Well i have never had so much trouble changing ujoints except on these Toyotas. Now that the Special Service Tools seem to be a thing of the past . I thought I would be home free with a special tool.

Now getting them out is a pain but not all that bad . Pressing them back in I have a problem because the flange and the drive shaft are not flat it starts to go cattywompus and starts digging in at which point i stop. So the real problem is to keep the parts parallel with the support of the press.

I have tried shims but they seem to pop out at the wrong time.

If anybody has any good ideas i would be glad to hear them.

Thanks in advance.

I am working with a 50 ton press and a nice sized vice

 

Getting them out is usually all I need the press for. To get them back in, I just tap them into place with a small hammer.

That being said, I use a thin shim to level mine out on the press when I'm pressing out the old u-joint. I usually clamp the shim in place with a large C-clamp so that it doesn't slip out of place.

 

I have tried the tapping of the small hammer .

Seems no matter how careful i am I always manage to have one needle bearing fall over.. Then end up taking that half apart again.

At this point i am ready to just buy a new drive shaft and be done with it.

 

You shouldn't start tapping until you have the shaft of the ujoint inserted between the needle bearings at least part ways. That will make sure the needle bearings stay put. I also aways keep the cup with the needle bearings pointed upward (I leave it sitting on my workbench) until its pretty much fully installed. I bring the driveshaft down to it instead of bringing it to the driveshaft (if that makes sense). The less you move it around, the less chance you have of knocking any needles out of place.

 

A little grease will help hold / stick the bearings to the cap. And face it, you need grease in there anyways.

 

I think all the ones I ever replaced (all I ever use are the greasable ones) came slightly pre-greased I assume for that purpose and probably for rust protection during it's shelf life.

 

Gob some grease in the caps to keep them in place, then just slowley tap them, in while moving it back in forth feeling for smoothness...

I had no problems doing my u-joints, bearly took me anytime at all