New U/Js on the propshaft.

[cass3958]

Today I tried to replace the U/Js on my propshaft. Not that they needed to be done as I had found the vibration problem which was the rear stabiliser but as I had the propshaft out and I did not replace the U/Js when I rebuilt the car I thought now is a good time.
Bad mistake.

Taking the old U/Js out was easy. A tap on the end caps and the Circlips came out. Another tap of the hammer in the right place and all the caps came out eventually. Needle bearings falling all over the place but they were being thrown so no problem. The U/Js themselves came out and the whole lot was cleaned up. I had previously ordered new U/Js from SNG Barrett part number JLM823 and they were sat on the bench.

So on the propshaft itself I placed the U/J in and pressed the caps in place using a vice and fitted the circlips both ends. With the circlips in place you just tap the caps back out slightly so they rest on the circlips and the U/J is free to move.

Next the propshaft ends which I had marked when removing so I could put them back in the same orientation. Fitted the caps and pressed them in again using the vice. Fitted one circlip but could not see the groove for the other circlip so put the prop back in the vice and gave it another squeeze but nothing. The end cap was tight up against the shoulder of the U/J and the cap on the other side was tight up on the circlip. Tried hitting it with a hammer but to no avail. Same with the other propshaft end. One circlip in, the other you cannot even see the groove to fit it in to.

Circlip retaining groove not even showing.

IMG_9970.JPG (2.53 MiB) Viewed 557 times

Cirlclip in place

IMG_9971.JPG (1.94 MiB) Viewed 557 times

Took the whole lot apart several times and checked all the needles were in place and none had fallen out stopping the cap from sitting properly. I was not getting anywhere so decided to get the vernier out and take some measurements. Across the caps the old U/J measures 80.13mm. The new one measures 81.83. 1.7mm thicker than the old one which seems to be the reason why the cap will not go in the hole far enough to get the circlip in the groove.

Phoned up SNG and discussed it with Customer relations. There are two universal joints part number JLM 823 which is the equivalent of 9409 which is the Jaguar part number. One is by Powertune and is classed as an aftermarket part and the part I bought. The second is by Walterschied and is classed as the original part. Only £4 difference in price but I went for the cheaper one. They are going to pull both parts off the shelf for me tomorrow and measure them to see if there is a difference in the sizes cap to cap.

Frustrating! I have a spare propshaft in the garage that I had picked up many years ago in a job lot of parts with good U/Js but the propshaft is longer than mine so I think it is either for a manual or the DG250 box and I have the BW35. The propshaft end plates are the same though so with a bit of care I might, if push comes to shove, be able to use the U/Js and end plates off this propshaft to at least get mine reassembled and back on the road for now.

Any thoughts?

[Glyn Ruck]

Rob. I've seen this somewhere before. I think one of the Austin Healeys uses the correct UJ. Might be worth phoning one of the Healey spares places to measure for you if you have no luck with Barratts.

[cass3958]

Thanks Glyn SNG are getting back to me in the morning with the dimensions of the two U/Js they stock and if the other one described as "Original part" is smaller than the "After market" one I am sure SNG will just send me a couple. If they are the same size then I might contact a Healy supplier and check them out.

[JCS]

Rob
You might find it worthwhile looking up Bailey Morris on the web. Tel 01480 216250. They produce all the drive shafts you can imagine for at least 30 manufactures including present day Land Rover / Jaguar.

I have used them in a professional capacity over the years besides privately for my classic cars and they still are one of Europe’s main manufacturers.

They have all the data you need at their finger tips and are very helpful. Although they are OE suppliers, they also supply individuals, have a classic car section and will freely give advice to owners. They have rebuilt all the shafts on my present car in the last 2 years.

If you look at their on-line catalogue at page 16 /17 (albeit for current vehicles) it will show you exactly how to measure the “A” and “B” dimensions. Given those measurements they will tell you the joint series and if required the cost, and in fact they may tell you the data, no matter the age of the vehicle.

Rob, beware of buying the cheapest U/J,s many have incorrect rollers that have not been hardened correctly. Once they start to wear through, they skid and quickly lock in the track. Personally I will not buy bearings or drive shaft parts from vehicle main agents, but only direct from the supplier/manufacturer.

Regards

Norman

[cass3958]

Thanks Norman,
SNG have come back to me and the original U/J is slightly larger again so I have no idea what is going on. I think I might need a bigger vice.
I am going to drop it around to an friend of mine who runs an engineering company who has presses and vices to see what he can do for me.

[Glyn Ruck]

You should not have to fight with the new core of a UJ to fit it to the yolks. It should be a nice snug fit between the circlips in their grooves.

[cass3958]

Well I had no real help from SNG so I took the prop around to my buddy at his engineering workshop. He has bigger vices and presses than I do. We fiddled about for about an hour getting the caps in place and eventually managed to push them in with his big vice.
There were a couple of issues. First some of the needle rolles kept falling out as we were trying to get the caps to go over the U/J. This meant the needles were lying flat on the bottom of the cap stopping it from going home fully. You can't see this whilst pushing the caps on and can only tell when the caps does not sit all the way down. The cap then has to be removed again to check and you find the needles out of place. I had tried to solve this with a bit of extra grease in the cap but this created problem two and all it did was give us a hydraulic block hence why I could not push the caps in far enough again.
In the end we managed between us and I do not recommend this as a one man job, to get everything lined up with less grease but enough to hold the needles in place whilst we held the propshaft up to a big vice and managed to squeeze the caps into place using a couple of sockets to push against the caps. Even between the two of us it took at least five attempts to line each one up having to disassemble each failure before trying again.

Anyway all done now. Propshaft back on the car. The gearbox mount was fitted with a new spring and rubbers. You need a gearbox jack or the ability to lower the car down on to an axle stand as I did to compress the spring to then get the bolts in place but this was eventually achieved with some fiddling.
Took the car out over the bumpiest road I know in Torquay and not a squeak or rattle from the mounts and no propshaft hitting the gearbox mount so all good.

[Glyn Ruck]

Ah that's good news Rob. I took my shaft to a propshaft place with the new UJ's. They do it every day so they make it look easy. The first thing they did in very clean conditions after removing all the old crap was remove the grease nipples from the new cores, no doubt to prevent hydraulic lock.

Cleaned up the shaft until spotless. Assembled everything, replaced the nipples & fitted a new nipple to the slip joint & gave the UJ's & slip joint a light pump of grease. There was minor run out on my shaft which they corrected (between V blocks with a press). Then balanced & then gave it a coat of black paint. We fitted the slip joint spline rubbers & elastic band etc. when fitting to the car being careful to maintain back & front orientation as balanced.