Britpart Propshafts or UJ's

When I was young, people used to refer to the cross shaped pieces with roller bearing caps on each arm as 'Hardy Spicers'. As in 'I need a new Hardy Spicer'. I think they were one of the first major manufacturers to provide that sort of joint. My goodness me how times have changed.

I tend to find that by the time the bearings have worn out the splined joint is getting a little slack too, so these days I often just get a new propshaft. It's easier to change the bearings on their own now I have a hydraulic press, but as I do a lot of motorway miles, there's no point soldiering on with vibration.

I think mine are Bailey Morris at the moment.

Brown said:

When I was young, people used to refer to the cross shaped pieces with roller bearing caps on each arm as 'Hardy Spicers'. As in 'I need a new Hardy Spicer'. I think they were one of the first major manufacturers to provide that sort of joint. My goodness me how times have changed.

Click to expand...

Absolutely. As a pup I initially assumed that the term hardy spicer actually meant what we now refer to as a universal joint. For many years that was simply how they were referred to and everyone knew what you meant. A generic term, like a hoover or a fridge.

Hi all! Well my new prop turned up yesterday, went to grease the UJ's before fitting and found that grease would only come through one roller bearing on each end, instead of all four. So I took the circlips out individually, whacked the joint with a copper hammer to get the bearing to move, greased them so I could see the new grease coming out and then reseated each one in turn, replaced the circlips and then greased again so all bearings now are able to receive grease.

A bit annoying as I don't think you should have to do such things to new parts, and I wonder how many people would just bolt the new prop on and maybe not notice that the grease isn't being delivered equally to each bearing.

Ah well, all done now, sprayed it up a nice bright orange and will be fitting it tomorrow! Thanks for the pointers guys!