Dave, it shouldn't be that big a deal. I had the driveshaft on Willit? shortened, with new OGTS rear U-joint and a new S-10 front U-joint installed by a local driveshaft shop. They even used the plastic injection method required on the Opel U-joint.

 

U-Joints Replacement



Driveline Services of San Diego
1090 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 275-0150 Tim Foot
Driveline Services is (6) miles from my house. I might have to stop by and see what they got.

Reviewing 1973 OPEL FSM, could not find any reference to U-Joints Servicing.
Briefly, how are U-joints Replaced & Plastic Injection Method?

 

Name of shop.

Hi Ron,

Well, here in Cowtown (Fort Worth) the boys seem a bit at odds on what to do. I have both U-joints and plenty of drive shafts with yokes, but no one with the means to install the plastic injection u-joints. Do you have a number for your shop and I can call to ask about it? I may ship one out to them with the length requirements.

Thanks,

Dave

 

Sure thing Dave, you wanna talk to Tim Foot, he's the owner and a real gearhead. He's got a really neat roadster, Chromed out the kazoo and an SBC in it. Here's his number, just call between 9-5 PST Mon-Fri. 619-275-0150.

 

Thanks for the info.

Hey Ron,

Thanks so much. The attempted fix by the local shop was just that, an attempt. I struggled for an hour last night trying to get the one that was created to slide into the transmission. No go.

I thought it was me for a second, but the original yoke slid on and off like a dream. Another yoke on an Opel automatic driveshaft does the same thing. The yokes must be so similar that they cannot be differentiated with the naked eye. I will take it back this morning and see if there is any chance that they can replace the Checvy yoke with the Opel end and hope to get in balance. If not, I'll call Tim and get his take on the situation.

Thanks again,

Dave

 

Is this problem at all related to this one?
It seems chevy yokes are not quite the same. Bill Hoffman I believe first found this to be the case. Have a look at the later posts in this thread.

Todd

 

They are so close, you think it has to work. In fact, the Chevy yoke will fit the Opel automatic transmission. It sure won't fit the Getrag though.

 

Solution.

Ron and Co.,

After careful study and input from may segments. I am sending all of the parts and reminants to Driveline Services of San Diego. They will fab and return. I will send details when the finished product is complete and in hand.

Dave

 

What I heard it is a simple task you need an automatic opel drive shaft that is cut and welded to a 4 speed opel driveshaft.
OGTS should have them already fabricated or can have them done if you send the parts and for a small fee they will do it

 

I used a NAPA U joint and welded washers on the yokes to hold them in. Worked fine.

 

Thank you Bob. I'll give it a try on one of the spare driveshafts I have.

OGTS told me pretty much the same thing - to inject epoxy - but I feel better about it knowing you've compared press-out loads. I've got some plastic hypodermics I picked up at Carlisle and there's even a West Marine close to home.

I'll probably have the shaft rebalanced afterwards just to be sure.

Don

 

I did the same thing as RallyBob.
I used Epoxy, and got a syringe at Walgreens.
Been on the car for 2 years.
Lyle

 

Now what??

OK, I did the DYI route on the U-joints and one of the front ones self-destructed on I-95 when attempting to go to Carlisle!

Does anyone know of a shop that does the plastic injection for the U-joints that I can send my driveshaft to have it fixed? After the "explosion" of the caps coming off, I don't want to experience that again! I did it exactly as described and the U-joint did not respect my efforts. Now I want to pay to have it done professionally. The shop my area doesn't do the injection.

Thanks!!
Elwood :banghead:

 

Elwood, I replaced my u joints on the 75 bout three years ago using the heat gun trick to remove the plastic. injection. Following Dennis's advice from OTGS cleaned the caps well and aligned the groove in the cap with injection hole and filled it with epoxy glue. This set up is still working. Even with the the wreck about two and half months ago drive shaft still looks solid. Ron

 

Not sure why it should be hard to find a driveline shop who can glue in new u-joints. Don't all GM RWD vehicles have the U-joints glued in?

 

Good lock, todays shops would rather spot weld a keeper like P.J. had done. To injection glue the u-joints a shop would have to build a jig for this, I was told if I had 50 or so shafts, it would be worth the money, but they will not do it for one, they had a hard enough time with balancing the shaft as it was a lot smaller than they normally deal with, and something to do with the splines.

 

Does OGTS offer this as a service? I don't trust my own capabilities enough to ensure it's vibration-free when I'm through.

 

No not yet, Find P.J.'s thread on u-joint replacement, that would be the route I would go if I had to do it again, no problem installing the u-joints, I used loctite epoxy with self mixing tip, 5 min set, then you will have to get it balanced from a driveline shop :yup:

 

I did mine three years ago, heated it a little so the glue would flow nice, injected epoxy in from bottom till it comes out the top, stick tooth pick in bottom hole let set.
I never even had it balanced, it is so short, thought I would try it and no vibration what so ever.
I give it a 2 on the hard to do scale.

 

Can someone tell me what the torque spec is for the the u-joint u-bolts? I don't seem to be able to come up with that one.

Thanks!

EDIT: I've been chasing a driveline vibration for months and finally found a post elsewhere that made me realize that I was over tightening the u-bolts. The correct way is to tighten them only until the lock washers flatten out then 1/4 turn more. Otherwise, you distort the cups and can ruin the needle bearings. A drive line specialist said that over tightening the u-bolts is probably the biggest cause of vibration issues.

Nobody answered, so I guess you guys didn't know this either. : )

 

From what my book says, Drive pinion extension shaft to universal joint is 11 lbs. for the 1.5, 1.9 1968-1970. is this what you are looking for Zippy 7575. Brad

 

Thanks Brad. That sounds about right, but since it's hard to fit a torque wrench on there flattening out the lock washer plus 1/4 turn is probably a good rule of thumb. Took care of my vibration, so fortunately I must not have done permanent damage to the cups when I over-tightened them.

 

Cool, so the vibration is gone ? what will your girl friend do now ? :haha::haha:

 

Haha... you're right, that's about the only thing she liked about riding in the GT.

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question question, but it's one that has me puzzled. I see on some of the other forums that when replacing factory-epoxied u-joints the replacement joints come with c-clips to hold them in. Some Chevy and Dodge trucks seem to be this way.

On Opels it seems that we either have to use epoxy again or weld washers to hold the u-joints in. Is this because Opel driveshafts do not have a groove needed to hold the clip?

 

Ya, the u-joint carrier only has enough room for the u-joint it self, plus about 1/8 in. Not enough room for a machine shop to cut a grove into :banghead: would make things a lot easier :yup:

 

Thanks Brad! That clears it up.

 

Brad, youre always helping me and you dont even know it