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What is this thing?

89 XJ 4.0 5spd

Now that I got the lift on, it's time to get all the U-joints changed (they are all worn). I got the front driveshaft out, marked all locations, ect. I was able to use my vice and press out all the caps and get all the old joints out. The rear portion of the front driveshaft is the double-cardon type. It was a little tricky getting both joints out.

The portion of the driveshaft that attaches the rearmost of the three joints to the transfer case connects to the driveshaft by slipping onto a shaft/pin that comes out of the driveshaft There is a spring in the shaft/pin, and the part has a ball inside with needle bearings that ride on the shaft/pin. Not the part that connects the two joints together, but the part that that bolts to the transfer case. This is the part I am having trouble with.

It came off with the rearmost U-joint. No biggie, I thought and continued to assemble the middle joint. The portion in question would not go back into the rubber sleeve and onto the pin it came from.. A few gentle taps with a hammer didnt help. It was greased on the inside, but I ran a little grease around the outside of the part that slides into the rubber sleeve. No Luck. I checked the inside of the ball area and found that about half of the needle bearings had come out!

This picture shows the front of the part in question.

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This shows the rear of the part in question.
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This is where the part in question attaches to the driveshaft. Note the lovely needle bearings on the
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What do I do now?

Carl

Reply to
Carl Saiyed
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I don't know the name of that part, but it is in the Parts Book, and is available. Take the double cardan with you to the parts store.

You can get a new one, and the needle bearings will be held in place with grease. Also, there is a ring made of sheet metal that goes around the outside of this part, use your peen to make three or four dimples in the sheet metal ring to hold it on.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Reply to
L.W.( ßill ) Hughes III

Thanks, Bill and Jeff. I got the new part.. $45.00

Got home, put it on, all the pins crashed to the bottom of the new one! I was able to get them all back in order on the inside of the ball with my tweezers.. I then got the new joint in only to discover a *new* problem.

The new joints won't fit inside of what I can only describe as the "coupler".. the part that hooks the caps of the two joints together. The semi-circle shaped clips fit into retaining grooves cut into the coupler and hold the bearing caps in. The bearing cap slides snugly into the coupler but with the joint in, the caps won't go far enough into the joint/couplerto permit me to install the clips. The caps look like they have bottomed out on the joint. I need less than 1mm more of the cap to go into the coupler for the clip to fit in.

I tried putting one clip in, turning the assembly over and giving the other cap a whack with the hammer and socket.. I ended up breaking 1/2 the clip ridge out of the coupler (see picture). Is the coupler still useable? Do I have the wrong joint? Can I grind down the clip? The top of one of the bearing caps?

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Thanks..

Carl

double-cardon

Reply to
Carl Saiyed
99% of the time that means you have dropped one needle under the cap and it is holding it from going tighter. I use heavy grease to hold the needles in place. Or you have the wrong joint..... Or the 'coupler' got bent because a hammer was used 'too hard' taking out the old u-joints. (saw that recently, someone used a 'big' hammer to get them out and bent the yoke ears)

That coupler is now garbage in my opinion. Even the side not broken looks already cracked or stressed at the same shear point as what fell off. That joint looks like it was vibrated pretty bad to crack those retainer casts or you or the last guy really beat the crap out of it with a hammer.... Does the other side also show fatigue/stress cracks around that ring area?

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Carl Saiyed wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

What Mike said.

There is a spring and a pin that fit in the ball thingie, and there are a dozen or so needle bearings as well. There can be two problems, one is that one of the needles fell over, the other is that the grease you used to hold the needles in place is more than fits in the space available. To fix the second problem, take the zerk out so the extra grease can escape.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Thanks Mike.

Where can I get a new coupler? Do you know the part # of the correct joint? I tried two or three of the same joint and none fit.

Thanks,

Carl

Reply to
Carl Saiyed

I only thought there was that one double Cardan type and a CV one.

I don't think there are varieties. What part of the ones you looked at didn't fit?

Mike

Carl Saiyed wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
L.W.( ßill ) Hughes III

Reply to
L.W.( ßill ) Hughes III

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