UJ frustration

Hi all.

I know this should be a stupid question, but the UJs (or UJ, as I'm only on my first one!) are/is doing my head in

I'm using both Busterbus's and Mad Hat Man's 'How tos'.

The problem is, I just can't seem to get the caps squeezed together enough to get the second circlip in.

I'm pretty confident that its not a dropped roller, as it is very very nearly there - I can hear the circlip 'clip' in, but it won't spring out enough (as much as other side) and having read a number of threads about these giving way, I really don't want that to happen because I haven't got the clip in properly!

The other thing is that when the circlip is almost in, the spider feels really tight, I've searched but can't find anything to describe how tight/stiff a new UJ should be (I've not changed UJs before - in case you hadn't guessed - never had a car with them). I could get them freed up a bit without the second circlip using a mallet on the top of the yoke, but that wasn't as easy with the circlip in.

Any suggestions?

Annoyingly I've got to get it off the driveway for Friday, I haven't taken the rear propshaft apart yet, I presume its OK to stick that back on to move it off the drive and back on again?

Cheers

Marc

(still waiting for the multiplug from Emmots to sort the EAS!)

From my experience (which is not much): dropped roller...

make sure the circlip slots are clean and free from debris.

both of the above.

Hi, cheers.

I made sure the slots were clear as possible, including of grease.

There are a number of other threads where the dropped roller is mentioned, but given the diameter of the rollers, I wouldn't be able (I don't think) to get it as close as it is if there were a roller in the wrong place. Plus, when i do manage to free it off, I can't hear anything that would indicate anything out of place. Not sure that means anything, but still!!

One thing I should've mentioned, is that the ones that came off had metal caps, whereas the new ones have rubber caps. I'm assuming that's just a design change though.

Cheers
Marc

I know this is an old thread, but if someone is here because they are having a similar issue, then it might be due to the thickness of the circlips.

I recently purchased new GKN UJ bearings for my 1977 S3 and, upon opening the boxes, noticed that the circlips seemed thicker than those I’d removed, which I think were the 48-year-old originals, but I didn’t think about it much more at that point.

When I came to fit the bearings I had a hell of a job squeezing them enough to get the clips in, and once in, the joints seem very tight. And no, I hadn’t trapped any pins.

I wasn’t happy, and thought back to the thickness difference I’d noticed. The circlips supplied with the GKNs were ~1.45mm thick and were for a 27mm bore (the size of the hole that the cap fits into). Looking online, I found that wherever the thickness of circlips for 27mm bore was specified, it seemed to be 1.2mm. Now, 0.25mm difference does not seem much, but you need to multiply it by 2 as there is a clip on each end, and 0.5mm does make a difference when the tolerances in these bearings are so small.

Long story short, I replaced all 16 of the GKN circlips with 1.2mm circlips I found on eBay, and the difference is amazing; UJs move freely, no heat buildup.

I have attached a photo of eBay listing for the circlips I bought, as eBay links expire!
Hope this helps someone.

When I did my P38 propshafts, the bearing caps were slightly below the circlips. I centred the UJ as best I could, and then filled with grease which expanded the caps firmly against the circlips.

Does sound like dropped roller, unless the UJ's are simply badly made ?