5 hours of disassembly later......lol;
[img]https://forum-attachments.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/pb/phizgp/j15/normal.jpg[/img]
Church of the Universal Joint
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Pac. coast Datsun
- Posts: 286
- Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 5:00 pm
[user=9]Pac. coast Datsun[/user] wrote: [quote]Wow! Did you have any vibration problems? How much were the new joints?
[/quote]
About three weeks ago I noticed sometimes the rear view mirror had five cars in it when the side views only had one. This would happen at about 50 m.p.h., then smooth out at about 65. Kinda reminded me of when I swapped a roadster 5-speed into my 510 as a teenager. It didn't line up quite right and, I was ignorant as to what the word "balance" ment.
The vibration got progessively worse over the past couple of weeks, and then the tell-tale "clunk" when shifting began.
I climbed under it Thursday to feel for play, and knew the end was very near for the front shaft. Visions of the driveshaft dropping from the trans while doing 55 and flipping me on my lid became vivid in my wild imagination so, I decided to swap 'em out immediately.
Hating to damage my manacure with actual physical labor, I called my local Mom&Pop shop. "A day to order parts, and close to 5 bills in labor". Yeah, get bent.
For [url=mailto:s@%ts]s@%ts[/url] and giggles, I called Nissan. Apparently Nissan makes they'er parts guys read off some sort of disclamer. He didn't recommend just changing the u-joints as the drivetrain is "perfectly ballanced from the factory and should be changed out as an entire unit". Mind you, an "entire unit" is $928.00, and may take a week or more to get, depending on wether they have one laying around in Tenn. or, if they have to wait for the boat to get here from the old country. Universal joints alone cost.....wait for it....$71.86....A PIECE!!! I was laughing so hard I almost peed. The center bearing is $159.81. My center bearing was in good shape so, I had already decided to pass on that purchase anyway.
Anyway, enough d!ck around, the real hunt began....
Auto Zone didn't have any in stock within a 50 mile radius at $18.95 a pop. Center bearing is $109.95 at the Zone.
Kragen had two versions of the same part. The standard u-joint, and the "performance" joint, though Johnny parts guy couldn't tell me what the difference is.
Kragen had one of each at one store 5 miles from my house, and two of each at another store 15 miles away from that. Worth the trip. $10.99 for standards, $15.99 for the "performance" ones. I recommend the latter as they have grease fittings. Center bearings are $106.99.
As you can see from the picture below, the front and center joints were getting gouged bad and pretty thin, the rear....uh...not so bad.
~phiz
[img]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j15/p ... ormal3.jpg[/img]
[/quote]
About three weeks ago I noticed sometimes the rear view mirror had five cars in it when the side views only had one. This would happen at about 50 m.p.h., then smooth out at about 65. Kinda reminded me of when I swapped a roadster 5-speed into my 510 as a teenager. It didn't line up quite right and, I was ignorant as to what the word "balance" ment.
The vibration got progessively worse over the past couple of weeks, and then the tell-tale "clunk" when shifting began.
I climbed under it Thursday to feel for play, and knew the end was very near for the front shaft. Visions of the driveshaft dropping from the trans while doing 55 and flipping me on my lid became vivid in my wild imagination so, I decided to swap 'em out immediately.
Hating to damage my manacure with actual physical labor, I called my local Mom&Pop shop. "A day to order parts, and close to 5 bills in labor". Yeah, get bent.
For [url=mailto:s@%ts]s@%ts[/url] and giggles, I called Nissan. Apparently Nissan makes they'er parts guys read off some sort of disclamer. He didn't recommend just changing the u-joints as the drivetrain is "perfectly ballanced from the factory and should be changed out as an entire unit". Mind you, an "entire unit" is $928.00, and may take a week or more to get, depending on wether they have one laying around in Tenn. or, if they have to wait for the boat to get here from the old country. Universal joints alone cost.....wait for it....$71.86....A PIECE!!! I was laughing so hard I almost peed. The center bearing is $159.81. My center bearing was in good shape so, I had already decided to pass on that purchase anyway.
Anyway, enough d!ck around, the real hunt began....
Auto Zone didn't have any in stock within a 50 mile radius at $18.95 a pop. Center bearing is $109.95 at the Zone.
Kragen had two versions of the same part. The standard u-joint, and the "performance" joint, though Johnny parts guy couldn't tell me what the difference is.
Kragen had one of each at one store 5 miles from my house, and two of each at another store 15 miles away from that. Worth the trip. $10.99 for standards, $15.99 for the "performance" ones. I recommend the latter as they have grease fittings. Center bearings are $106.99.
As you can see from the picture below, the front and center joints were getting gouged bad and pretty thin, the rear....uh...not so bad.
~phiz
[img]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j15/p ... ormal3.jpg[/img]
nice catch...
the yahoo who owned my truck before me destroyed the floor boards when the front u-joint blew on the freway...not a pretty sight...
that's why i got it so cheap...
I finally got a replacement panel to weld in to make it all look stock again. thanks to Mklotz...
one of my summer projects!
the yahoo who owned my truck before me destroyed the floor boards when the front u-joint blew on the freway...not a pretty sight...
that's why i got it so cheap...
I finally got a replacement panel to weld in to make it all look stock again. thanks to Mklotz...
one of my summer projects!
Thanks in advance for the info. Mine has a vib in the rear end at about 55 to 65 and I was wondering about my u-joints and after reading this its time to check on mine. I had my tires balanced cause the guy I bought it from had put new tires on but didn't balance them, and it didn't stop the vib totally. The guy who balanced them said that a couple of the rims where bent. I figure between the rims and the u-joints that will fix my problems.
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