The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Torque Tube and U-Joints

Finally had the chance to pull apart the Torque Tube on my 51 3100
and was surprised by what I found. As I was seperating the ball from
the transmission, the forward drive shaft oil seal slipped forward
onto the Universal joint yoke. That was probably the source of my
vibration.
After I pulled the U-Joint off (dang is that Drive shaft heavy when
you already have two broken fingers!), I noticed a number of gouges
on the yokes, and a significant amount of bluing on the yoke.
(pictures can be seen at:
Mike\'s Truck ) There is no metal pieces
in the ball or in the fluid I drained (all three tablespoons of it)
Any recommendations? My plan is to rebuild the U-Joint with the kit I
got from Jim Carter's, place an Oakie bearing in the drive shaft and
put all new seals in to help with the leaks.

Mike
51 3100 http://nogrownups.tripod.com/Mikestruck.htm
52 FrankenStein's Monster http://nogrownups.tripod.com/old_blue.htm

tthayer@bellsouth.net

I don't see a thing wrong with your plan, Mike. The galling you point out is on the outside housing, not where the bearings are. So long as the bearing surfaces aren't galled or severely blued, you should be fine rebuilding it.

Further investigation revealed all kinds of scoring on the inside of the ball. May have been the u-joint flinging around in there, or a piece of metal in the past.

I pulled apart a 41 Sedan rear/torque last year and the ball has lots of gouging marks in it too. Joint in it seemed OK. Could have been from another time it let go. I still have the ball maybe if interested. I had the yokes and stuff too, kickin' around, no one wanted them, so think I threw most of it out. NOW, someone wants yokes and stuff! Sheesh! These car parts are same as old trucks I was told and look it too. On that "Oakie" bushing. Are you sure you are supposed to remove the old bushing? I was thinking the Oakie was a "quick" fix and not a "correct" fix to get by with and didn't require you to remove the old one. I'm not sure on that, just what I was thinking was supposed to be.

I checked out the pics on the webpage. I have seen gouges on the U-Joint and bell before in my '54. Sometimes the 4 small bolts that hold the U-joint to the tranny output yoke will back out and fall into the bell. Then the U-joint will beat them around in there like rocks in a blender. It can sound like the tranny has exploded when it happens.

Its a real bear when it flies apart in the middle of town. Trust me. You've got to call your roomate and tell him to bring the tools, a light, a jack, and a quart of gear oil. Then reassemble the U-joint in the parking lot you limped into.

The bluing is what concerns me. Blue means heat, and heat is bad. Test fit that ujoint in the new bushing before installing either. See if there is any binding of the joint in the bushing. Any distortion of that ujoint wear surface could eat up the new bushing quick. Check the inside of the torque tube where the seal lives for damage to the tube itself.

As long as the bell isn't deformed on the outside from the gouges on the inside, it should be useable. And if the ujoint pivot points aren't binding from their gouges, it should be OK.

During reassembly, make sure to clean the tranny bolt holes and ujoint, and use red loc-tite on the 4 bolts that hold the ujoint to the tranny output yoke. Bend over the retainer tabs, and those bolts won't back out again. Put some grease on the bushing and ujoint shaft during reassembly to prelube it.

good luck

chip

The oakie bushing is an alien plot to keep smart humans busy during the invasion.