Universal Joint Replacement tips

[VX L67 Getrag]

It's becoming less & less common on the generic family sedan to have uni joints, but back in the day it used to cause me no end of grief getting them out without damaging the yoke & then pressing them back in without damaging the new joint.

So it's probably at best once every couple of years that I get a job that needs them replacing, but on the BA falcons the centre bearing tends to perish the rubber support & needs the uni joint separated to get it apart.

Thinking I will do the right thing & replace the uni while it's apart it's caused me no end of grief, using all the normal manners to separate it all then clean it all up & give it a little whack to make sure the yoke is wide enough apart before fitting the new parts. The uni joint once it's in is too wide to fit the clips in the end. I managed to get it in to fit the clips but it's that tight that the uni joint doesn't swivel very easily, it's not notchy but tight & thinking it's probably not going to last that long with it being so tight.

Has anyone got any tips or tricks to use when replacing uni joints or had any issue with falcon uni joints, I did check & there the same part number exactly at repco & burson & throughout the year ranges 2002-2009.

[immortality]

I haven't done one in years. A work mate of mine was an artist with these so I had him do em for me. Did the whole job using a bench vice in about 15 minutes if memory serves me correctly. Definitely a 2 man job though.

I do get the feeling though that he gave the yoke and the drive shaft a love tap with with a soft face mallet so the joints would relax after been in a press/vice. We always got our uni-joints with a grease nipple, they last a lot longer if you can grease them. Generally speaking though these were only available from engineering/industrial suppliers rather than automotive outlets.

[delcowizzid]

done many a staked in cortina one on the side of the road with a hammer and socket and a screwdriver the memorys poor cortina owners LOL

[VX L67 Getrag]

LOL yeah there's not many around anymore!

Yeah I do most of the work in a vice too & yeah give them a love tap in corner of yoke to normally free them up after all together, but still seems too tight & yeah these have a grease nipple too.

[vlad01]

I have done a few with just hammer and sockets but it sux and very fiddly. I just used a Duggan's balancing to do my last one. I don't know how but they never chipped the paint on any of my pieces so they must be great at it.

[bmak]

I do get the feeling though that he gave the yoke and the drive shaft a love tap with with a soft face mallet so the joints would relax after been in a press/vice.

This is what I've always done on all sides to free them after assembly

[Holden202T]

done many a staked in cortina one on the side of the road with a hammer and socket and a screwdriver the memorys poor cortina owners LOL

lol I know exactly how you feel, 60kms from home on a Friday and the uni failed on the old holden .... of course I was wearing business clothes!

mate was just in front of me so got him to come back and took me to auto parts shops, just as I got the tailshaft out it started to piss down rain, was the quickest side of the road dodgy ass job I've ever done, but it worked hahaha

funnily enough since using commodore yokes with bigger unis I've never had one fail!

[immortality]

I've had a couple of really bad uni's in Commodores but never had one totally fail as such. Always the rear uni by the diff. Had em with all the roller elements missing and the cups partially cracked/broken etc

Come to think of it, the way I remember it, it was always cars equipped with manual transmissions. Always notice the clunk when coming on/off the throttle was a sure sign the uni was tired.

[vlad01]

I have had one issue with commodore ones. only one that showed signs of problems to come was my brothers VR 5L auto ute. Its front and rear unis were dry and bit tight but no play. I'd put it down to the dust and sand this thing was constantly belly scraping though. Rough as guts underneath. 302,000k it had.

All my manual shafts were fine except I have had bend CV retaining screws on manual more than auto.

[immortality]

I'm talking more about the early girl Commodores, fairly sure the V8 and the all the 2nd gen Commodores got the larger uni's so it would be less of an issue. ^^^^ that is why I always fitted new uni's with grease nipples.

I see it a lot at work too, all the old machines were covered in grease nipples and as long as they were greased occasionally they seemed to last forever. With the new modern machinery everything is fitted with sealed bearing which are greased for life. Bearing failures are more common now.