“Grinders and paint make me the welder I ain’t” Lol, love it, I have 2 girls too and 2 cats that NEED to know what I’m doing every second. I complain but wouldn’t trade it for the world. Thanks for the tips.
I had an old mechanic tell me to watch for the rustty red color of a brick! He taught me that when you have a piece of metal grinding together that has no lubrication it pulverize the iron and turns it back into Orr! Which is what it started out as in the beginning! Orr is the color of a clay red brick when it is extracted from old mother earth. I have wrenched on cars for thirty plus years and have seen and looked for this color to tell me I have pieces that are dry of lubrication and needs attention 😉
Not gonna lie, i hate when mechanics say "Im a professional mechanic" because often times they are complete idiots. Ive met some dumb "ASE Master mechanics" in my day
Love your style,, I have been a mechanic for about 50 years and back when I didn't have a press to push the cups out, I had to beat the cups out with a hammer. But other than that,, I replace the joint exactly like u do,, the grease in the cups have saved me many times. Harry lewis
Wow, I think this is the most helpful video I've found for just walking through the process of doing U-Joints. I've done plenty of these over the years, but I can see that some of your little tips are just pure gold! I've never heard of using the ATF before, but I'll certainly be picking up a quart of that as I work over my CJ-5. I'm just at the point where I'm putting axles shaft u-joints in, so this video is definitely getting a bookmark! Thanks!
Try 50 % Acetone & 50 % (synthetic) ATF to loosen any bolt, they contain the smallest Moly of penetrating fluid. Mix a table spoon together let it sit for 5 min, Acetone loosen the rust, Synthetic ATF lubercate the parts for disassembly..
The moral of the story... Shop managers, hire those just out of high school to do this job. Why? Because when I was in high school auto mechanics i did this a bunch of times and consider it a task along the level of changing plugs. Now move the clock forward 60 years. I have to change my U Joints in my truck. So ran across this video and thought a refresher was in order. It should be a no-brainer ($10 parts and free labor) but after watching this video, I'm thinking, "You know, I'll probably take this to a shop since the labor will probably cost $150. LOL!" Nope, probably not because I have more money now, just lazier. And how much did U-Joints cost back in those days before China... I think about $6 ea. Great video! Thanks!
Great video! I always remove my grease zerks before installation. It prevents accidentally breaking them off, plus it gives excess grease a place to go during installation.
Thanks for one of the best, informative, efficient, videos I've seen. I've never before learned so much in so short of time. You addressed EVERY STEP AND PROBLEMS ran accross. Thanks for all the tips. 1st joint - 5 hrs Watched video. 2nd joint - just over an hour including a shit and a snack!! 2000 ford f250 super duty crew 4 x 4 7.3 Thanks again.
Just put in U joints on a friends Ram 1500. Luckily I have access to the Auto Hobby Shop on base and used the press and dies. Once I finished, the u joint was really tight and didn't pivot as smooth as I liked. A friend of mine also working in the shop that day told me of a "little trick" about tapping on the caps just a bit to set the needle bearings. It worked and the joint would pivot nice and smoothly. Ever heard of this? Just like everyone else...put it out there, we'll watch!
Over the years of working in the industries, trucking and personal four wheeling I've learned that you should always stay with the same grease or if you switch then remove all the old grease. Different greases will attack each other and turn to a worthless light oil. Also, when installing u-joints, make sure you put the grease zerk so it is under compression when traveling forward. A hole in the u-joint where the zerk goes is a weak area. Enjoy your videos and humor. Keep up the good work!
wonderful show i have replaced many of these in cars and tks. some were easy some were horrible!!! any tips are helpful never ever to old to learn !!! safety safety first easy to loose eye thank you 74 years old but i love mechanic work !!!
I did this with the front shaft on my 90 Suburban. I took the ring off the yoke and removed the yoke completely from the shaft to get it all cleaned out inside. Thanks for the videos.
Excellent tips brother. Thanks for putting this video together. I'm done with hammering these in and out, borrowed a buddy's 6 ton HF press and it DOES make it so much easier.
Thanks, nice video. Haven't changed any universal joints in like 40 years. Last time was on a 70 ish Ford Mustang and it was easy as pie like the few before. Caps pressed out and in with just a few taps of my hammer. Working on my Kubota belly mower and these are so tight I was thinking I was going to mess up the yoke so I stopped, stepped back and slept on it, usually my best course of action. Anyway, picked up a few tips and will get'er done today.
Please put some more videos showing you working on the forklift - it would be great to see your troubleshooting skills on a machine which has a few issues in the real world and how you fixed them as most people always just stick to cars or motorbikes
How nice would a flight through that country be!!! Good instruction. Be like Brian, due diligence! Clean everything well! It will pay for itself on reassembly, don’t pound on those caps like they owe you money.
