The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline U-joint ball housing to transmission has gap

Greetings Bolters.

1948 Chevy 3100 project. When I try to bolt the ball housing to the rear of 4-speed manual transmission (all original parts), it won't come together. The bolts are incredibly hard to tighten and the four holes are bending and still leaves a gap. Any suggestions? It appears that the driveline is lower than the transmission, i.e. coming in at a lower angle and not straight in. Do I need to jack up the rear diff to improve this angle?

Thanks in advance.

You can raise or lower the front of the torque tube for alignment. The rear differential on these trucks pivots in rubber bushings where they fasten to the rear springs.
The ball housing should be able to be slid off the front end of the torque tube.
John

That U-joint ball should be free to slide. Is the ball seating,
if not it must be binding up on something. Sure you've got the
cork in properly and it didn't slip out?

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

With a unworn bell and seat the retainer will not come up tight. You must use gasket shims to set the bell tightness. Shop manual procedure starts middle right of this link.

From the sound of it Dave, I think the ball collar isn't drawing up
tight. He says he's bending the tabs on it, which to me would
indicate that either the ball or the collar is binding up on
something.

Denny G

Thanks for the replies. The ball from the driveline doesn't move around. It seems to bind on the top surface and looser on the lower service since it enters this union at an angle, i.e. the driveline angles up to meet the U-joint. The transmission shop that restored my rear diff/driveline found a new ball joint collar and it came with a rubber seal so I simply left this in place instead of using the cork gasket. I wonder if this makes a difference. I am hesitant to take the U-joint apart again.

I appreciate the expertise.

the ball should move

this is the cork gasket refered above

this is the seal on the shaft

you many need to inspect the end of the shaft

this blue paper is the shims to get the correct drag listed in the manual

this is a test with the shims I had 4 in this test and had to much slop, I went with 1 shim
...test...

when Your trying to make it up are you supporting the shaft?
...click...

I use a tie-down ratcheting strap wrapped around the left frame rail and torque tube to pull it into alignment. Once aligned it should slip into place.

Hope this helps
Walt Williams
La Verkin, UT