Wheel joints...caps come off how?

[nyteshades]

Ok...I'll admit it, the internal clip style ujoint is whooping my ass. Maybe it's the heat evaporating my patience like water, I dunno. Anyway, I have the right front axle on the bench, c clips removed and I can't figure out how to get the caps off.

I don't think I can press one side through to get the other side out. Wailing on it with hammer sounds good, but I know better. There isn't enough to grab a hold of with vice grips....I'm out of ideas. This is the original ujoint too, so you know it's fused it's self to the truck....

Any suggestions?

 

[flareside_thun]

a little bit of heat and a vice or BFH is your best bet, you change them just like a regular joint.

 

[Brad S.]

nyteshades,
Take it easy in the heat first of all. I had same kind of problem you have, while back
I used a small bottle jack, a couple of impact sockets(one small enough to fit inside & outside the caps) and the drawbar on an old case tractor to push out the caps. I didnt have a press and it was on the weekend everything closed. If you can leave the joint setting in diesel fuel or something like it, overnight maybe that would help.
I'm sure someone has a little easier method of removing this problem. Take your time and keep cool

 

[nyteshades]

Hmmm....well that's an idea. I wonder if I leave it in the sun in the drive way, if it'll save me some gas...

Thanks guys.

 

[Brad S.]

that probably comes from watching too many MacGyver episodes growing up.

 

[nyteshades]

lol prolly.

 

[Brimmstone]

vise and a hammer are all I use when doing them from pto shafts to semi u-joints. Pull out the clips lay the one side of the yoke on the jaws of the vise. Hit the other yoke that is not supported by the vise just behind the cap till it pushes the cap out. Flip it and do the other side. I can change u-joints this way in about 5 minutes. Been doing it this way for years since an old timer showed me how to avoid closing the yokes up while trying to either remove or install them with a vise.

 

[hairyboxnoogle]

when i was working in a shop in a small town we had alot of these goin out. So we devised a way to change em without pulling the axle. Unbolt one side from the springs and drop the axle down, and with a modified C-clamp style u-joint press you can get em out while in the truck. But since youre out, dont really help, just offering up for future reference... shaves a good bit of time off the job.

If you ahve a big C-clamp you can improvise youre own with a socket. BFH as suggested above works well too. Hammer, floor and a block of wood; heat in extreme scenarios

 

[Trying my best]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MugYJbBVpCs&playnext=1&list=PL54D173D71F45EBFD

This is the way I did it...goodluck