I'm trying to get these damn stock U-Joints out of my steel driveshaft. They are the factory nylon injected type. My service manual says to use a tool and a press....well I dont have either of those so I referred to some of the alternative methods here on the site.

I've tried everything I could find. I torched it and melted out some of the nylon, picked out all the nylon witha razor blade and screwdriver, pulled out that little yellow ring, cut off the metal rings that are on the trunnion toward the middle of the u-joint. I've put it in my vice to try and press it out, I tried making a tool out of wood kinda like the tool mentioned in the book, I've pounded on it with a hammer, pounded on it with an even bigger hammer, pounded on it some more, and the little ****er wont budge. I've spent about 5 hours on one U-Joint, and I havent even taken a look at the front one, which i'm sure is an even bigger pain in the *** because it has the slip yoke attached to it.

Should I just take it to a shop? I need this car back on the road by tomorrow morning. All I saw were posts about "How EASY u joints are" so I never dreamed my car would be down this long.

 

With my first one I just took the shaft to the shop and they got the old joints out and I just tipped the guy.With the last one I just sat with the torch on it for awhile and it finally came out.

 

What do you mean it "came out"? Did it just fall out? Or did you pound on it after heating it up?

 

usually, adding heat until all of the nylon expand out like a snake is all it takes. you don't have to pick any out usually.

if all you have is a vise, you'll need some creative work here to make it happen. I don't know which one you are changing (or both), but it helps to have a friend or even a work horse.

the best way to take out the back one (no yoke) will be to warm it up, and place the 'open' side of the u joint on top of the vise, with the jaws opened so the cross bars rest on top. with someone holding the driveshaft, use a large socket that fits over the cap of the u-joint (but close diameter to the yoke end on the driveshaft), you can hit down on the socket. this will drive the cap out of the shaft yoke, and into the socket. this places all the force on moving the cap, and not bending anything. flip the driveshaft over and repeat for the other cap. don't be afraid to keep applying a little heat (key word LITTLE), don't melt the driveshaft.(no cherry red, just a little warmth)

the yoke end you can do the same thing, but you need to do it twice. once to get the yoke off the shaft, and once to get the joint out of the yoke.

putting things together, now is the time to clean out all the crappy nylon. Line up one cap in the drive shaft and press it in using the vise as a sideways press. gently, and only enough to seat the cap. if it doesn't want to move, check everything again, but it shouldn't take much force. slide the u-joint cross in at this point, you will have to figure out if you can slide the cross in if the cap is in too far, it won't go in. if its too far, just tap the cap back out.

then comes the tricky part. You can continue to press the cap all the way in, and when you install the other cap, slide the cross over in between the two caps, to line up the needle bearings. the whole time you press it together, keep this in mind, the needles can fall and jam up the whole assembly. have no fear of anything unless you hear a crunch, or lose the needles, gently is the right word here, and patience.

good luck with it. having a friend take the weight off the driveshaft is the key.

 

Sorry, it was pounded out fairly easy after I heated it up and the nylon "snaked" out.I would bet you still have some nylon in there.I thought mine was out but kept heating and it pushed more out.

 

Aha! I finally got it. I was heating up the wrong area. I got the nylon to ooze out, two of the 6 caps came out halfway on there own. On the other 4 I put the driveshaft on the floor, sat on top of it and put the bottom ear on a 1-1/4 socket and pounded the top cap with a ball peen hammer. Fell right out. Flipped it over, pounded the other cap back in, then back out the other side. U joint dropped on the floor.

Thanks guys!

Any chance of me damaging the ears of the driveshaft while I was pounding on it?

 

Doh, another issue. I was installed the U joints, and I damaged the rollers inside one of the caps. Okay, no big deal, i'll just go pick up another one. This is what I get, its completely different than the other new ones I had. There is no place to clip on any C Clips, and it comes with this weirdo other kind of clips.

Did I get the wrong part??

http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/3686/p60600131hz.jpg

[edit] Okay, yeah.....its the wrong part. Guess i'm going back to the store!

 

Those clips go in the same place as the c-clips and work the same way. They fit into the same groove the nylon was in. By the way, I've removed these from 4 drive shafts now. On the next to the last one (my 86 IROC) while I was heating up the caps/nylon with my propane torch I had a small (grease??) explosion that blew the cap about half way out of the yoke and peppered my face with pieces hot grease and nylon. I was lucky I had some glasses on and didn't get any in my eyes. WOW!! What a surprise!! Wear safety glasses when doing this.

 

That happened to me. I didnt get peppered, but it sure gave me a jump. Agreed, be careful.