U-Joint Woes (Help)

JMT

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I've tried 4 different methods to remove a U-Joint on a Dana 44 front axle and all 4 have failed. Sprayed with Kroil last night. Any help appreciated.

1) Hammer and socket into a void method. Tried this over wood, into a steel receiver in a ball joint set, and into a homemade shallow steel receiver. I finally shattered the head of one of the caps.
2) Rented ball joint/ujoint remover set from OReilly and used air impact.
3) Vice with socket into the homemade shallow receiver.
4) Strike just below the ear with the axle in a vice supporting the ujoint.

Any other ideas. I've been beating on this for an hour and a half now.

JMT
 
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i’d try soaking them in a good penetrating spray overnight and try again tomorrow. would probably be good for several sprays of said spray.
 
i’d try soaking them in a good penetrating spray overnight and try again tomorrow. would probably be good for several sprays of said spray.

Should have said we used Kroil last night and some PB today after we ran out of Kroil. We can try again.
 
Ok, now I'm going to go kill myself.

I had removed the snap rings from one of the axles last night. I thought that was the axle I was working on. Come to find out I was wrong. Kill myself, kill myself. All of them are removed now. 🙄
 
Ok, now I'm going to go kill myself.

I had removed the snap rings from one of the axles last night. I thought that was the axle I was working on. Come to find out I was wrong. Kill myself, kill myself. All of them are removed now. 🙄

hopefully this solves your problem. actually sounds like something i would do.
 
I was going to say make absolutely sure all of the snap ring is removed. Had the tips of them break off and hold things up. As for joint removal I use the vise and hammer method pictured. Hammer of choice is a 40oz dead blow ball peen. Most other methods run risk of pinching the yoke.

82197767-0BA4-4D3A-80FC-324F371FE7A3.jpeg
 
i have beat a cheap chinese socket to death swapping out unjoints on one of my trucks.
 
I was going to say make absolutely sure all of the snap ring is removed. Had the tips of them break off and hold things up. As for joint removal I use the vise and hammer method pictured. Hammer of choice is a 40oz dead blow ball peen. Most other methods run risk of pinching the yoke.

View attachment 354459

That is the method that we used in the end. It is far simpler than any of the other methods I've used in the past. Great pic illustrating. Thanks!
 
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I'm having trouble here as well. All 8 clips are out - though I broke a few and will inspect very closely to see if there are still pieces in the clip race. I tried the vise method pictured above and not one of them is budging. I left them soaked in atf+acetone overnight and reapplied again this morning. I will give it another shot today.
 
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I'm having trouble here as well. All 8 clips are out - though I broke a few and will inspect very closely to see if there are still pieces in the clip race. I tried the vise method pictured above and not one of them is budging. I left them soaked in atf+acetone overnight and reapplied again this morning. I will give it another shot today.

The first few hits you need to be pretty heavy handed to shock them loose.
 
10-4

i've got a 16 oz ball peen and a 2lb dead blow. i guess if i keep failing i'll need to track down a heavier dead blow?

You will want to stick with a ball peen or a mini sledge as you want that sharp hit that you cannot get with a mallet style dead blow. My preference is for dead blow ball peen but I do enough of them to justify the cost.
 
I'm having trouble here as well. All 8 clips are out - though I broke a few and will inspect very closely to see if there are still pieces in the clip race. I tried the vise method pictured above and not one of them is budging. I left them soaked in atf+acetone overnight and reapplied again this morning. I will give it another shot today.

Have you tried applying heat first? When replacing stock u-joints, I heat one cap at a time using a Map-Pro torch, then apply the process @Blackjack said. I've only ever had one I couldn't remove with that method.
 
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10-4

i've got a 16 oz ball peen and a 2lb dead blow. i guess if i keep failing i'll need to track down a heavier dead blow?

Regular soft face dead blow isn't going to do it, and 16 oz ball peen is a bit small. I struggled with this too until I went and got a 32 oz ball peen; using the method pictured above they popped right out with the bigger ball peen.
 
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Have you tried applying heat first? When replacing stock u-joints, I heat one cap at a time using a Map-Pro torch, then apply the process @Blackjack said. I've only ever had one I couldn't remove with that method.

You do have to be careful with heat. Definitely nothing hotter than Mapp gas for sure. Seen a lot of yokes ruined from too much heat.
 
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You do have to be careful with heat. Definitely nothing hotter than Mapp gas for sure. Seen a lot of yokes ruined from too much heat.
Very true, definitely don't use Oxy/Acety. Since they did away with Mapp gas, going to Map-Pro, the hottest temps (somewhere around 3600 degrees) won't hurt the yokes. (y)
 
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