Here's my verbose and perhaps too detailed write up. I did the removal once the hard way and once the easy way. The hard way (figuring out the easy way but with hammers and cursing) took 2 hours to pull one U joint. The easy way took 10-15 minutes. This of course will depend on the condition of the joints as well; mine were maintained decently so they weren't seized or rusted. Since the green bible has a less than helpful series of instructions, here's my brief walk through; I am a complete newbie to rovers and most automotive mechanical work, so this is what I would have liked to see before I started. I'll assume starting with the complete axle on the bench. Tools I used, note that the U joints are different sizes for the different years, my 74 109 has the largest size:
- vice or press of some sort, with around 7" opening
- circlip remover or needle nose if you are a masochist like me
- a socket with an outside diameter that will fit within the yoke races- a 3/4" fit well on mine
- a socket large enough to accept the bearing cap (the shiny bit-if you are lucky- on the ends of each arm of the spider - the + shaped bit) inside it- 1- 1/16" worked here
- some hammers just in case things start taking too long
- some wheel bearing grease
- pliers or a 5/16 socket to pull the grease fittings
The green bible does a decent job describing the removal of the sliding member, and removal of the circlips/grease fitting. Right at step 8 where things get interesting it bails out and says tap the yoke to eject the bearing cups. Proper.
1. Start with the sliding member end as it is smaller and easier to work with the first time around. Open up your vice/press and position the smaller socket on one side of the joint and the larger on the other, ensuring that the bearing cap will clearly slide into the socket when pushed through. These photos show the joint already half apart, it made for an easier to see things but is the same process.
note that the yoke is angled and therefore the larger socket is not parallel to the u-joint. I was able to use a spacer to straighten this out but its not shown here. It helps to have everything aligned to get things in/out straight, though it takes care of itself once its in a ways.
2. Slowly tighten the vice and the caps/spider should start to slide out, if if binds or the resistance changes, back off and make sure everything is straight. I pushed until the cap being pushed inward was almost out but still seated in the way. On my joint, that bearing cap had to be pushed back out the other way, on others it may be possible to free it from within the yoke arms, not sure.
3. Since these are destined for the bin, I used a vice to clamp down on the cap that was 3/4 of the way out and pulled it free spinning back and forth.
4. Place the smaller socket into the yoke where the cap was just removed, and back into the press, pushing against the spider so the other cap backs out until the spider hits the inner yoke. Then you should be able to slide the spider back out of the cap and remove from it from the yoke, separating the joint halves. I then pushed the cap back in and out the interior of the yoke arm.
and
spider out, and
pushing it all the way back through
5. You probably should take note of the orientation of the yokes as you take them apart so when they are reassembled the go back the same way. Repeat the above on the other axis of the joint. Here's a shot of the old wooly spider next the new replacement, with the new and old caps in the background
6. I dumped the yokes in degreaser and cleaned things up, be sure to scrape out the gunk from the circlip grooves. some will repaint etc but I prefer the natural protection of 90w oil that is constantly sprayed around the undercarriage.
nice and clean
7. Reassembly is pretty much the same process in reverse. As mentioned in this thread earlier by Terrys, be sure to put a good glob of grease into each cap and make sure all the needle bearing are seated properly- and leave the grease fitting off. Put the spider into the yoke arms, with the hole for the grease fitting facing away from the flange. Put the two caps in position and press them in, ensuring they are going in straight. It may be easier to do one at a time to ensure they are straight, but you'll have to deal with the angled yoke side.
8. Go slow and if you encounter any change in resistance stop and check that you haven't dislodged a needle bearing- I did despite gobs of grease because I banged the thing accidentally and bent the needle pressing. You shouldn't feel any grating or resistance when the joint is all seated, if you do something probably isn't right.
9. only push until the cap reaches the inner edge of the circlip groove, otherwise you have to push it back in the other direction which is time better spent on the internet.
10.Repeat this on the other caps and voila, a new U joint.
. So I ordered another u joint and will start over as I'm pretty sure I bent the bugger when I was pressing it in. Knew something was wrong when it wouldn't seat all the way.
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Originally Posted by Terrys
