U-joints

I hate being the newbie, but I've had my 6 for 16 years going back to high school. I've never got into the hard things, but now I want to try. Anyone out there know how to replace u-joints? Mine are original and there's some clunking going on back there. I want to get the better ones where I can grease them. Any help would be appreciated. I have the big 6 handbook, but real help is sometimes better. Thanks!

This must be u-joint week. If you're good with other stuff, then go ahead and tackle a joint. It'd be nice if you could have someone looking over your shoulder the first few times (see post above, where a pin was likely dropped).
Basically, follow this procedure. Slide the cross into the joint and then gently place one cup exactly square into the shaft. Holding the cross in place, use a socket the same size as the shaft hole, and drive the cup home. Repeat on the other side. Hopefully when taking the old piece out, you made a reference mark so the shaft goes back in the same relation to the end piece as it originally was. If not, you may experience a vibration. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I love working on my car...just never had any formal training. By the way, what do you mean by a cup?

The cup is the part of the u-joint that is on each of the four ends. It's got little needle bearings in it that the joint rides in. Be sure you pack it lightly with grease to keep the needles in place, and BE CAREFUL pounding on the cup, as those needles can pop out of place anyway, and then you've got problems! If you have a bench vise, you can use your socket as Paul said, and drive the cup in slowly.

I speak from experience, as I tried the socket and hammer thing, and the needles did pop out, and one of them actually was split in four pieces!

Mickey

Thanks, Mickey and Paul. I really appreciate it. I never would have gotten that from a manual. Take care.

If you don't have a bench vise, a large C clamp will work. You stand less of a chance of dropping a needle using the vise or a clamp.
Jeff

Copied and pasted from another UJoint thread - Really a useful tool for a little money.

Everything the guys say is the straight stuff - definitely a pinched bearing . The best tips are to use more grease to hold the bearing in and to judiciously seat the caps on the spiders - After using every jury-rigged method ranging from hammering to the jolly old "2 appropriately sized sockets and a vise" routine
I went to Northern hydraulics and bought a 1 ton bench mount arbor press for $39 - a whole lot less fidgeting around trying to get the pieces aligned and pushed into place - just hold em with one hand and pull the handle slowly - after doing it one or twice you could do it in your sleep.

It's also good for many other things which might need to be "persuaded" - it's uses are only limited by your imagination.

Signed: resigned to taking the path of least resistance.