Article Rebuilding the double-cardan front driveshaft joint

[JLDickmon]

here ya go..
took me about two hours

(plus I decided it'd make a good article AFTER I got it torn down and had forgotten to take pictures...)

 

[atk]

wanna do mine too....it needs some attention too....

 

[JLDickmon]

ok, you need a few tools for this..

U-joint press (there is no substitute for this here)
pipe-wrench pliers
air hammer & chisel bit (for removing stubborn caps)
mechanic's friend

 

[JLDickmon]

now Like I said when I opened this thread, I was just going to go ahead and do this, but then I thought, "this would make a good 'how-to"

after I already had the joint torn apart and had forgotten to take pictures

so we'll start here

you have three pieces to the assembly
the main shaft,
the double yoke
and the drive flange

clean everything within an inch of it's life, then clean it some more.

Dirt here is not your friend

 

[JLDickmon]

why the hammer & socket method of U-joint replacement does not work here..
In fact, this CV had been serviced by the previous owner, but they didn't (or couldn't) replace the inner joint

 

[JLDickmon]

once you get the joint broken down
(where the air hammer & pipe wrench pliers come in handy, removing stubborn caps)
inspect everything

look close and you'll see a crack in the inner bushing

and of course no one in town had the replacements, and I needed to get this shaft back to the trans shop in the morning for re-installation

more on this later

the seal you see is a retainer seal; It pops over the ball stud on the drive yoke

 

[JLDickmon]

you'll notice that the joint is too large to go in the yoke even with the caps removed, and yoke is too shallow to go in conventionally, it must be rolled in from the side

 

[JLDickmon]

normally I don't advocate sticking your fingers in a press..
can't really avoid it here, as you have to hold the new joint in the cap so the little needle bearings don't fall out.. it sucks when that happens

 

[JLDickmon]

drive the cap almost all the way through the yoke, slide the joint out, and install the cap on the other side, again using the joint to hold the needle bearings in

 

[JLDickmon]

get the joint fairly centered in the yoke

if you've lost a needle-bearing into the bottom of the cap, you'll know it right now
the caps wont be below the clip groove, and the seals won't be seated all the way