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Scott_Hower
Luke Skywalker
Offline
Sorry for the long post ... not sure what to do with this one:
I took the driveshaft out of my Spitfire last week for servicing; it was next on the list of things to restore. It's a late 1500 with a CV joint at the front. The rear is getting a new U-joint, which is simple enough. Or would be if I could press the caps out - they're stuck and soaking in PB at the moment. Hopefully I can press them out using some sockets and a vise.
The front is a different animal. It's got a coffee-can size cover inside of which is a "non-servicable" CV joint. Figured at a minimum new CV grease would be a good idea; the boot is in great shape. I gently pried the can off, folded the boot back and removed the snapring to clean/inspect/repack the CV joint. How do you tell if the thing is toast or not? The ball bearings (6) are all very smooth, the ball "cage" or whatever it's called seems to be ok, it pivots smoothly on the mating splined thingy attached to the shaft - there are some shiny areas where it obviously slides against its mate via the balls. The large flanged "collar" that bolts to the gearbox has "flutes" cut into it where the balls slide fore and aft - they're in good shape too - no obvious wear marks. Odo says 56k miles and it's correct.
I cleaned everything in mineral spirits and reassembled the joint (sans grease) to check for wear. How do you tell if it's Ok? It seems to pivot freely, but I dont know what I should be looking for/checking to determine if it's shot. If I pivot the flange at more than about 20degrees to the shaft and try and flex it, is seems to bind a bit, but that may just be beyond the angle the joint can handle. If I twist the flange against the shaft (flange face at right angle to the shaft), it has just a hair of play in it (it's dry, no CV grease).
Thoughts? Re-pack it and reassemble and hope for the best? I know nothing about CV joints. I've read that Triumph issued a recall for the TR7 with this type driveshaft and the dealer "fix" was to R+R the driveshaft backwards, with the CV joint at the back. The thinking was the UJ would take up the angular movement and the CV would deal with the axial movement (minor length changes). Anyone done this with a Spitfire? Will it even fit backwards?
I suppose I could have a shop cut it off and rig something up with a new yoke, I'd rather not do that if I can avoid it. A new driveshaft is a few hundred bucks.
I took the driveshaft out of my Spitfire last week for servicing; it was next on the list of things to restore. It's a late 1500 with a CV joint at the front. The rear is getting a new U-joint, which is simple enough. Or would be if I could press the caps out - they're stuck and soaking in PB at the moment. Hopefully I can press them out using some sockets and a vise.
The front is a different animal. It's got a coffee-can size cover inside of which is a "non-servicable" CV joint. Figured at a minimum new CV grease would be a good idea; the boot is in great shape. I gently pried the can off, folded the boot back and removed the snapring to clean/inspect/repack the CV joint. How do you tell if the thing is toast or not? The ball bearings (6) are all very smooth, the ball "cage" or whatever it's called seems to be ok, it pivots smoothly on the mating splined thingy attached to the shaft - there are some shiny areas where it obviously slides against its mate via the balls. The large flanged "collar" that bolts to the gearbox has "flutes" cut into it where the balls slide fore and aft - they're in good shape too - no obvious wear marks. Odo says 56k miles and it's correct.
I cleaned everything in mineral spirits and reassembled the joint (sans grease) to check for wear. How do you tell if it's Ok? It seems to pivot freely, but I dont know what I should be looking for/checking to determine if it's shot. If I pivot the flange at more than about 20degrees to the shaft and try and flex it, is seems to bind a bit, but that may just be beyond the angle the joint can handle. If I twist the flange against the shaft (flange face at right angle to the shaft), it has just a hair of play in it (it's dry, no CV grease).
Thoughts? Re-pack it and reassemble and hope for the best? I know nothing about CV joints. I've read that Triumph issued a recall for the TR7 with this type driveshaft and the dealer "fix" was to R+R the driveshaft backwards, with the CV joint at the back. The thinking was the UJ would take up the angular movement and the CV would deal with the axial movement (minor length changes). Anyone done this with a Spitfire? Will it even fit backwards?
I suppose I could have a shop cut it off and rig something up with a new yoke, I'd rather not do that if I can avoid it. A new driveshaft is a few hundred bucks.
