The stuck cup may have gone in at an angle. If that happened, the best recourse is to push it back out rather than try to keep going in. Otherwise, it may damage the yoke.

Frankly, if it has room to get cocked in the bore, the bore may be worn (at least at the start of the opening).

 

Stay the course, Joe. In a few short years, you'll look back with great pride as you happily drive down the road toward some future FTE event.

 

That would be shopping for the next project...

 

The current stuck cap is through. I just can't get it back through the outside. I think you are correct in your assessment of getting it cocked in the bore. I just had it crooked enough to hold fast but not move. I'm going to check the bore and make sure it is smooth and then heat it up and try getting the cap lined up properly.

I noticed on the one I put in today, that I was getting it a little crooked. My vice is a little narrow. So, I worked at getting it in very straight and things went much smoother.

I'm getting a feel for it, so I think I can get it done......I hope. Needless I will trash that u-joint, save the caps just in case and try again.

 

Thanks Ray, Each step I take I'm getting a little better and more knowledgeable. I've been getting frustrated a lot lately, but at least I'm making progress. It will be an exciting day when I get it on the road and I will be able to say I did most of the work myself.

At this point that would likely get me killed, but I'm a patient man. One might follow me home after this one is done. By then I will have better tools and experience. Although this one will never get sold.

 

Keep with it! It really does suck when you don't have the right tool Looks like I'm gonna have a few more days I can't get at my trucks again with the "new" storm hitting tonight and tomorrow Oh well

 

Yeah, it's going to be a cold one. We are expecting only a couple of inches of snow. It sounds like you will get hit hard.
We just got back from Walmart grocery shopping, it was crazy.

 

A 6 inch vice or a 6 inch C clamp works very well on U-Joints.
Also I put lots of red sticky grease in the cup to hold the needles in place.
I use a cutting torch to cut the old ones out if I have one handy. The
only problem with the torch is the popping flying grease. Use a face shield
or loose an eye.
And yes as others have said I have had to replace them along the road and
or in the bush also. A bottle jack, some blocking and the right size sockets
up under the frame works too. Do this on a winter night in two feet of snow.
Not a lot of fun. Then the little woman and kids bouncing around in the rig
really helps speed the job up as well.
Well ya say why did I not change them before I lost one on the road if I had them
with me? It started going out on the way to town (1.5 hours on secondary roads) so I bought new while in there and after greasing the bad one up was just hoping
to make it back home to the dry warm shop. It never happens for me. I never
make it back, ever. I should know better. It's that Murphy's guys fault and his damn law it is.
Anyway I am glad ya are getting them Bud. I wish I was there to help and to show
ya some of the so called tricks I have learned to make it go easier.
If the ones your replacing don't have zirks in them ya will be money and years
ahead to drill and tap them and install zirks. Either in an end cap or the cross section. I do this with ball joints as well.

 

Well good news. I now have all my u-joints in and the driveshaft back on the truck.
Arctic, they all have zerks and I greased them after putting them together. The rear one was a problem though. I couldn't get to the zerk with my gun. So, I pulled the rear end of the drive shaft and greased it and bolted it back up. (While holding the caps to keep them on.)

One of the u-joints continued to give me fits, but I got through it and getting the u-joints on the long section of drive shaft went very smooth.

Thanks for everyone's help and encouragement. Next is emergency brake band (brake lining arrived the other day), drag link, tie rod, and steering wheel. That should keep me busy for a little bit. I will have to wait until my wife is out of town before firing up the engine and seeing how the drive shaft turns. For some reason she doesn't like an engine running in the garage with no exhaust.

Now for pictures: Be sure to holler if you see something amiss.

 

Good to see you got your U-joints and drive shaft together. I had a 71 New Yorker that dropped the front U-joint on the interstate one time. Called my dad and he brought out a new one and we got it fixed on the shoulder. All I had was a 6 inch C-clamp and a crescent wrench to work with. Good job.

 

Joe that looks great! Man, you really got your park brake drum to shine. I cleaned mine off, but it doesn't shine like that.

Good job!

 

For that pesky hard to get at zerk a needle adapter that plugs onto your grease gun
and or an inverted nipple for the needle should work.
I like to use the inverted needle type zerks in the cap on my joints. As well as lower
ball joints and king pins where they can get knocked off.

 

I didn't mention how I got the stuck one off. The first time I tried heat, I realized that I was probably heating the cup too much as well. So I got the cup as far away as I could and heated it again. That time it worked just fine.

Today, I was out and got my drag link installed.


Man, I need to clean my truck. That picture makes everything look dirty.
I got the drag link kit from Dennis Carpenter, the cotter pins were a little short for my taste, so I used some longer ones that I bought from Midfifty for that. I also bought some dust seals way back when. I was going to put them in the Pay it Forward thread, but I noticed they have been recalled.....

 

Hey, do any of you know the torque specifications on the pitman arm to the steering shaft? I can't seem to find it in the book. I could be calling it the wrong thing.....

 

IIRC 85 ft-lbs. It's in the spec section of the manual, called a sector gear arm I believe.