Are U Joints supposed to do this?? *Pic included*

[90Pioneer]

I unbolted the u joint from my rear drive shaft today on my 96 XJ.The one in front of my 8.25 axle.

It ended up looking like this:

Is this normal??? I assume not. What would cause it to fail in such a way, and more importantly, how do I go about replacing it? And what u joint should I get to replace it?

 

[soopergoober]

Thats how a u joint looks when it's taken apart. Was there any play in the joint before you took the shaft off? If so, replace the joint - a 1310 spicer is a good replacement. If the joint was good, carefully clean, regrease, and restack the needle bearings in the caps and put it back together.

 

[jonzer12]

X2 I don't see anything broken in that picture. Although you should be carefull pulling caps so you don't lose the needle bearings.

 

[bigalpha]

If it were me, I'd just replace the joint while it's apart.

 

[90Pioneer]

Hiw do I get the joint out?

 

[CharlesS]

Spray captive U joint caps with penetrating oil, use a needle nose plier and small flat tip screw driver to remove the C clip from the groove in the yoke ears, get a C clamp and appropriate sized socket and place the driveshaft in a vice and use the C clamp and sockets to press the U joint caps from the ears of the ds yoke.
Reassemble in reverse order....

 

[Mad Steez]

Spray captive U joint caps with penetrating oil, use a needle nose plier and small flat tip screw driver to remove the C clip from the groove in the yoke ears, get a C clamp and appropriate sized socket and place the driveshaft in a vice and use the C clamp and sockets to press the U joint caps from the ears of the ds yoke.
Reassemble in reverse order....

if the C clamps are not doing the job try this http://www.flashoffroad.com/Maintenance/Ujoints/Ujoint.htm

just be careful not to mushroom anything

 

[CharlesS]

When trying to press out the U joint caps; apply small amounts of pressure with C clamp and smack the screw end of the C clamp to shock the caps into moving. DONOT continue to apply excessive pressure to the caps otherwise you will damage something.

 

[JJacobs]

The flashoffroad link is not the easiest way to do it by far. Open a vise far enough to put the ujoint across the jaws, but not so tight it keeps the driveshaft from moving down. Now smack down on the weld yoke end of the driveshaft, not the tube. The ujoint stays up in the vise, the driveshaft drops down. Clear as mud?

 

[kastein]

huh... I could swear that's the front driveshaft yoke, did you buy a jeep with an SYE already installed? If so, lucky!

As long as you have all the bearings (i.e. didn't drop any) you can simply apply brakleen till everything is clean and shiny, pack the bearings in vertically with new clean grease (dab your finger in it, then pick the bearings up with the grease), make sure there is no gap in the circle of bearings, then twist/push it carefully onto the u-joint trunnion again. If you discover any wear/brinelling/spalling etc on the trunnion, bearings, or cap when you degrease it, you should replace the joint.

 

[hubs97xj]

Dake No 1-1/2 press. :thumbup:

 

[90Pioneer]

huh... I could swear that's the front driveshaft yoke, did you buy a jeep with an SYE already installed? If so, lucky!

As long as you have all the bearings (i.e. didn't drop any) you can simply apply brakleen till everything is clean and shiny, pack the bearings in vertically with new clean grease (dab your finger in it, then pick the bearings up with the grease), make sure there is no gap in the circle of bearings, then twist/push it carefully onto the u-joint trunnion again. If you discover any wear/brinelling/spalling etc on the trunnion, bearings, or cap when you degrease it, you should replace the joint.

Actually I had the SYE installed by a shop about 3 years ago.

 

[keep0njeepin0n]

That's why I always wrap electrical tape around the ujoint caps...lesson learned when I was 17 in the parking lot of the first shop I worked at as a helper. I had taken it apart just like that and ended up with needle bearings everywhere! Then, some guy yelled "make sure the end caps don't come off and the needle bearings come out!" Yeah, too late there buddy!

Anyways, nothing looks abnormal in the pic. As cheap as ujoints are, I'd replace it anyways.

 

[kastein]

Actually I had the SYE installed by a shop about 3 years ago.

oh cool :thumbup:

I'd suggest putting tape on the cap too... but I have a strange feeling this resulted from one of the ujoint caps being rusted/encrusted/frozen onto the pinion yoke, so when he pulled the driveshaft back to remove it, the ujoint swiveled and one of the caps stayed in the yoke. Had this happen once when I had no spare ujoints on hand and damn did it ever suck searching for the two missing needle bearings for the better part of half an hour. Finally found them, cleaned everything up, and put it back together. That's how I learned to break one cap free using a prybar with my hand over the other cap/around the driveshaft, then switch off.