WB9YZU
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Madison, WI
Well, it finally happened to me. I'm 150 miles into driving home from a great day of wheeling and "Bang" and "Knock...knock... knock". So I pull over and find that one of the caps for the passenger side wheel joint is missing. The knocking sound is the u-joint hitting the bolt head on the knuckle. So I get out some zip ties and make a big bundle under the stub axle yoke to center the inner shaft and finish driving home.
I examine the stub shaft and find that there is nothing wrong with the fitment on the holes and the ears are true. However, when I replaced the joint, I did notice that the caps went in pretty easy. Easy in=easy out. Hmmm...
I remember quite a few folks told me that they tack weld on their wheel joint caps, so this is not a new idea by any means, but it is cheaper than replacing your axle shafts so you can have "Full Circle" Clips.
So here's the picture:
As you can see, I tack welded the caps to the ears. I did that for all 4 caps.
The caps still have on the OEM style retainers on the inside, but now have a little extra bit of protection to keep them from spinning off the clips and getting spit out. If you need to replace the U-Joint again, simply grind off the weld, replace the U-Joint, then weld 'em back up again.
HTH somebody!
I examine the stub shaft and find that there is nothing wrong with the fitment on the holes and the ears are true. However, when I replaced the joint, I did notice that the caps went in pretty easy. Easy in=easy out. Hmmm...
I remember quite a few folks told me that they tack weld on their wheel joint caps, so this is not a new idea by any means, but it is cheaper than replacing your axle shafts so you can have "Full Circle" Clips.
So here's the picture:
As you can see, I tack welded the caps to the ears. I did that for all 4 caps.
The caps still have on the OEM style retainers on the inside, but now have a little extra bit of protection to keep them from spinning off the clips and getting spit out. If you need to replace the U-Joint again, simply grind off the weld, replace the U-Joint, then weld 'em back up again.
HTH somebody!