I bought ujoints and am going to replace them. Whats the easiest way to do it. I noticed my car has been shaking alot lately around 70mph and up. i hope this will get rid of it. any how tos would be great thanks

 

factory joints are held in with wax that is injected into the yoke at the factory, a propane torch will be enough heat to make the wax "snake" out of the crevices, you will see a "***" on each cap end, heat it and it will come. Once all of the wax is out, press out the caps and install the new joints, the new ones will have "C" clips that need to go on the inside of the yoke, if you have a steel shaft, outside if you have an aluminum one.

 

FYI
These caps can fly off and nail you in the face if you are in their path when/if they pop off.

 

Yea, and the smell of the burnt grease once the cap pops off WILL make you wretch like you never have before in your entire life. I have never experienced anything like it.
Have fun

 

Wheels, tires?

JamesC

 

I just replaced the idler arm to eliminate my 65+ mph vibes. Also got an alignment with it.

Ujoints sounds messy. Idler arm is $30 and three bolts, if you want to give it a shot before tearing into the ujoint and that sweet smelling grease .

 

mine have the c clips. but i can tell there old and have been on there a while. I took off the clips and still can't get the caps off. any suggestions?

 

bigger hammer. You need to hammer on the caps, drive the whole u-joint in, then remove the cap and do the same for the other side. Then it'll fall out.

Hammer on a socket to put the force just on the cap.

 

second time taking it out from faling the first time. Now i noticed that there are pin wholes one on each side. its like a white clear color. Looks to me like these are the original. Is this the wax everyones talking about. where do i want to focus the heat on the caps? I thought they were aftermarket without the wax because of the clips but i guess they clipped them too.

 

the "wax" is nylon, and it should be pink.
Try to heat up near the nylon hole, not directly on the caps. I forget where exactly I heated it, you'll figure it out though. A propane torch worked great for me. Do this outside, and when it goes BANG, just walk away. Let the fumes air out.

 

Yeah, they put them together with the clips, then injection-molded the plastic (not wax) in that groove in there.

You just gotta heat THE WHOLE THING up. Then use the socket/BFH method. I use an old digustified 5/8" socket, and an old ball bearing, it's like an axle bearing or something (not from one of these cars...), maybe it's a Muncie or T-10 clutch gear bearing, as the "receiver".

 

Whats the "BANG" that occurs. when you heat the wax does it pop the caps off. whats the purpose of this wax, and my car has about 140,000 miles on it. my friend says i shouldn't replace them and that i could be something else. but i say even if that isn't the vibration. It wouldn't help. Right?

 

It wouldn't hurt. I mean

 

It's not wax, it's plastic.

The purpose of it is to retain the caps.

Never heard of caps flying off. That's some pretty funny stuff there. But then, I've only been changing them out for 30 some-odd years so far, probably haven't changed more than a couple hundred of them, so who knows.

Changing them will only help, if they're what's causing the vibe.

Is this vibe at wheel speed, or is it at drive shaft speed? That's STEP 1 in vibe troubleshooting: divide the rotating parts in half, and zero in on the culprit. Don't just start randomly changing out parts, unless you just like changing parts. You can potentially change ALOT of parts and not fix a vibe.

 

the BANG is when you heat up enough of the nylon, and the last bit comes out. It's a little scary if you've never done it before. Then the smell starts. I've never wretched so hard in my entire life. And i'm a university student

and yea, might want to be sure it's not just a few wheel weights that fell off.

 

not sure how to divide the drive speed and the wheel speed. could you expalin it in better detail if possible. all that i can tell you is when im driving it starts at about 65 and gets worse and worse as i increase in speed. maxed out at 115 it feels like the whole car is just one big constant vibe. i know i shouldn't max it out but i had to see if it ever stopped vibing. my two rear tires are like new the front are worn. Bearings have been replaced. At 65 and above if i grabe the stick shift i can feel it the worse through there. if i held my hand on it long it enough its so bad it could make it numb. I don't think its the tires because i can hear and tell a wheel vibe. ONly thing i can think of is the tranny is connected to the drive shaft and the drive shaft is causing it. IDK what do you guys think.

 

Wheel speed = how fast a wheel is turning

Drive line speed = how fast the drive shaft is turning

They're different by a factor of about 3 (whatever your rear gear ratio is)

If it's a wheel, it's like the wheel is hopping as you drive down the road.

If it's the drive shaft or transmission or rear end, it's usually more like a rumbling or buzzing or humming kind of thing.