[BlackRhino]

OK, so I thought I'd go ahead and post up my adventure in the world of u-joints. The driver side u-joint on the d30 was destroyed, all the caps were still there but the needle bearings in two of the caps had been shot. I took a few pictures as I went along, and I'll go ahead and share what I learned. Nothing that I could find (including numerous threads on the subject here) could help me get the joint out. While this did take over 10 hours of work for me, once I figured out how to do everything the easy way it would have taken me less than 2 hours, and a lot less if everything wasn't so rusted together. Anyways, here goes.


Here's what it looked like before:

Not so good.


Jack up the Jeep, and support it with at least two jack stands. I used one under the frame behind the spring, and one on the front bumper. I used the hydraulic jack to support the axle only.

First thing was to remove the caliper. It's just two bolts holding it on. Pretty easy. Next was the rotor. Well, it was completely frozen to the hub. After banging on it for an hour I figured out a better way to do it. Grab a brake pad (I had an extra one, but you can just take one out of the caliper) and place it against the back side of the rotor as in my picture below. Then take the two bolts that held in the caliper and put them in the original holes, tighten them until they hit the brake pad. Tighten them pretty good. If that doesn't pop the rotor off, then loosen them, rotate the rotor, tighten, and repeat. After a few times of this all it took was a slight tap with a hammer and the thing came right off.




Now to get the hub and axle shaft out. Follow what TombRaider outlined here in post #2. This guide is in the FAQ in the stickies section.

You can see how bad the joint is.



Once you have the hub and shaft out, the u-joint needs removed. I tried a few different ways of getting it out, including hammering on it with a socket. I went and rented a ball-joint press from Autozone (free rentals!) but still couldn't get it out. The caps were absolutely frozen in place, and it was hard to get the leverage needed for the press since the axle shaft can't lay flat on the ground. So, I decided to try something different. I took a 4" angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and cut the joint out, separating the hub side of the shaft from the rest. This made it much easier.

Once I had done this, I could lay the shaft flat on the ground with the press, and the press would only be trying to push out one cap at a time instead of two.

I tightened the press like shown, using a ratchet with a 7/8" socket and a cheater bar. After getting it as tight as I could by hand, I gave the yolk a good whack with a hammer, and the cap popped right out. Rinse and repeat.



Yay, finally out!




Now the new joint just needs to be put in. This is not hard at all. Just follow the guide here on how to install it, it's about halfway down the page. Take the caps off of the new joint being careful not to spill out the needle bearings. Put some grease in each cap, then install the joint. I used a dead blow hammer and it went in easily, took about 5 minutes. Now just reinstall the axle shaft, making sure to put the rotor shield back in the right way (I had to redo this twice, first time I forgot to put it back on, second time I put it on backwards). Bolt in the hub, slide on the rotor, bolt on the caliper (make sure to put the brake pad back in!), and put your wheel back on. And you're done!


If the mods approve, it would be nice if this could be added to the FAQ!

[bigsquat]

did u put greasable joints back in? what about anti sieze on the hubs and such?

[BlackRhino]

Yeah, I used a greaseable joint. I didn't put anti-seize on the hub or rotor, but it probably would have been a good idea. I didn't have any and I just wanted to get the thing back together asap, as it's my daily driver.

[twomanyjeeps]

I had run into this problem before too, however, the joint was able to come out with some hammering. For the break, I took a map gas torch and just put it on the rotors since I know I would be replacing them, after about 30 seconds I heard a pop like that on a cap for a jelly jar and then some more light hammering got them off.

[BlackRhino]

I thought about using a map torch, but I didn't want to risk torching the wheel bearing. I also wanted to keep the rotor since it was still in good condition.

[mylittlecj5]

last time I tried to change a blown front U-Joint, I snapped the screw on my 50 year old 100 lb. bench vice. never did get the joint out of the shaft. Had to buy a replacement innner and outer shaft instead.

Moral: never try to compete in a mud bog race with a blown front U-joint. Tends to break things more than they are...

[YJames90]

I ended up hammering the yoke too hard and made it too narrow for all four clips to be installed. I tac welded in the fourth cap.

[BlackRhino]

^^I was afraid that was going to happen with how hard I was hitting the joint initially. Luckily I didn't squish it enough to prevent the clips from going in.

[GRN_BEAST95]

i just changed my u joint. i did the same thing to getr the caps off u did but i attached a impact gun to the end to help it go by a little faster.

[ctm]

Originally Posted by jamesx2

I ended up hammering the yoke too hard and made it too narrow for all four clips to be installed. I tac welded in the fourth cap.

If that happens you can use this tip from JYG. If your yoke ears are bent in you can use a fine thread bolt as a spreader, see his post about 1/2 way down the page:

http://forums.off-road.com/jeep-short-wheelbase/226601-need-cj-spindle-nut-socket-3.html

I did this on my CJ dana 30, worked great. was able to get the clips on.

[YJames90]

Thanks. I will try to decipher this in the morning when Im more awake,, insert part A to part B bla bla bla,
Pictures would be nice too

[mudmobeeler]

We have a U-Joint press like that at work. We use our 3/8s impacts on everything but every time I have tried to use it on the u-joint press I have to use my 1/2 inch impact to break the caps loose from the driveshafts or axles.

[RANGER_DANGER]

Originally Posted by jamesx2

I ended up hammering the yoke too hard and made it too narrow for all four clips to be installed. I tac welded in the fourth cap.

Horrible idea to tac weld the cap in. Just wondering, how long have you had it set up like that? I did the same thing to an old ranger and 2 weeks later I looked and there was no cap on the U joint, just the inner part and had to tear it all down again. Maybe a YJ is different but I know it didn't work for me and i'd never do that again.

[pat8942]

Take the hub off and you won't have to worry about ruining the bearing.

Originally Posted by BlackRhino

I thought about using a map torch, but I didn't want to risk torching the wheel bearing. I also wanted to keep the rotor since it was still in good condition.

[Terrible2]

I ended up spending 10 hours or so changing my u joint this weekend. the years of my inner axle shaft yoke got bent either from PO or the guy hammering it out. I ended up prying it back straight, and prying the other side a little more so that my caps could go in. Also during the prying I got some metal i had to file off the inside of the yoke holes. Ended up filing so much the caps almost simply slid in.

Hopefully the C clips will stay in place and the yoke wasnt weakened too much by the prying. any comments? Oh the caps dont slide in so much now after I pryed it a little more the second time. It seems like a tight fit so far.