DRIVE SHAFT JOINT REPLACE/LUBE

[Mark Merritt]

Hello; I am replacing the drive shaft boot and possibly replace the bearings although they are tight and don't appear to have a problem,but look dry.My question is how do you lube them? I see no grease fittings which is something only found in vehicles of today! Do you take them apart and clean and pack them? Do you fill the front housing with grease? If so how much? I know they use the ball and trunion method,the rear ones have A retainer band and clips,I just was surprised not to see at least A fitting in the rear one.How many miles did they get out of these back in the day? Bye the way my boot is toast,I see A complete kit for 150.00 but I know pressing and repressing the trunion pin is critical,it must be center or it will vibrate. Any thoughts? Mark M

[Dick Koch]

Mark - The front trunion boot can be changed without removing the pin and housing. The maintenance manual/supplement explains how to do it. As far as greasing the front trunion, if its not too badly worn, especially the pin it's just a matter of slathering everything with a good grade of grease and a big glob in the housing before you button it up. As far as the rear universal goes, since it has no grease fitting and you don't know how many miles on it I would replace it with a new one that has a grease fitting. The rear universal joints are relatively inexpensive. Once the rear universal is mounted there is no way to grease it with a standard grease gun. There is a fitting that you can buy that fits on your grease gun hose that has a point on it to insert into the ball check on the grease fitting in the universal joint, it works very well for me.
Dick.

[Mark Merritt]

Dick; thanks for the info,the rear must have A needle fitting.My old one has so much crud on it I havn't cleaned it up yet and there may be one,but I think I will take your advice and replace it.I did see in the manual about pulling the boot through the inside of the housing.Those bearings did look good,and had A good amount of grease in them,I think I will clean them in solvent and re-pack them.It is just A totally different method than what I have seen before,that is one thing that I enjoy about the car is seeing how they did it back then(engineering methods) again thanks Mark M

[big m]

Kind of gooes without saying, but clean any old grease and dirt away before packing the rollers and housing with fresh grease. Check the housing to be sure there is no wear in it, even a little bit will cause the rollers to hang up and cause a bad vibration.

---John

[Mark Merritt]

Thanks John I will check for that,I know it does'nt take much to cause vibration,the manual say's if you replace the trunion pin it should be center, no more than .006 of an inch off. Mark M