as mentioned, put your shaft in a vise and hit the ears with a punch and hammer to spread out the ears a little, just until it moves somewhat freely.

i have to do this every time i change out my joints. they get pressed in slightly during removal of the old joints.

i also file out the ears a bit to get rid of any burrs, then wipe some grease in them to aid in reassembly. i can usually squish the caps in by my hands somewhat, then use my vise to get in the rest. but once i get the clips in, i always have to use a hammer and punch to spread them out a bit.

oh, and i never buy spicer joints. i just buy the cheap ones, cause i'm replacing them often enough.

 

Thanks I'll give that a try.

 

take it off and make sure all bearings are in place sounds like the bearing did not stay in place when u hammered the joint in that happened to me all i did was take it back out put the bearings back in place and your good ..............hit the yoke a few times to releive pressure , as stated above

 

So I took it out and reinstalled it a couple more times and I think I got it right. By the end I was able to press the cap into they yoke on one side without hammering it all on... is that going to be a problem?

 

shouldnt be a problem just make sure the c clips are all the way in