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UJ on diff - broken bolt
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 16 2:56 pm
by morgan
Rats ! Just fitting lovely new axle and its had a knock somewhere - the bolt hole which holds one of the little brackets on the UJ is broken - so there is nothing for the bolt to bite onto.
3 courses of action seem possible.
1) Swap the UJ mount from old axle to new axle. (pref option)
2) Drill the hole a little deeper, try to cut a thread into it with tap set.
3) Drill all the way through and nut bolt - after all it only needs to hold the bracket.
Pursuing option1 - please advise. If I undo the big nut in the middle will bad things happen or am I safe to do so ? I assume the UJ just sits on some splines underneath there... I could be wrong. This of course assumes the spline count is the same.
If splines are different then I guess its get a new UJ fitting - I assume you can ?
Looking for reassurance i can undo big bolt without diff exploding like a grandfather clock spring.
Thanks gurus...
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 16 3:59 pm
by Blue
Just drill the yoke right through and nut & bolt it. Undoing the centre nut to change the yoke will be a challenge, can't remember what the torque setting is but it's a lot. Also, some diffs have a crush washer to set the pinion depth, undo the nut and you'll disturb that, plus the yoke will be corse or fine spline, you only find that out when you take it off, so don't even go there when you have other options.
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 16 4:05 pm
by morgan
Aw. You see Blue, thats why I keep you around. Much obliged - As always.
Ps - YOKE. Thats the word. Couldnt get it !!
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 16 4:48 pm
by Blue
They are actually stronger drilled through and bolted so look at it as an upgrade

Posted: Mon Oct 03, 16 5:12 pm
by andyrob
or put a helicoil in
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 16 5:19 pm
by Mick
The 1350 yoke is drilled all the way through and uses larger U bolts.
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 16 5:34 pm
by Pete
Drill through. Square and parallel.
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 16 11:54 am
by MrNorm
Agreed! Only additional comment would be to bear in mind the balancing forces - the yolk can spin at a high rpm so it ought to be balanced, same rationale for balancing the prop. Intuitively, the metal you are boring out is replaced by the metal of the bolt, so it's really just the extra length of the bolt and the nut. A simple solution might be to similarly drill the opposite hole in the yoke and use an identical bolt setup?
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 16 12:39 pm
by TW71
You could go for a U.J. girdle?
Check dimensions first!
http://www.manciniracing.com/ujointgirdles.html
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 16 1:40 pm
by Blue
I would never use those Moroso girdles again, I think they're junk.
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 16 11:24 am
by TW71
I was going to fit them years ago but thought no more of it.
I just thought it may be another option for the problem here, thats all!
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 16 12:08 pm
by Dave999
button head stud screwed in from the back might work, the Allen head is smaller and easier to accommodate.
finding one the right size might be an issue
you could try u bolts fords used them I'm guessing someone does them for mopars. you can then just dill out the threads on all 4 and be done with it.
provided the caps are inner or outer circlip centred on the pinion yolk the fact that you hold them in with u bolts should not cause a centering issue
ford ones here haven't found Mopar yet
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mustang-Diff- ... xy4dNS9MNh
but any U bolt with the correct dimensions should work, its hardly like the original straps and bolts were made of anything special
Dave
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 16 4:54 pm
by Dave999
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 16 6:16 pm
by morgan
Ooh. I like the u-bolts.
Will have a measure.
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 16 7:06 pm
by latil
I think Chevs use U bolts too. My 65 Impala had them.