Good informative video, bud. I like and agree with using atf. I've been using dielectric, which works fine for high heat lubricant and rust prevention, but atf is way cheaper! Thanks
Great tips Brian. I like the plug you made. (No one will ever know). It's amazing how much footage it takes to get a video posted. If you have footage of the canyon trip I'm one vote for "post it". :)
Raised on a farm and we had 100 and some cows............ Always fixing something, never seen your "slick" tool you got to push them joints out. Thank you Brian. Have to look into getting one of them. Take care.
good video. old news for old hands like like allot of us, but the next best thing to a hard days work is watching someone else do it!!! You would be surprised how many young guys can't change a u-joint to save their lives. I like to take a small dremel wire wheel and clean the yoke and snap ring bores really well. do it right and you can almost install the caps by hand. start pouring the meat to the caps with a hammer and you'll end up knocking the needles out. 5 minutes of prep work will save you 30 minutes of curse words.
Not really accurate. There needs to be an interference fit. If the cups install too easily than the fit is incorrect. A hammer is fine if you know how to keep the needles from falling out. As simple as some extra grease...
I don't think he meant the caps just alling into the yoke. What I do after everything is apart is take a brake hone and run it in the yoke. With that I can lightly tap the caps in with a light ballpeen hammer.
Thanks Brian. Filling the caps with new grease is fine , but also chase out the shipping grease from within the joint and zerk fitting ,it looks like earwax. That stuff is really not grease , but some sort of goop the manufacturer puts in there to keep corrosion in check during packaging , shipping and storage.
Yessir! Just found that out. Installed a sealed u-joint and was super stiff, so had to pop it out and inspect, found out that the manufacturers grease isn't grease at all. I pushed out the crap, removed and cleaned the needles and caps and packed it with wheel bearing grease. Works perfectly now. I was wondering why their stuff was so terrible... makes sense now.
Thanks for the video, I was going to tackle it myself but will have to take it to a shop, did not know how involved it could be with the welding and all.
I never change my u joints like this anymore , it's much quicker to zip cut them from the inside and tap them through with a small hammer , the initial shock loosens them up and your not fighting or dragging rust through the hole . Another reason is trying to push through extremely seized u joints you can tweak or deform the yoke and you will not get the retaining clip back in if their internal type with out a spreader tool . I tap them back in with a small ballpein hammer much quicker than pressing them in . I've been doing this for years .
Your caption about the sensitivity of the human fingertip reminds me of what I read about a toyota factory master machinist---he would use his hands to feel and determine the quality of the machining of crankshafts.
Good video. Those ten buck U joints have ruined many a vacation and even caused drive shafts to drop out and pole vault vehicles into the air. It's great to be able to replace them yourself, and save lots of $$. Also so many original equipment joints do not have grease fittings, which ensures a failure.
Great video on U-joints. I wondered how those are done. I would like to see your tire video, I have done the ether trick with some success, it doesn't always work.
I've been replacing u-joints for years and I have to say I've approached them in many ways. In my youth it was a hammer and socket but now I use my homemade hydraulic press or my Astro ball joint tool I found on Amazon. I wish I could post photos here but I think you get my meaning... Thanks for sharing Brian and great work!
My Man! You are a true professional. Could I borrow your brain for about 2 years? I've got my eye on a diesel 3500 pick up that I would like too restore and I feel you've got a treasure trove of tips and tricks on doings things that most pros know, but wont tell a sole. Thanks for this vid and I look forward to more of your info vids.
Brian, I have always completely set up one side cap fully into the yoke so that when I tried to install the second cap, the span of the caps will be close enough together so that the u-joint will slide onto both sides at a time, negating any room for the needle bearings to slip out.
This was an awesome video. Nice to see someone take the pains to do the job right. Very well narrated as well. Good to see old fashioned pride in the work. I wouldn’t have admitted to the boog placement though. “Jus sayin.” 😂 Thanks for the great video. 👍👍👍
This is the BEST VIDEO I've seen on changing u-joints, I THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH SIR. Also the plug you made was FINE, HELL IF IT WORKS YOU'VE FIXED THE PROBLEM, WHO'S GOING TO KNOW, EXCEPT THE SLIP JOINT & YOU ?
Interesting how you use a giant clamp and impact.. lots of videos ive seen for a dana 44 axle, simply use a Big hammer and smack the ends at a angle and the caps pop out in a seconds
I learned that grease the needles with my finger from trial and error of just doing u joints on my own i knew that was a good idea escpecially now that i see you do the same.
Just for added piece of mind for the beginners. Always save the old clips just incase the new ones dont fit your specific application. And after installation of the clips you can use a flat screwdriver and tap them into the slot to be sure they are fully set.
Using the vice and socket, cross in one hole fit cap then try forcing the first cap all the way with the cross in that cap till the cross touches the other side of the vice(this means putting the first cap in further than it should be)put in the clip for that cap. next put the second cap on and with a socket send the whole cross and caps back till the first cap comes tight to the clip. Doing it that way makes it imposible for a needles to come out or tip as the cross holds it in place at all times. Resorting to a hammer especially for first cup may shed a needle even with grease in the hole, don't ask how i know.
Thanks mate. This was a very well detailed teaching on how to change out a u-joint. I'd not done one and this (I know) has already made the up-coming job SO much easier and faster. Thanks again :)
