Spicer 760x on a d30

Hi guys, first time poster here. Anyway, I tried replacing my old U joints with some spicer 760x's yesterday. Rented a ball joint press and everything. When I went to press them in they would not fit ( one of the needle bearings fell into cap and destroyed itself)

I went to NAPA for some precision joints as a temporary fix. I went to press them in, and they wouldnt press in straight for anything. I think I bent my yoke ears a little bit? Also it left a nice lip on the inside of the yoke. What do I do?

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Take a round or 1/2 round file and carefully file the lip off. Be careful to not file on the undamaged part as you just significantly reduced the surface area that holds the u-joint cap. If the cap fits loose or becomes lose in the future you'll need to replace that section of the axle shaft

Monster Mopar said:

Take a round or 1/2 round file and carefully file the lip off.

Click to expand...

/\ This! When your done with the file take one of the old caps and tap it through the ear hole to help knock down the edge a little better too.

They fit but as you found you must have started a little crooked and it dug in. Like said you have to file the edge down and try again!

Does this happen a lot when replacing u-joints? I had the same thing occur when doing the job on my front driveshaft. I haven't tried to fix it yet.

only if you have really bad luck... i've always used a hammer and a socket to do my universal joints. (NOT RECOMMENDED) but knock on wood I havent messed one up yet

The most important first step is to ensure the cap goes in straight ... I usually do this by hand with a small hammer just to get it started right, then I use my Ball joint press to finish. Aslo once installed tap the base of the ear with a hammer until the ujoint moves freely

Hammer and socket IS recommended, if you do it right. Don't use a press, it's a great way to bend axleshaft ears and put caps in sideways.

The "thor" method:


I did this a week or two ago on one of my spare axleshafts as I'd been running on a stub shaft and a hub after breaking one. Realized I had put the ujoint into my long side spare when I needed a short side :dunce: so I knocked it back out of the inner shaft carefully and put it into a short side. Still took only about 20min and went in perfectly, it's super easy.

Instead of using my little finger and a bucket of grease like he does I usually grab the grease gun and just fill the cap halfway with grease. I've never had a needle bearing fall under the trunnion.

edit: I'm not sure I'd reuse that shaft even after filing the ridge down - if you do, I suggest tack welding the caps in place (after tapping the yokes a few times to make sure the ujoint is seated correctly and spins freely) and/or keeping it as a trail spare.

This is the kind of press I'm using, been using it for the last 10yrs.



As with anything, if used improperly, carnage will ensue.

i have a big ass old Athol vise with a nice long handle, it makes ujoints go pretty quickly.

How should I go about bending the Yoke ears back?

If the yoke ears are in fact bent, you won't be able to straighten them.

I bet you could bend them back with a press somehow, but if they are bent more than a few hundredths of an inch you are risking a failure while assembling the axleshaft or driving, those ears are already the failure point and bending/fatiguing them doesn't improve matters. Better to buy a junkyard inner/outer for 20 bucks and put a ujoint in without screwing it up.

I bent the first one I ever did, bent it back a little, got the joint in, and the first time I got some wheelhop offroad with it, it popped so fast I had no time to let off the throttle and separated my balljoints. Not fun.

I just grab as many good ones as they have
cheaper than a u-joint...