Rear Axle: Rear Axle cleaning

[LeoH]

I have a 2 speed axle truck with some dried crusty mud and old grease on the rear hubs, can I take a powerwasher to the differential and hubs to clean off the mud at all? I was expecting to run the washer indirectly around the areas to wash away what's there.

Also, I've never worked on the driveline, so this is a VERY basic question: how do you go about ordering a u-joint replacement? Do I just take the u-joint in to NAPA and ask for a similar replacement, or whatever their book says is a replacement? The one that I saw when the driveshaft was disconnect while towed, was very dry and barely any grease inside the u-joint, so I expect all 4 to be the same.

[RadioRoy]

Studebakerparts.com is MUCH less hassle that talking to the young 'uns in the parts stores. Chuck knows all the right parts for all the vehicles.

You can also call Studebakers West in redwood City, CA and they will have the right parts as well.

If you power wash the differential, be sure to get all the water out of the innards. WD-40 was designed to get rid of water, but do not count on it as a lubricant.

[LeoH]

Well, definitely with the flaps, but generally the NAPA stores have been more user friendly and competent. If I can save shipping on 4 u-joints, call me a CASO. I prefer the term PSO, Poor Studebaker Owner.

So, since I'm cleaning these parts before disassembling, it isn't a concern for me to run a lower pressure powerwasher stream around the axle hubs, rims and diff to clean away the crusties?

[StudeRich]

The only known entrance to the inside of the Differential would be the Vent hole, usually on Top or just to the rear of TDC on the Left Axle Tube, Trucks with different Models and Brands of Axles may vary.

If you were cleaning the WHOLE Diff. you would locate the Vent Hole, scrape around it, clean the area with Brake Clean and Duct/Gorrilla Tape (NOT DUCK Tape) over it.

[LeoH]

I'll look for that tomorrow night. I made the attempt to start removing the u-joints and that was essentially unsuccessful. I did pull most of the circlips. I have no clue how to remove the u-joints and the description in the service manual was a bit minimal. Plus, it's going to take more than a screwdriver to pry these u-joints anywhere, as the expectation displayed in the manual shows. I am VERY impressed at the relative quick time the tow truck driver took to remove the u-bolts from the u-joint at the end of the driveshaft. My little chickenwings and granola scrawn were useless on the other u-bolt at the trans. It's going to be an air tool attempt next, after I get a better sense of how to remove the u-joints and the slip joint.
Several passes with PB and engine degreaser tonight on all the u-joints and yokes. Almost forgot, I need to bring a can of spray paint to mark the u-joint positions before I theoretically am successful at removing them. I saw that in the manual. With all the degreaser and deruster, I'm not confident Sharpie will be enough of a marking tool.

[TWChamp]

I used to prop the driveshaft up on the workbench then lay the U-joint cross on top of the open vice jaws. Remove all 4 clips then use a 8" piece of solid rod, (like 5/8" brass) as a punch, then hammer the cup down. The bottom cup will be driven out and fall away, then the cup you punch on should slip out also.

The other way to remove the cups is to lay the cross on the open vice jaws, then hammer down on the weld line next to the cross. This will drive the long driveshaft downward, which will pop the cup out of the tube. Then turn the driveshaft half way around and do the same for the other cup.

[LeoH]

I'll copy this down...but, what did you do to get the driveshaft out of the original yoke in the vehicle? In my case, I'm unhooked at the differential, but can't get the u-joint out of the slip joint yoke on the other end of the rear driveshaft. Do I hammer with a punch of some sort to drive out each of the u-joint end caps? Since one of the end caps at the back fell out, but the driveshaft is so rusty it's not easy to tell what's supposed to happen.
If it's just hammering on all four sides of the driveshaft yoke, I can do that.

[TWChamp]

Every driveshaft I worked on easily slipped out of the splines................except a 1930 AA truck that looked like it never saw a grease gun. That one had to be heated red hot and hammer several times to make it slide off. This also had the rustiest most worn out U-joint I ever saw. The cross part inside the cups was worn to half way. That truck had to rap like a machine gun while driving down the road. Grease is cheaper than repairs, but some people don't care.

[LeoH]

All righty then. It's clobberin' time then.

[BILT4ME]

Look up how to remove a Universal joint on YouTube. You should be able to find many examples of what to do.

[LeoH]

Look up how to remove a Universal joint on YouTube. You should be able to find many examples of what to do.

