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TR2/3/3A U Joint Issues

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DornTRoriginal

DornTRoriginal

Jedi Hopeful
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I spent a lot of time removing the old "U" joints from the drive shaft yesterday. I finally got em out but it took a lot of “persuasion”. Once I got them out it looks like the holes on the flanges, yoke and shaft are not exactly round and smooth. Although the imperfection is slight, trying to fit the new ones is going to be a snug fit and some more “persuasion” will be needed i.e. a hammer. A little history here is that the drive shaft came loose 30 years ago while the car was being towed (the %*#& tow truck driver was driving way too fast and didn't notice the car waving violently from side to side, the rear tire being thrown from the tire well, bolts hitting and breaking the front windshield... a long story I was in college and just finished rebuilding the transmission and that's the last time the car operated by the way). Anyway the drive shaft rattled around quite a bit damaging the floor and putting a major dent in the frame. I am thinking everything got a little "bruised" and may be slightly out of round from this which is why it was so difficult for me to remove them.

My question is, "Is it possible to take the drive shaft assembly to a machine shop and have them worked, make them round, so the new U joints fit smoothly?" The other option I can think of is to lightly hand file with fine sand paper until they fit better. Any suggestions and advice is appreciated. Here are the before and after shots. Thanks!

Drive shaft U joint removal (1).jpg

Drive shaft U joint install (1) email large.jpg
 
Just spitballing here, but I wonder if you manage to coax in those new U joints, perhaps your driveshaft may not be balanced. From your story, seems like it took some abuse; finding a drive line shop might be adviseable.

I chickened out and had a local driveline shop put my supplied U joints on my TR6 hubs... I know others have complained about unbalanced driveshafts.
 
Frankly finding a better one is the easiest way out.

Hammering these is not the right way. You need a big vice and some packing pieces so you can press them together.

I would file a very small taper, about 1mm, to give an easy start.
There is not much metal in the "hoops" and the bearing race will probably coax them back to round.

Dont file them out and make them loose. They will rattle about and wear out quickly.

Depending on which way they are stretched you might be able to squeeze then back to round.
But to do this you will need an inside micrometer to measure whats going on.
Job for an experienced engineer really.

Just checked your pix. Dont look too bad. Somebody with the right press will get these back OK.
 
After that trauma, the drive shaft needs to go to a specialty drive shaft shop. We have 2 such shops in Fort Worth, so I am sure there are several in CA.

They will check it for straightness, rebalance if necessary, and fix your yoke issue.
 
I have two used driveshafts with the u-joints in them. If you are interested I will check the joints for play. I live near Santa Rosa.
 
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