about to install NOS u-joints, is it worth investing the money for the u-joint cap press or will a socket and hammer work equally as well? Which way should the grease fittings face?

 

A vice is the only 'press' I've ever used and I have done a few.

 

Couldn't afford a vise...used c-clamps and a socket.

 

Agree with Ray on the vise. At the family machine shop, we used to do a LOT of drive shaft mods. for pick-ups, and we just used one of the big vises on our welding table along with a slug of cold-rolled steel as the punch, and another slug drilled out to slightly larger than the cap. To this day, I can change out a u-joint in jig time.

 

The correct position of the grease zerk is so that it is on the compression side rather than tension side of drive yoke. Other than that install the joint so that it is in the most accessible position for servicing.

 

U-joint grease zerk goes towords the drive shaft. If it was to be placed away (outwards), most times you can't get a grease gun on it.

 

Any shop vise and assorted sockets work fine . The idea of hammering is not the best it's very easy to lose needles .