| Author |
Message |
    
Will Bobbitt (Rkores)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 24, 2002 - 10:41 pm: | 
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Can anyone give me any good info on changing u-joints, espesically the front ones? I have a Hanes Manual that seems to explain it out fairly well. Is there anything else I should know? Also with a rattling cat, do I just drill two small holes on each end and run big drywall screws in? How long will this last?
Thanks,
Will Bobbitt
[email protected] |
John Moore (Jmoore)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 24, 2002 - 11:04 pm: |
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Can't help you with the u-joints, but my 88RRC had a bad exhaust rattle for some time. It turned out to be an old rusty clamp. If your certain it's the cats, they are somewhat expensive to replace. I've also read about dry wall screws stopping the noise, but I don't know how long that would last. If the ceramic center is gone, it's possible it's also clogging the exhaust. I ended up hollowing mine out. It was fairly easy to do. Afterwards, my rover ran much better, and it bought more time until I could replace them.
-John |
canOmarbles
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 12:18 am: |
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how do you hollow them out?
Can it be done without any evidence on the outside of the cat? Without cutting them up or drilling a hole then welding up? |
John Cinquegrana (Johnc)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 07:45 am: |
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I've heard (hehehe) that if you remove the cats and use the hi-lift handle to poke all the "honeycomb" out or a large screwdriver (at least on a 87-88 RRC).
Or you can just replace them with the Summit cats for $60 each. You can also purchase a flowmaster for the rear for $75.
FYI, a RR with 3 gutted cats and 1 flowmaster is not noisy at all, it sounds just like stock.
John C. |
Paul T. Schram (Paulschram)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 09:14 am: |
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Will:
Changing U-joints.
The only difficulty you are likely to encounter is the fact that the flange outer surface is not parallel or perpendicular to anything you will be trying to drive against, as a result, you may have some difficulty driving the old u-joints out and more importantly, driving the new ones in. I keep an extra u-joint around to replace the cups that get destroyed when things aren't lined up just right. You'll see what I mean when you get to it. I built a fixture for my hydraulic press so I can just press them in with no fuss.
Also, when reassembling, take a close look at the relationship between the two yokes and how the grease zerk fits into the equation (you did buy u-joints with grease zerks!). You will want to ensure that the zerk is not in a position where it can get busted off in full articulation (I seem to remember you have a lifted truck).
Again, with respect to the zerks, if you buy your u-joints from NAPA, the zerks are very long and you are nearly guaranteed to break a zerk-I buy shorter zerks and use the long ones to grease the joints before installing the joint, and then screw the shorter one in. The thread is 1/4-28 for the NAPA u-joints.
Hope this helps,
Paul |
Rob Davison (Pokerob)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 09:47 am: |
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john, 3 gutted cats? where is the 3rd one ?
rob |
Peter Carey (Pcarey)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 10:47 am: |
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Will ,if you are under 80K miles take the truck to the dealership for the cats and complain insesently (sp) about the noise. they are under warranty until 80K.
pwc |
Will Bobbitt (Rkores)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 02:05 pm: |
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I am running OME MD's with almost 121,000 on the clock, so I am well past the 80,000 mark. Paul, thanks for the advise! Where do I get the shorter Zerk fittings? I know the NAPA part number is 344, but there are a few different ones listed, such as a "Front U-Joint," a "Front Front U-Joint," and "Front Rear U-Joints." Should I get two "Front U-joints" or do the front and rear ones? I hope that makes some sense. I am going to go check out my Cats once they cool down, I just got home.
Thanks again,
Will Bobbitt |
Will Bobbitt (Rkores)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 02:17 pm: |
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One other thing, with the cats, if I rod them out, will that do anything to the oxygen sensors?
Thanks,
Will Bobbitt |
Paul T. Schram (Paulschram)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 03:23 pm: |
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Will:
For a DI, the u-joints are all the same, #344. NAPA will have the zerks, I have the part numbers at home-sorry. Just get the little ones in 1/4-28. I try to orient the u-joints so that the zerks point toward the shaft and away from the flange as there seems to be more room for them to move in.
Also, one critical step I left out is the amount of difficulty you will have with the bolts holding the flanges on. There is very little clearance. Go buy yourself a handful of junk 9/16" box end wrenches. Use a good wrench to break the nuts loose and then grind the life out of one of your junk wrenches so it will clear more and you will be far ahead and far less frustrated (buy several so that when you grind too far and break a wrench, you can go to the next one!). Once you get started, you'll see what I mean about grinding the wrenches. I leave it to you to decide if you want to use 6 or 12-point box wrenches. I prefer the 12, but they aren't as strong. But then again, you aren't using them to torque anything, just spin them free.
While you are at NAPA, pick up eight, 12, or 16 3/8-24 Nyloc nuts (shouldn't cost more than $0.25/each). Eight if you're just doing the front, 12 if you have a rotoflex, and 16 if you have dual u-joints in back. In the interests of satisfying my liability insurer, replace them every time!
On both shafts, I strongly suggest closely inspecting the splines. If you have any problems collapsing the splined sections in on themselves, you may well be in for a long day! Mine seemed to have worn very badly causing me to need to replace my front drive shaft twice and rear once, going on the second-at least I have plenty of spare driveshaft parts!
Hope this rant helps!
Peace,
Paul |
Paul T. Schram (Paulschram)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 03:27 pm: |
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Rodding the cats will not affect the O2 sensors on an OBDI truck as the cats are downstream of the O2 sensors. The cats are there to further degrade any incomplete combustion byproducts formed because the fuel is of such varied composition the computer can't get the stoichiometry just right.
There is some disagreement on the function of the second set of cats on the OBD II trucks, but my initial impression is that removing the catalyic oxidation aspect (the honeycomb stuff) of the system won't hinder the operation of the truck. |
John Cinquegrana (Johnc)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 03:51 pm: |
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Rob, on 87 and 88 RRs there is a third cat in the middle after the y-pipe. On 89 and up it got replaced with a muffler. |
Will Bobbitt (Rkores)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 05:42 pm: |
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Thanks everyone for the advise, I am in the process of doing the U-Joints now. I will give an update when they are finished.
Thanks,
Will Bobbitt |
Will Bobbitt (Rkores)
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 06:00 pm: |
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Just for kicks, can I run for a day without a front drive shaft? I have a Borg Warner so would that mess anything up? Thanks.
Will |
Paul T. Schram (Paulschram)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 26, 2002 - 05:57 am: |
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Lock the diff and you'll be fine.
Paul |
Carl_kps
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 26, 2002 - 12:15 pm: |
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Anyone know the Napa Part number for a Disco 2 u-joint with zerk fitting? |
Paul T. Schram (Paulschram)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 26, 2002 - 12:51 pm: |
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Carl:
Try a NAPA P/N 369-should fit the hookes joint directly.
Paul |
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