"AncientOfDays" (ancientofdays)
03/18/2014 at 12:31 • Filed to: 1985 AMC Eagle
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"AncientOfDays" (ancientofdays)
03/18/2014 at 12:31 • Filed to: 1985 AMC Eagle | 1
| 4 |
On Thursday night it was time to bust out some joints.
U-joints, obviously. You know, to bust the old ones out of the drive shafts. I'm no pot-head. Although someone nearby WAS smoking the ganja, and the smell of it was very strong out on the back patio while I worked. So there's that.
The universal joints were not in good shape, although a couple might have had some life left in them. But in one of them, the needle bearings had mostly been crunched into small pieces. In another, there was no lubrication, since the hole under the cap, where the grease comes through, had gotten blocked with a concretion of old, greasy dirt.
I'm thinking that those needle bearing-shaped grooves shouldn't be there.
The online tutorial I read about removing u-joints made it look pretty easy, and recommended that you use a hammer and spark plug socket to bang the joints out. Like many of the Eagle's parts, they were pretty well stuck, and though I eventually managed to remove all of them, my spark plug socket is a little the worse for wear:
Let's hope the new ones go in a little easier after I clean the drive shafts.
big eagle
> AncientOfDays
03/18/2014 at 13:13 |
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I love my eagle. I haven't done my u's yet though. They're probably due. I just swapped out the old front half shafts. It wasn't hard. What kind of eagle have you got?
Meatcoma
> AncientOfDays
03/18/2014 at 13:16 |
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When I replaced the ujoints on my son's pathfinder, 2 caps were filled with no needle bearings and a lot of rust dust. Wow hard to believe you got them out w/o a torch but good job! I used an extension to pound his out and while they were not stuck as much as yours, extensions are cheaper than sockets.
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AncientOfDays
> big eagle
03/18/2014 at 13:29 |
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It's an '85 wagon, base.
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AncientOfDays
> Meatcoma
03/18/2014 at 13:31 |
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Yeah, they are cheaper... but the socket should still be in good enough shape to use. If not, well... that's the cost of "doing business" I guess.