Where to get propshaft rebuilt?

On or around Fri, 19 Dec 2003 08:55:39 -0000, "Robert" enlightened us thusly:

what does it need?

if it's just UJs, then they're not that hard. You need a decent pair of circlip pliers and an engineer's vice which opens to about 9".

You then want 2 sockets, one of which fits in side the hole in the yoke (this is normally about 19mm) and one that fits over the bearing, i.e. one where the hole in the middle is slightly bigger than the hole in the yoke. I think that's 30mm, but not sure. Having removed the circlips, you line the yoke up across the vice with the 2 sockets on opposite sides, holding he shaft with your third hand and turning the vice handle with your 4th (an assistant comes in handy).

having lined it all up, wind the vice in to push the whole cross-piece and bearing across until the other 2 arms of the cross hit the yoke, whereupon you can grip the now-protruding bearing in the vice (not too hard) and pull the shaft off it.

Using some small spacer, do the same to push the other bearing out. The spider will then come free from the yoke.

refitting is the reverse of removal :-)

but... be careful pushing the bearings in. fit one circlip, push the whole lot across until the bearing is tight against the clip, then push the other bearing in very carefully so that it *just* clears the circlip groove. push it too far and it might get tight.

Is there space in the FAQ for such postings?

Martyn

Also, it's possible, though unlikely with a new bearing, that one of the needle rollers will drop out, sit in the bottom of the bearing cup, and stop it going on properly.

On or around Fri, 19 Dec 2003 11:18:34 +0000, Mother enlightened us thusly:

the swearing is left as an exercise for the reader.

note also that while I said an assistant is handy, I at least can do it single-handed, although that does increase the swearing a tad.

On or around Fri, 19 Dec 2003 14:23:57 +0000 (GMT), snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") enlightened us thusly:

yup... though if yer careful and have greased it enough they should stay stuck in place. Interestingly, I've found 2 kinds, with 2 different roller diameters - one has about 70% more thinner rollers than the other. They both fit the same yoke and spider, though.

Also some of them have a little plastic thing in the end of the bearing cup. I assume this takes out endfloat in some way. But if you actually buy a new joint instead of being a tight git like me and rebuilding old ones, these things are less of a problem. FWIW, there are only about 3 sizes of UJ - and the flanges and bolt spacings are often the same - for example, the rear-most joint on a sherpa prop is the same as the landy/rangies ones. Also, the front prop on the 4x4 sierra has the same spiders and flanges as the reliant 3-wheeler prop; which is very handy, since it has rather an appetite for UJ bearings.

While the sockets are a good idea, if the joint is clean enough you can hold them in place with a little blu-tac - however, I've only done this once, and made a small wooden assembly which involved drilling a hole in a block of wood to hold the socket on one side and another hole, larger, in a similar block of wood for the other side. Both blocks were held to the vice jaws with Gaffa tape.

I have a much better device these days called a 'Warren'. I can highly commend such a device. Swearing is reduced to a minimum, or so I'm told, but I can't hear him from here... :-)

Martyn

Robert, which vehicle is the propsahft from and what needs rebuilding?

The later propshafts eg Disco S1, have nylon type coating on the flanges, and these are not easy to work with. If you try and seperate the 2 sides, you risk irrepairable damage to the coating, so its not a DIY job. Universal joints are however relatively easy to do.

Cheers

Phillip

Added to the non-vehicle specific section.

On or around Sat, 20 Dec 2003 07:58:21 +1100, Phillip Simpson enlightened us thusly:

do you mean splines? Rilsan coating on them. Mind, I've pulled a few apart a re-assembled 'em, they still seem to work :-).

Rich,

Thanks for that, I will see if I can contact them. While I appreciate all the info on propshaft rebuilding, even though I have done it numerous times in the past, in my current sitution I have absolutly no where to do it, unless I stand in the rain in my street and try and do it on the side of the road (which i have no intention of doing), or I do it in the Living room, which I dont think my wife will appreciate. LOL.

Cheers Robert

If SWMBO doesn't like sharing her living room with a propshaft there will, of course, be a space available for her in the rain outside. If you move the telly she can watch it through the window.