UJ on diff - broken bolt

morgan · Post by **morgan** » Mon Oct 03, 16 2:56 pm

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...

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Mon Oct 03, 16 3:59 pm

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.

morgan · Post by **morgan** » Mon Oct 03, 16 4:05 pm

Aw. You see Blue, thats why I keep you around. Much obliged - As always.

Ps - YOKE. Thats the word. Couldnt get it !!

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Mon Oct 03, 16 4:48 pm

They are actually stronger drilled through and bolted so look at it as an upgrade

andyrob · Post by **andyrob** » Mon Oct 03, 16 5:12 pm

or put a helicoil in

Mick · Post by **Mick** » Mon Oct 03, 16 5:19 pm

The 1350 yoke is drilled all the way through and uses larger U bolts.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Mon Oct 03, 16 5:34 pm

Drill through. Square and parallel.

MrNorm · Post by **MrNorm** » Tue Oct 04, 16 11:54 am

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?

TW71 · Post by **TW71** » Tue Oct 04, 16 12:39 pm

You could go for a U.J. girdle?

Check dimensions first!

http://www.manciniracing.com/ujointgirdles.html

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Tue Oct 04, 16 1:40 pm

I would never use those Moroso girdles again, I think they're junk.

TW71 · Post by **TW71** » Wed Oct 05, 16 11:24 am

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!

Dave999 · Post by **Dave999** » Wed Oct 05, 16 12:08 pm

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

Dave999 · Post by **Dave999** » Wed Oct 05, 16 4:54 pm

dana 60

http://www.jegs.com/i/Mopar+Performance ... 4/10002/-1

ahaaaaa

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s ... tYmm=false

maybe I don't know your yoke/joint

morgan · Post by **morgan** » Wed Oct 05, 16 6:16 pm

Ooh. I like the u-bolts.
Will have a measure.

latil · Post by **latil** » Wed Oct 05, 16 7:06 pm

I think Chevs use U bolts too. My 65 Impala had them.