Yeah, I have that on my list. I have to tackle the u-joints and rusty gas tank bolts today, I've been looking at gas tank cleaning videos so far.

[BILT4ME]

We snagged a Dana 44 rear axle out of a 64 Cruiser for our Lark, and we could NOT get the rear of the DS off the yoke of the axle. I decided to do a field removal of the U-Joint. I did not need the DS so I was NOT concerned about it, but what I did didn't damage it.

I removed the (2) INTERNAL C-clips.
I grabbed a deep well 1/2" drive socket that closely matched the ID of where the clips were.
I placed the socket into the hole on top of the bearing cup of the UJ.
I hammered with a 2# hammer until it drove the UJ out the other side and I could remove the opposite cup by hand.
I flipped the DS over and repeated the process, driving the first cup out of the DS yoke.
Once both cups were out, it was a matter of angling the cross out through the yoke holes and the DS was loose from the rear axle.
Time elapsed: 3 minutes

You can do the same thing installing (just not as violently) and use a vise to gently press the bearing cups into the UJ at the SAME TIME. Once they are flush with the outside of the yoke, you can use the socket/hammer combo to bump them in the rest of the way.
Install the internal clips on both sides
Then bump the cross a little from both sides to seat the cup against the clips and to free up the movement of the UJ.
Pump some grease into the UJ after it is installed into the truck. Only do a few pumps, not enough to squeeze a gob out because that blows out the seals and allows a place for debris to get in.

[LeoH]

Thanks for that description. With 3 driveshafts, I'll have plenty of practice this week at this removal/install! Do the circlips come with a replacement u-joint? How common is it that a u-joint is removed, repacked and replaced? I don't expect to do that with these, I was just wondering about in general.

[RadioRoy]

Make sure you reassemble the two drive shaft halves in the same orientation position that they were originally, so the balance is not affected. best to mark them before removing the drive shaft.

[BILT4ME]

RadioRoy points out a VERY important step. Most DS are installed "in phase". It is VERY important that they get reinstalled and aligned in the SAME orientation. It is not just balance, but rotational inertia. If they get installed out of phase, they may vibrate bad.

I use a center punch and nick (make a center punch mark) the DS in a line on each section with (1) nick on the slip yoke and (1) nick on the corresponding DS in close proximity and in the EXACT same line so I don;t rotate splines when removing. I then do the same for each DS section after that using (2) nicks for the 2nd location, and (3) for the 3rd location. If you use paint marks, they usually get wiped or washed off during the rework.

The clips usually come with new UJ. Spicer/Dana are a good brand if you can find them. There are many good ones.

Usually you don't "repack" them, as they are greasable. When you pull off the bearing cap, there is usually a seal that seals the bearing rollers from the outside world and there are LOT of very thin roller bearings (pins) (I have seen as many as 40) that may want to fall out on the floor when you take them off. You can get them all back in, but they MUST be clean and you MUST get ALL of them. But that is ONLY if you are going to re-use them. If you have it this far apart, I would recommend that you install new ones in all of them. Get the greasable kind. MAKE SURE THAT YOU NOTE THE ZERK LOCATION ON THE ONES YOU TAKE OFF IN RELATION TO THE DS so you get them back in the same location/orientation. Otherwise, you may not be able to grease them when they are back on the truck.

When you are done assembling the DS (before they go back in the truck), you should be able to EASILY twist the UJ back and forrth in its location with no binding. ANY binding can be adjusted by tapping the cross out or the cap in on each UJ.

When you have the DS off, make sure you take apart the slip yoke (MARK LOCATION BEFORE TAKING APART) and clean it thoroughly, especially the little hole in the end that is used as a pressure release/weep hole for the excess grease. When you are back in the truck, grease the slip yokes, only pump in a few pumps so you don't blow the weep hole plate out of the yoke. Just enough so it starts to squirt. Then press the little ball on the zerk to relieve the grease pressure in it or it will place stress on the pinion or transmission bearing that can possibly cause early failure.

As far as how often do we replace a UJ? I just replaced my first one in my Lark at 87K miles of living on gravel roads and that's only because I had to modify the DS (I installed a Dana 44 in place of the Dana 27) It depends on the use/abuse a vehicle has had. I would guess the trucks would require it more often due to the use, but if they were properly maintained, they may have never needed it. I currently drive a Toyota Land Cruiser (1996) for my daily driver and it still has the original UJ in it at 237K miles.