How much of a pain is it to put new u-joints in your car. I have a 93 and someone told me that they had to be done by a mechanic cause of the difficulty of it. I've always did this myself but of course not on a vette.

 

They are no more difficult than any other U joint, but remember there are six, two for each half shaft and two for the driveshaft.
The hardest part is breaking the bolts loose. I believe it's an 8mm bolt and they are on there tight.

Spraying them with something the night before should help.
You also have to rotate the halfshaft to gain access to all of them because of the angle involved.

I need to be doing mine soon as well.

 

If it's the half shafts , here is a great link to follow. I used it last week and the install was easy.

http://personal.tmlp.com/scorp/vette...nts/index.html

Ditto on what Mojo said about spraying down the strap bolts. I used PB Blaster , it works. Another thing, if your bored, and have a Mothers power ball, the half shafts are aluminum sooo.. Good Luck.

 

thank you for the help. i couldnt imagine them being much different. this guy, the same one who told me they were a pain, said i will do it for 700 dollars. The chevy house charges $1500. Guess i can tell him he is full of shi$.

 

I'd do it for 2 cases of beer and a few dinners. It's relatively labor intensive, but it's just nuts and bolts really.

 

I just did mine last Saturday and they are a bit of a pain compared to others that I have done. The problem is when you press the U joint out it contacts the inside of the yoke before the cap comes out. I then had to put block under the 2 outside caps and press the other end cap out as far as it would go again not able to get it out. I ended up tapping on the end caps to knock loose the needle bearings so I would be able to push the cap further out. This did work but it was a bit frustrating.

 

I have a little 8mm ratcheting box wrench that really helps out removing the strap bolts.

Mike

 

Hows that work? My gear wrenches are too fat to get on the bolt unless it's already halfway out.

I even had to grind a little on my craftsman 8mm box wrench to get it on there all the way with it being so close to the strap.

 

I just use a 1/4 inch swivel socket on a 2 foot extension. I have broken a few sockets, but they were craftsman and replaced.

 

Holy Pete!!! Just out of curiosity, how much do new ones cost and how much time to change them all?

One of mine is clunking a little so I'm going to do all.

Thanks.

 

Do you have to take the tourque bar off that runs from the tranny to the rear end?

 

I'M GOING TO DO MINE MONDAY NIGHT. I BOUGHT THE BEARING HUBS FROM WHEELBEARINGINC.COM FOR 140.66 (BOTH)DELIVERED. LOCAL AUTO PARTS STORE HAD THEM FOR 141.00 EACH. VERY COOL. THANKS FOR THE LINK.

SEE YA ON THE ROAD.....
THE FLYING V PLAYER

 

If you take the strut rod off at the wheel end you won't have to mess with the adjustment bolt. Once you have the ujoint straps off just have someone pull out on the wheel and you can slip the half-shaft out.
If you have an automatic don't worry about the drive shaft, it doesn't move. The 200k mile ones I pulled out of mine look like new.
If it's your first time for ujoints and bearings figure on most of a day.

JS

 

Hey, are we having fun or what?!!

 

 

the link there made it not hard at all imo
i did have one of these ball joint presses which made getting them out easier once i figured to put the press in the vice not the shaft. just be sure to line it up real good before you press cause aluminum is soft. mine actually pressed out to where i could just grab the cup off

 

Make Sure You Mark The Drivshaft So You Dont Reinstall 180 Degrees Off. I Had A Vibration Until I Rotated Back To Original Orientation.

 

I replaced my 1/2 shaft u-joints just a couple of weekends ago.

Scorps link was a great help. I don't think you really need to remove the camber adjustment side, you should be able to just disconnect the weel hub side. I pulled the whole bar, what's one more bolt? Great time to clean it up.

My big problem was getting the u-joints out of the 1/2 shaft. It would helped to have an extra set of hands to hold 2 sockets, the shaft, and tighten the vice.

Unfortunately after 14 years of marriage the metal u-joint caps didn't want to seperate from the alluminum 1/2 shaft. Using a pipe over the vice arm for leverage, i ripped the vice off the table it was bolted to. After re-bolting the vice to a new workbench, I wound up bending the vice handle. Finally I used a mini oxegen tourch to heat the loops in the 1/2 shaft while the vice held as much force it could without bending the handle. The u-joint would pop and move a 16th inch, tighten, heat, repeat until it was out. Once it was figured out, the other side came out easy using the same technique.

The new U-Joint pressed in pretty easily after wire brushing the inside of the shaft loops and lubricating. However, be sure to give a hammer /chisle wack back the other direction as scorp described. This will free up the movement.

good luck, it's not that bad if you have tools and can turn a wrench.

 

also forgot if you wanna undo one more bolt undo the shock and the tire swings alot easier

 

I followed that http link you inserted. Man what a great piece of work. To whom ever went to the labour of putting that photo file together THANKS!!!

Man that is awesome. If anyone knows of more such links please post 'em or PM me

Phat man