Unlimited_Fun

Yesterday I got the last smidgen on the lower ball joint and pressed the upper one completely, all finish the ball joint pressing.

Then I moved on to the u-joints and was able to BFH them in to submission and got the old u-joints out.

But pressing the new ones in . . . equally as difficult as the ball joints. I don't have a big bench vise and the c-clamp isn't nearly gonna cut it.

I used the hydraulic jack and the frame of the truck and got some caps pressed, but even that won't get it all.

Besides taking them someone in a vehicle I don't have atm, any ideas? I need to finish this by tomorrow while the weather holds out.

karls10jk

Lightly sanding the inside of the yokes makes the caps slide in a little nicer if the old caps had any grooves worn into the yoke.


If you're pressing as hard as you can and the caps won't completely seat then you've probably got a needle that fell over. It doesn't take much and it will prevent you from finishing the project. If you continue to crank, it will break the cap and that's no fun either.

The new caps should pretty well slide in without issue. I'm at 130k miles and they move well.

14Sport

^This. That's what I used on my ujoints along with my impact gun.

ShutterBug

What did you use the shim for?

Unlimited_Fun

The impact wrench is doable, how did you hold the clamp in place? Stand on it? Like I said I don't have a bench vise, so other than the weight of my winch on a block, I have no way to hold the clamp and use the impact wrench.

I'll try to get that one cap back off and look inside and see what I can conjure with the clamp and impact wrench.


EDIT: Hey I realized I have some mighty chain and myriad of cables, and I could secure the clamp to the Hi-Lift jack mounted on the front of my rig. Then I could run the impact wrench on the clamp on the u-joints.

I think I'll try to back that one cap out and ensure the pins are all still upright.

14Sport

I just lay the clamp across the shaft and hand tighten to hold everything in place then put the impact to it. I did them right on the ground like you see in the picture. I just put my knee on the shaft to keep it from rotating. Doesn't require any force really to hold it since the clamp tightens against itself.

Unlimited_Fun

Ahh that makes sense. I'll have a go at it later today.

I think the next pita will be to back out the 2 opposing caps and make sure a pin isn't askew.

14Sport

Be very careful and take your time. It's doable.

Unlimited_Fun

The old adage "you can work hard, or you can work smart" applies to most everything. Same as "work with what you got" or go get what you need. I wrenched on it yesterday till I couldn't do any more. My hands were so tired that holding a fork at dinner looked ridiculous.

Unlimited_Fun

Ok so I broke one of the u-joints, the cap on the opposite side popped completely off leaving the bearing exposed. The auto parts store replaced it under warranty and I found a place around the corner that pressed both for $65, including extracting the broken cap shell. What the hell, I should have look at this solution to begin with.

So tomorrow it's in with the axles, on the wheel bearing and rotors and brakes and wheels . . . what a week.