U-Joint Help (Ideas??)

I broke the rear u-joint in the rear drive-shaft wheeling. I pushed out the front one (the one next to the transfer case) and i got the cap all of the way out of the yoke, and the u-joint cross (the + looking part in the middle) is touching the other yoke.

Here is the problem;
I cant get the cap of the opposite end of the u-joint, it is stuck on there, I tried and tried to pull it off with pliers, but i cannot for the life of me move it, Does anybody have any idea on how to get this off??? It has been soaking in wd-40 for about a week now.

oh BTW its a 93 4.0 with a 242.

Please help
thanks
nate

93GRNXJ said:

I broke the rear u-joint in the rear drive-shaft wheeling. I pushed out the front one (the one next to the transfer case) and i got the cap all of the way out of the yoke, and the u-joint cross (the + looking part in the middle) is touching the other yoke.

Here is the problem;
I cant get the cap of the opposite end of the u-joint, it is stuck on there, I tried and tried to pull it off with pliers, but i cannot for the life of me move it, Does anybody have any idea on how to get this off??? It has been soaking in wd-40 for about a week now.

oh BTW its a 93 4.0 with a 242.

Please help
thanks
nate

Click to expand...

I know exactly what you are talking about.
First, the cross has to be vertical (you get more travel that way) and pushed as far as it will go.
You have the right idea with the pliers, but the right way is to use a vise.
Put the cap in the vise and make it tight. Get a big screw driver, j-bar or anything else you can stick under the drive shaft. Start moving the drive shaft
left-right while prying hard with the big screwdriver.
Make sure the vise is tight and the cap will come off.
BTW I would like to suggest that you use the balljoint removal tool. It looks like a real heavy C clamp, works great.

hmm ok, i see what you are saying, but the driveshaft is stuck in the car, how do i get it out of the jeep. I cannot pull it out for the life of me, so this leads me to belive i dont have a rear slip yoke.

please help i am soo stuck

Did you unbolt the u-joint strap near the rear diff? Even with a slip yoke the d/s ain't gonna budge that much. You have to remove that before it will slide out of the transfer case. Make sure you matchmark before you pull it out.

yeah the rear is dissconected, but i still cant pull it out, it seems soild in there, does the transfercase need to be in any position?? i am pulling with it in nutural. it flat out wont budge, should I apply some force?? like hammer on it?? i dunno what to do and i really dont want to hammer on it

the chiltons says that i cannot pull it out, but everyone else is telling me otherwise.

No, don't bang on it. Maybe you don't have a slip yoke or it got bound up REAL GOOD. Hmmm. Anybody else have a suggestion? I don't recall having to shift the T/C in any position when I removed the one on my 87 (242).

93GRNXJ said:

hmm ok, i see what you are saying, but the driveshaft is stuck in the car, how do i get it out of the jeep. I cannot pull it out for the life of me, so this leads me to belive i dont have a rear slip yoke.
please help i am soo stuck

Click to expand...

I didn't realize that the shaft was still attached.
There two ways that I know of to attach a driveshaft. Either a splined slip joint or a yoke. If it is a splined end, you should be able to slide it off (with the rear end loose of course). If it is a yoke like the rear end, you should be able to remove four bolts and detach it.
If it is the splined type, could be that the splines were damaged when the ujoint busted. In that case a brass hammer or brass drift and hammer may be the way.
I think the first thing to do is remove the shaft and then replace the ujoint.
You shouldn't have to mess with the ujoint to remove the shaft.
The main thing is to determine how the shaft attaches to the transfer case.
I just looked at the overhaul manual for the 242 and it shows a long extension with a splined shaft in it. I think that's what you have.
Can you take a picture?

i got it out thanks guys!!

it was stuck good, but i got it out i just pryed on it a bit and it slid right out, i was just bein a stupid newbie


looks like i am gonna need a new drive shaft tho, danm how much are those on avgerage?? its stock

thanks guys
nate

93GRNXJ said:

i got it out thanks guys!!

it was stuck good, but i got it out i just pryed on it a bit and it slid right out, i was just bein a stupid newbie
looks like i am gonna need a new drive shaft tho, danm how much are those on avgerage?? its stock

thanks guys
nate

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Glad it worked out, you may want to check the splines male and female for damage.
I just bought a front driveshaft for $75, I'd guess the rear is somewhere close to that.
Something else. I recently bought an XJ that had signs of abuse, they had busted the rear ujoint. When I drove it, it started vibrating real bad around 60mph. I found out that the yoke on the diff had been damaged, the little tit that secures the ujoint on the side was bent out and there was movement on the drishaft even with everything tight.
Had to replace the yoke and the seal. You may want to check yours to make sure its OK.
Happy New Year.