<VV> Removing U-joints

[Clark Hartzel]

John Mcmahon wrote about the difficulty of removing old U-joints.  You were
lucky, your clips came out!  I just did all 4 joints on a pair of dune buggy
axles and all 8 clips broke off, leaving more than half of the clip
remaining in the groove.  I eventually went over to my 12" abrasive cut-off
saw and cut the joints apart at each end near the grease seals.  Now that
the center section is gone you can pound or press the caps inward to remove
them and then pick the remaining clip pieces out of the grooves.  Be sure to
sand the rust out of the bores before trying to install the new joints.  I
smear the axle holes up with grease which makes insallation easier.  I have
a hydraulic press which makes installation easy but you can just pound the
caps in with a hammer if you are carefull and use a socket that is the same
O.D. as the cap.  Don't pound on the center of the cap as it isn't as strong
as the the outside dia.  Be sure when pounding on the caps that the needle
bearings don't fall out!  Murphy's law says you can never find all the
needles!
Clark Hartzel
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