U-joint question

[wasted wages]

I pulled the rear driveshaft out of my dually tonight to change the rear u-joint.

The factory joint doesn't have snap ring clips on the yokes,,,,the grooves are cut in the yokes,,but no clips...The new joint has clips in the box...

There are a couple of little plastic looking pins sticking thru the sides of the yokes next to the caps....do I need to heat them and melt them out ??

I tried to drive the caps out with a socket and 2 lb sledge but they wouldn't budge,,,,am I missing something or do I need to press them out ????

 

[jimbob91]

Take a blow torch....or a small bottle torch, heat up the joint until you see the plastic thingy come out of the hole (the heat forces it out in a 'string').

Proceed as with a normal U-joint.

 

[wasted wages]

Is the plastic injected into a groove or something in the cap from the factory?? must be some tough stuff.......

 

[daleearnhardt01]

Yep, heat it up and watch out when it decides to come flying out of the yoke, that stuff is hot!

 

[1979jimmy350]

you must have s44 ujoints then, the plastic is injected through the holes you see the plastic nubs sticking out through, if you have a shop press you will have no problem breaking the cap loose, i have done it with a arbor press before. The plastic is actually a little less stronger on push out then the snap ring type, but then most push out failures see the weld yoke breaking. Its a good method for consistent ujoint assembly. I have assembled more plastic inject shafts than i want to remember

 

[wasted wages]

Thanks guys,,,never seen that before..

and the new joint has a grease zerk!!!!

65K on the factory joints and have already replace 2 in the drive line...no grease fittings in the factory shaft

 

[wasted wages]

worked out just like jimbo stated...heated it up till the plastic oozed out and it came right apart....

the OEM caps and yokes have a groove cut in them that the factory injects the plastic into,,, retaining the caps...weird.....

Thanks guy's !!!