Hey guys. Im pretty handy under the hood, but new to the Ujoints. Every one I talk to says this should be an easy do-it-yourself job. Local shop says they can do it for about $100. Shoudl I just take it in or attempt it myself? ANY information would be helpful!
Easy, do it yourself. Just don't tighten them too much. I would guess 10-20 ftlbs, and you are done. Swap them out with new joints from autozone, or pepboys, or etc for $30 and "git er done". Try to get some with grease zerts so you can grease them periodically. Otherwise, install and drive the hell out of em.
the last time I changed a set the car was sitting in the middle of the drive, nothing special for tools, and no problems on down the road. if youve got the time, do it yourself.
U-joint The hardest part is pressing in and out the bearing caps. If you have a vice and a couple well placed soccets, this is a real easy job. you will need one soccet slightly smaller than one of the caps and one soccet larger. open the vice and put the small one in the center of one cap. (This will drive the cap into the center of your axle.) the other you will put on the opposite side. (This one gives your opposite cap a place to go.) Then just start closing the vice until the opposite cap is out. Now repeat this step and press out the other side. If you don't have a vice, I'm sure you can pick one up for less than 100 bucks. You will be money ahead and have a pretty new vice. I have actually done this with a "C" clamp also. In working on cars this is in the basics catagory, with plugs and wires..
Just a hammer and a couple of sockets work well. Do it yourself. Support the drive shaft yoke with the open side of a socket that is about the same size as the yoke rings. You take another socket the same size as the bearing caps (deep impact sockets work best) and drive the joint down into the open socket to get the bearing cap off, then flip it over and drive it back till the other bearing cap comes off, then pull the housing out through the middle. When putting the new one on, put alot of heavy grease in the bearings caps to keep all those needle bearings in place. Place the center piece in the middle, push it up and put on a bearing cap, beat it all the way down till it sticks out the other side, install the retainer, then flip it over, put on the other cap and drive it home. Install the other retainer.
the zert fittings go towards the drive shaft. very simple job... i let my machina' shoppy do it...$55...frank...
One thing that has been argued on this site, is to mark which yoke "arms" are where before you take the joint out, and put it back together the same way. In other words, don't rotate the shaft 180* to the yoke before putting it back together. I didn't do this, thinking it the whole "phase" argument was BS, but I later noticed much wobble and vibration at high speeds (above 50mph) and when I took the shaft back off and rotated it 180, the vibration went away So, in my experience, there really is an "in-phase" way to install the drive shaft. Others have better balanced shafts and it makes no difference. Either way, it takes no effort to marks-alot the shaft and yoke and put them back together the same way, just in case... Despite the long ranting in my response, very easy job. Takes 10 minutes with only a 1/2" wrench. AND the book says 8-15 ft/lbs. Do Not Overtighten, or it will bind your bearings. Last thing. Don't let the caps on the joints fall off, you will never get all the little bearings (look like small straight pins, maybe as big around as paperclip, and 3/4" long) back in there, and will be better off buying a new joint if you drop them. Duct tape the caps on while handling them if you have to. I sometimes tape the two on opposite sides while installing the first two. Just some warnings of the only things that could go wrong, but seldom do. Good luck.
on the performance end, if you get a joint with the grease fitting in it, install the joint so the fitting hole is compressed by engine torque. ie looking from the front of the car with the output shaft loop at 9 oclock, the fitting at 10:30 and the shaft loop at 12 oclock. otherwise with sticky tires and some hp you can actually cause the u joint to fail
Although it certainly wouldnt hurt to do this, I have never marked a drive shaft my entire gear wrenching life (for 38 years) and never had a problem. I guess I'm one of the ones that call this .
I appriciate all of your responces... Why did I know you all were going to tell me to do it myself... probably because every time I come on here with a question, the answer always is do it yourself. Its cool though because you give good information and pretty much walk through it step by step and give me all the information I need. Thanks again!!!
Mavaholic, the "phase" has been argued many times, and I still think it is BS...BUT, maybe by coincidence, maybe I didn't tighten the nuts as tight, I don't know, but when I rotated 180 degrees, my wobbly vibration went away. And it was horrible, it was a clear night and day. I guess I might have put one of the joints on off-center (even though they have grooves to center them) or someting to give me the wobble, and then fixed it on accident when I rotated it...
I know, I'm just giving ya a hard time. I have heard that many times, I just havent run into it. Like I said, It dont hurt to do it.
I think these have been touched on, but they are worth repeating... Don't overtighten! Don't overtighten! VERY IMPORTANT! Use a joint without a zerk if you can. They are stronger, period. Dave
