Drive shaft universal joints

[Gholmes]

Evening all, I am currently rebuilding the rear suspension of my Stag, I was going to take apart the rear drive shafts, check them and then reassemble with any new bearings if required, the problem I have is that one drive shaft has the UV joint held in with circlips and the other looks to have had the UV joint secured with a pressed cap? obviously one has been changed from the original my question is can the pressed caps be removed to enable the removal of the 'spider' part? Another thing is how do you check to see if they acually need replacing, my car has been laid up for many years so I was going to replace them as a matter of course while they are off the car, but if they can be checked and left alone then I would rather do that.

Thanks
Garry

[PhilB]

To do the bearings you need a big engineering press - read this months Practical Classic mag out today for article on refurbing Big Triumph drive shafts.
To get assessed find a local prop shaft company - Up here my local one trades as North West Propshafts - do a search for a local one to you - they would do a check and maybe refurb.
Some UJ's are held by circlip some are peined over,
3 years ago I got a pair of UJ's (peined over) replaced for around £80 including the UJ's - prob cost a bit more now esp down there

[MandM]

read this about bearing fitting, http://socforum.com/forum/attachment...1&d=1421519836
it's in the technical section.

[TR5convalescent]

Unless you have good reason to suspect your UJs (a history of noises before you started restoring) I'd be inclined to leave them alone and see how they go. Visually, if the circlips haven't been moving around ( they leave marks if they do) and the joint doesn't have unwanted movement, they are probably OK.

If you do replace them, spend a bit more money and get decent replacements. Most of the people I know who replace these on old Triumphs end up replacing the same joints over and over and, eventually needing new shafts because the yokes get stretched. I am sure that there will be some good advice about what brand of UJ actually does its job.

[Mike Stevens]

If the UJs have 'full and free movement', I'd be tempted to leave them alone, especially if they have grease nipples. Some do. It is important to check for stiffness as well as play. In the UJs that is.

Cheers,
Mike.

[richardthestag]

staked in "non serviceable" UJs can be fixed

http://rockforddriveline.com/replacem.htm

no link etc but proves it can be done

[Mike Stevens]

My neighbour has a set of tools for changing the staked joints. Although he says it can be done, I'm not sure he's too keen.

Luckily, after 42 years of big saloon and Stag ownership, I have quite a selection of old shafts and hubs, mostly replaceable UJ types!

Cheers,
Mike.