Snap-ringing 297/760 D30 u joints.....Paul S, FarmerMatt......

[TRNDRVR]

What does it entail to snap ring 297/760 u joints on my D30? I've been told that this has been done with great success. What are the part number/snap ring sizes? Search results are rather vague and confusing.
Any info would be appreciated and I thank you in advance.
Dan.

 

[Paul S]

If you have stock axles you'll have to grind the inner surface of the yoke a bit to make room for the snap rings, I think Jes did this. I have Warn axles so it wasn't necessary. I have the part number at work, I'll post it in the morning.
Paul

 

[Jes]

Ya, I did that mod but still shot a cap off.
That was only after repeated Atlas turns though. I used a hacksaw and a dremil tool to relieve the area for the snap ring and I used the snap ring as a guage.
On my current axles(since I ruined the last set, in 6 months!) I started to modify them for snap rings but got lazy and said "CRASH, burn these caps on!"
You can see in this picture where I cut. I made one cut inline with the ears and one across, then used the dremil to make a half moon shape at the base.

Jes

 

[TRNDRVR]

Thanks guys!!
I'll probably be seeing you down at JV.
Dan.

 

[Gary E]

ditto on the glueing the caps on, with them snapringed they will spin and once they start spinning its only a matter of time.

In my experience one spot is not enough, I have 4 spot welds on each cap.

You saw the abuse those full welded 260 joints took in the drivers challenge at moab, that was amazing

 

[FarmerMatt]

I took my spares down to a machine shop buddy & had him make a couple plundges with an end mill. Cost me a beer. With the stock shafts the ears will eventually wollow out & the caps will become looser & looser. That's what happened to my old shafts. I use them for spares now & assembled them with full snap rings & bearing retainer compound. The proper snap ring to use on the 760's is a metric ring to get the proper thickness, but is not easy to find in your local parts store. I used 1 1/8" rings on the last set of joints & they lasted 2 years untill I found that I crushed the needle bearings in one joint. The 1 1/8" rings worked fine. On a side note the warn shafts I'm running were just as tight disassembling the joints as they were when I installed them 2 years ago. I had to take them down to our hyd. press & it was like a freaking shot gun went off when they finally let loose. My bench vise wouldn't touch them.

Matt

 

[Paul S]

I can't fing the part number, but if you're coming down to JV I could bring some out for you (that probably doesn't help too much right now). I know they are 30mm, but as Matt said, the thickness is equally important, & it's not easy to find the right ones.
Paul

 

[Goatman]

The 1 1/8" rings work for many. Tom Woods recomends putting them together using Locktight, which fills any gaps between the cap and the yoke making it stronger and more resistant to turning. I also have a spare metric snap rings, but don't have the part number handy.

 

[TRNDRVR]

I can't fing the part number, but if you're coming down to JV I could bring some out for you (that probably doesn't help too much right now). I know they are 30mm, but as Matt said, the thickness is equally important, & it's not easy to find the right ones.
Paul

Paul,
If you could bring those, I would really appreciate it. I am definitely going to attend the Sierra Chapter JV run.
Thanks,
Dan.