a 3' pipe to tighten, and no good
try the vise, try the hydraulic jack under the axle, it just raised the truck
finally after i said enought is enough, i fabbed up a small hydraulic press from a 16" piece of I beam i use as an anvil, and verticals and a top made of 2x2x3/8 tube26" long and some 1x1x3/16 angle for corner gussets and stuck the 20 ton jack in there and a few spacers made from 1 bar, and presto after 2 hours of work it took 5 minutes to press in all the joints.
the good thing is i now have a very handy press for anything under 10"
but to change the joints i used welder torch porta band clamps vise hammers, and just about everything i own except the table saw and planer.
just venting, but it is satisfying knowing i did not have to take it somewhere to have it pressed, and if any of you guys say "all you needed to do was......." i am coming over to visit/forums/images/icons/smile.gif JK
 
I just take my drive shafts down to a drive line shop.
40.00 bucks to do the U-joints including parts.
Its not worth my time or hassle to do them myself. (unless I'm 80 miles from nowhere)
 
Got a one car garage full of stuff. K5 wouldn't fit inside anyway. All mods done in the driveway. The best way to
get a tan and bust my knuckles all in one.
JIm
 
yup, i hear ya.

we recently moved out of our house so now my storage area is my garage---it has outside 110v. i grind, weld, sawzall, sand etc. down there.
 
U-joints are a piece of cake. Just take a socket that is a bit smaller then the diameter of the u-joint cap, and take a good size hammer(I use a 5lb) and hammer it in. Works great. Have done 3 or 4 this way and am gonna do some this week. No way would I pay someone to do this. Your home made press sounds kool though, good idea.
 
tried the socket and a 3lb dead hit hammer, and beat it till i feared bodily damage, and i was about 1/2 the width of the clip short. i even considered grinding the clip to fit. swaped my u-joints a few weeks ago, with napa specials and did not have this much trouble. did it again cause of the new yoke. could it be the spicer joints are a little tighter??
 
I was able to do all of mine with a bench vice and Napa special joints... took me about 3 hours to do both driveshafts. Only trouble I had was on the last U-joint.... needle bearings got stuck the first time, and I actually broke them.... good thing I had extra caps.. second, third and fourth times, a single needle bearing on both sides kept slipping up to the head of hte cap, and prevented it from going down all the way./forums/images/icons/mad.gif I have NO idea why it kept do ing that. Finally won though! /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif
 
I put a few Spicer joints in a shaft a few weeks ago for a friend...DAMN. They were tight. It took about 30 minutes of beating with a 3 lb. hammer to get them in.
 
<font color=blue> that's what I do too but I never touch it when it's cold outside or there's snow around it ! No wonder I get nothing done from November till April !
 
I kick the wife's Windstar out of one side and take up the WHOLE garage with the Burb...good thing I installed one of those ladder doors for attic access and am now able to get both vehicles inside.

I'm like you, I use every tool I own, fab something on demand and sometimes borrow some of the neighbors tools, too!

BTW, I'm doing my joints soon and as a result of your post, I'm rethinking my strategy! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
I work in an old chicken house most of the time. Yes, its in the dirt, and yes, your floor kack will sink into it. It sucks, but it beats nothing, esp. when it's raining. I have 2 flourescent lights each with two 4' bulbs and 2 clamplights that I always kick and bust out the light bulbs. Sometimes I go to my grandpa's shop where there's concrete floors, walls, and decent lights. About the u-joints; I got a hand-me-down 40 ton hydraulic press for free that only needed an o-ring to work and it really eases the installation of u-joints, esp. factory axle u-joints. I have mushroomed many a socket with a sledge hammer trying to remove u-joints. I've put up to 12 tons of pressure on a u-joint before it pressed out! The only trouble with having a press is that I get to pull u-joint changing, tie-rod straightening, and other destruction duties from my friends, but I really don't mind.

Will
 
Wow, You guys seem to have alot of trouble doing u-joints. I've used the socket method and changed both joints in the rear driveline on my tailgate.Only took about 45 minutes from unbolting the drive shaft, to driving away again. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
Holy smokes thats insane. I just take a smaller socket and tap it in, in a circular pattern so that it doesnt bind and presto. Easy cheesy japaneesy./forums/images/icons/crazy.gif
 
No shop here.
I swapped in my 3/4 ton axles in the rain and in a gravel driveway by myself.
I just put on rain gear and coveralls over that.
I am going to work tomorrow so I can weld up the diff and shave that pig.
When I lived 10 minutes away from the shop it was cool.
I always had a place to work on my stuff.
 
The house we have now does not have a garage. Let me tell you changing a tranny/transfer case in the backyard in the rain really sucks.
It probably takes just as long to put all the tools away as to do the fix. Sigh
 
I recently changed all my ujoints and what I did was rent a ball joint press from the rental shop for 10 bucks and I did all five in no time, pressed them out, press them in. Nothings worse than smacking your hand with a hammer in the cold trying to get those old caps out. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif
 
I guess I am spoiled. I go to my dads shop.... 3 lifts, 2 tranny jacks, press, drill press, torches, MIG welder, eng hoist, brake lathe, every tool I have ever needed. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif He owns the shop, so I cant get kicked out by the boss. Well I can, but I never have been. /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif
 
you bastad,

that just isn't fair..I just moved and have no garage...living in a small little bungalow near the beach...I am hurting for a place to work on bigblue...now I work on it at my work when I have time....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom