BiplaneGuy

I'm tired and sore and sipping a well earned Scotch.

The RH front axle u-joint in my new to me XJ was shot. I considered having a shop do it, the local shop quoted me only $150, but he's putting a clutch in my Miata today and hey, I've done loads of u-joints myself over the years, should only take a couple of hours, right?

I should have spent the $150.

Lots of forum posts about difficulty getting the axle nut off. That was the easy part! I had no trouble getting the caliper off, the axle nut came off with a moderately long breaker bar on my antique Craftsman 1/2" ratchet, and the bearing hub was only a minor PITA, so after pulling the axle shaft out I went inside for lunch.

Did I say I shoulda spent the $150? It laughed at my attempts to press it out with a pair of appropriate sockets and a bench vice per the official shop manual. Heating it with a torch did no better... those bearing cups simply aren't moving. Next I tried a 2 jaw puller, it broke one cup loose and it moved a hair but I was afraid to push both across, I figured I'd cut the spider out and push the cups out individually, so out comes Mr. Sawzall.

It laughed at the Sawzall. 3 blades later, I figured I'd try an abrasive cutoff wheel. A l-o-o-o-o-ng time later and the remnants of the spider are in the scrap bucket. That spider is one HARD piece of steel!

Once the spider was out the rest of the job was an anticlimax. The next person who has to take it apart will thank me for the antiseize I always use.

The shop said an hour and a half, I figured 3 hours at the outside... I started at 10:30am and finished after 7pm with a break for lunch. If the LH one goes...

51 ashton

Before I did that on my 72 commando I asked the mechanic for the towns road equipment what the easiest way to replace joints. He said " get a big ******* vice, big ******* hammer and a big ******* drift pin. Well I didn't have access to the items he listed. I wrecked a cheap vice and shroomed the end of the drift pin. I've used the c clamp method. The socked and the vise method. They work well and once you bust a cup loose it's easy. What you really need is the big vise, big hammer (4Lb THOR ) and big drift pin. It's the shock from the THOR that breaks the cup free thus making it a simple job. Those wheel joints take a beating being up front and in all the slope that they go though going down the road. The cup and the housed basically fuse themselves together. I've had issues with replacing joints. The cross won't fit in the yoke due to contact with the yoke. Spicer rep. Said to grind the edge of yoke just enough on both sides to clear the replacement joint. No more issues getting the joint in or out. Don't forget the motto we used when I was still working. ANTISEIZE, if your not wearing it you didn't use it!!!

MonacaYankee

I had a day like that with mine. Ended up torching the cap out and cutting the ujoint.

ehall

If a joint fights me at all, I just cut the ears off at the trunion, then push the ears back in through the middle. The caps are always clean, so pushing them in is easy, don't have to deal with trying to push rust and mud through the opening.

Axle joints can be a pain because the little C clips on the inside get seized up. Again if you just cut the ears off you don't need to worry about it