U joint disassembly
 

Howdy boys. I bought the "Shop Repair Manual" for '32-'41 Ford-Mercury, and I'm less than impressed. Not much useful information on how to actually repair anything. Yup, I'm frustrated. I would like to disassemble the U joints in order to lube them before I put everything back together, but can't find any info on it. Surely, it's a simple task, I just don't know how to go about it. And I don't want to ruin it in the process. So, if you are knowledgeable in that arena, please enlighten me! Thanks guys!

Re: U joint disassembly
 

These can be very difficult to disassemble. But, I do not see any reason to take it apart for lubing. Just pack it with grease and force the goo into the internals with your hands.


The retaining wire around the center of the bushings must be removed to disassemble. I usually just cut the wire in several pieces with an abrasive disc because getting a hold or otherwise prying on the wire is frustrating.

Re: U joint disassembly
 

X2 what JWL said.

I had one that was not lubricated well back in the '60s, because I didn't know any better, and had slop in one of the pins. I was able to get one of the retaining rings out using an awl, but the other three I ended up cutting them with a Dremel and an abrasive disc.

Re: U joint disassembly
 

Just to continue the good info. If the u-joint is nice and tight, not floppy or loose, then just pack it with grease and go. If it is worn, sloppy etc , you have two choices. 1) Get the rebuild kit and cut the old rings off with an angle grinder or dremel. there are genuine ford rebiuld kits around or 2) get a NOS u-joint assembly from one of out premier vendors here, they will have them. What you do not want to do is get a repro one or a needle bearing lincoln style. That would be bad.
And yes, they are not any real shop manuals for old fords. Ford supplied service bullentins but not a compresensive shop manual. However there is a Canadian one that is good and was reproduced by crank and hope. Have fun

Re: U joint disassembly
 

The bushing retainer clips are made of spring steel and can be difficult to remove. I know of no way to remove them without deforming them to the point that they cannot be used again. The old service bulletins directed one to mount the u-joint in a vise and strike the clip firmly with a sharp chisel. This take the tension out of the spring steel so that the clip can be levered up and out of the bushing groove. I wish there was a source for new clips, but haven't found one.

Re: U joint disassembly
 

Howdy Boys, well as usual, I spoke before looking in the Bulletins. Found it! As mentioned above, the bulletin says to "strike the clip" to release it. Uh....... found that hard to do. I did however, remove the clip by forcing a very small flat screw driver underneath it. Got them all out on two U joints. Glad I did, they were both dry. Had to bend the clip back into shape just a touch to get them to stay in place, so I'm hoping they do! I suppose one could force grease into the spider, but I felt it would be better to disassemble them. Anyway, thanks for the response!