Driveshafts

[Hettiherald]

Hiya all.
A couple of questions for you:
Do you really need the dust covers on the inboard uj's and if the uj caps spin in the housing, can you get oversize circlips to hold them tight like you can on the small chassis triumphs?
On another point, I have just tried sealing water leaks into the front footwells, what a palava!!!!!
Thanks in anticipation
Dave

[Stagdad]

Water leaks from where? heater or rainwatwer.
Cheers Steve

[flying farmer]

Oversize circlips would not solve the problem even if you could get them, it would just put an end load on the bearing cup.

The only realistic possibility of stopping them turning without replacing the shaft is to raise a lot of small pimples with a dot punch on the area where the cup sits, then fit using bearing adhesive. I have used this to stop wheel bearings turning on worn stub axles with some success.

Make sure your UJ's are good and that the centre cruciform section does not have ridges worn in it. I have replaced cheap uj's fitted by a previous owner in as little as 3000 miles

Neil

[Hettiherald]

Hi steve
Rainwater! Lots of it! It would appear that the seam in the top of the heater inlet ( just under the chrome trim) was the main culprit, along with the door seals.
In regards the uj, Neil, the uj's do look a bit iffy as in cheap, so i think i will replace rather than bodge .
Thanks
Dave

[davidf]

Do all Stags talk to each other, to think up what "opportunities" to present us with?

I was just about to post a question about UJ cups being loose in the housing.
I was investigating 2 symptoms - vibration from the drive-train around 70mph, and a slight clunk when setting off in the opposite direction to previous movement. I suspected a UJ, and found the inner one on one drive shaft has a tiny bit of slack in it. Actually, it feels quite smooth to move, although much too easy, but I did notice that the cups sometimes rotate in the drive flange side. I haven't stripped it yet (fitted an old spare drive shaft to the car for the moment), but I am wondering how I will know if there is wear in the yoke, of if the wear is in the o/d of the cups, or if they were just a cheap under-size part. The strange thing is, it is one of the UJ's that has a grease nipple, so it has been well greased, and certainly hasn't seized internally, so I don't know what started the movement of the cups in the yoke. From memory, changing the prop-shaft ones many years ago, I thought the cups should be an interference fit in the yoke. Is that correct? In which case, I wouldn't expect them to move unless the inner parts seized.

Any comments?

[jleyton]

I almost wish I had the problems that some of you guys have

As part of my rear end refurb, I've renewed some of the 1/2 shaft and prop shaft U/Js. Those damn cups have been bloody tight, both coming out and going in

Cheers

Julian

[davidf]

Hey Julian - tight ones are Ok - they stay where you put them!!

Will have to wait till I strip mine to see if there is visible wear somewhere, or if I need to get new UJ and see how tightly it fits. If the new one is loose, not sure what to do.