Im changing the Ujoints on the rear driveshaft, and the caps wont come off.
Ive bottomed out the joint on either side, and the cap will not come off.

Any ideas or tips on how to get the caps off?


Thanks!

 

Get The Cap In A Vice And Either Crush It Or Turn It Back And Forth To Loosen It Up. Or Get It In The Vive And Pound Up On The Shaft. If That Doesent Work Cut The Joint With A Torch And Use A Punch To Get Htem Out

 

The cap stays tight when you get it to either side, cant turn it at all.

I dont have a torch(at all) or air compressor to run my cutoff wheel here at the house.

 

Use a socket that is slightly bigger on the ID than the U-joint cap to receive the one side and one slightly smaller than the cap as a pusher, put the whole shebang in a big vise and use it as a press.

I have never had that arrangement fail.

 

If u briefly heat the end of the yolk with a torch the caps will fall out. Be careful not to heat it to much or it will weaken it.

 

I used a socket, slightly larger, the cap comes out as far as it will allow on one side, due to the Ujoint bottoming out on the yoke on the inside, it cant pretty the cap out enough to pull it out, its the same all the way around, you can press it to one side, but bottoms out on the inside before the cap is even close to being loose and coming out.

Ill see if I can snap a pic



Sparker, I dont have a torch available

 

WD40 should get the cap to move so you can get it out. Spray and let it sit for 5 min.

 

Heres a few pics

When its bottomed out on the inside bottom, there isnt enough cap coming out to come off.
Its the same on both yokes.

 

Open the vise enough that the yoke will slip in, with the legs of the u-joint resting on the jaws. Take your BFH and hammer away. Don't hammer on the ear of the yoke, hit it where the yoke is welded onto the shaft. Once you have the other cap out as far as it will go, you'll be able to pull out the cross and drive the caps all the way out with a punch. This method works every time, on even the most stubborn u-joints. HTH

 

I would not recomend the above method. You will get the shaft out of ballance, thus causing a vibration. Get a punch or socket smaller than the hole and place it in there and beat the crap out of it. Since it looks like you have already done this ( spray some WD 40 or Blaster on it before the next step) place a oversized socket over the side sticking out and beat on it with a hammer, this will cause the cap to come up and off believe it or not. Then you wil be able to get the angle to get it out.

 

I did that too.

Ive been using a bigger socket on the bottom, then a small ballpien(that fits in the hole) and a BFH to hit it, it slides all the way till the U-joint bottoms out on the inside of the yoke, it wont slide out enough to get the cap off. I tried WD40, and Aerokroil, and beat it back and forth seeing if it would losen up going back and forth, still no luck.
Worked on it for 3hrs tonight with no progress
Ive done them on mustangs before and never had any issues like this...


Thanks everyone for the input, not sure why this is being so stubburn

 

Ok then, try getting one out and going over to the other side and with a small punch hitting just the cap through the hole. Then hit the first cap through, this should cause the other cap to come all the way through. Clear as mud?

 

The part that you say wont budge will budge, hammer it back and forth use plenty of WD40 or PB blaster.

 

Trust me, ive tried all that.

Once the cap comes to the inside, the opposite cap bottoms out before it comes all the way out, the center body of the Ujoint wont let the cap come out fully on either side. Theres NO working it with vice grips either, tried that, doesnt even budge.

 

There isnt enough clearance to get a punch in there, it just gets wedged in against the main body of the u-joint and the hole. I tried that too