I checked my coil. Is it good?

[MarcDeSoto]

I removed the driveshaft, but could not see anything wrong with the U-joint install. I ran the engine and the output shaft looks OK to me.  What do you guys think?  

 

 

 

[Dave72dt]

It looks like the brake drum is running smoother.  It's hard to tell with the engine turning it over Check the runout on it to be sure.  Check the ujoint phase on the driveshaft.  Has the driveshaft ever been shortened, lenghtened or style of ujoint changed because something is definitely not right.  Bolt it back up and take close up pics of the drum/ujoint with engine off.  Turn the driveshaft 90 degrees and take another pic.  turn 90 again, another pic and once more.  Pick a spot where the bearing in the front is straight up and down and take a pic of the rear joint without turning the driveshaft.

[Sam Buchanan]

Marc, adjust the idle speed down to where it is supposed to be, that engine should be very quiet and ticking over like a fine sewing machine when it is idling. The video sounds like it is idling about twice as fast as it should be.

 

Brake drum looks fine to me, the problem is almost certainly in the U-joint installation.

[Dodgeb4ya]

One of the U-joint caps was not 100% fully seated into the trans flange or wrong U-joint.

[MarcDeSoto]

6 hours ago, Dave72dt said:

It looks like the brake drum is running smoother.  It's hard to tell with the engine turning it over Check the runout on it to be sure.  Check the ujoint phase on the driveshaft.  Has the driveshaft ever been shortened, lenghtened or style of ujoint changed because something is definitely not right.  Bolt it back up and take close up pics of the drum/ujoint with engine off.  Turn the driveshaft 90 degrees and take another pic.  turn 90 again, another pic and once more.  Pick a spot where the bearing in the front is straight up and down and take a pic of the rear joint without turning the driveshaft.

I will take some pics as you describe tomorrow.  Not sure what you mean when you ask did I phase the u-joints.  Does that mean the u-joints need to mirror each other from front to rear of the driveshaft?  I tried to adjust the idle speed down to about 450 rpm but the screw is completely off of the fast idle cam.  It must have something to do with the fact that my throttle rod is not connected to anything.  It is just laying on top of the head.  Maybe I can adjust it by pulling it back to slow idle speed.  

Edited April 3, 2023 by MarcDeSoto

[MarcDeSoto]

These pics were taken with the driveshaft off of the car.  The yokes are fixed so I can't get out of phase that way.  The driveshaft is original and has never been cut, shortened, lengthened, or modified in any way.  

Edited April 3, 2023 by MarcDeSoto

[Dave72dt]

The front joint does not look right.  It looks like grease mixed with rust.  Clean it off and take another look at it as well as the cup and needles.

 

Air moving through the carb will want to open it up a bit if you don't have some kind of control on it and it could go to wide open.  Put some kind of spring on it to hold it closed.

[kencombs]

The area of the pics is not where the problem is likely to be.  The flange that bolts to the trans and the pieces that go on the u-joint at more likely to not be seated correctly.  

 

Try bolting the flange in place without the joint and shaft then turn and look for 'wobble'.

[Los_Control]

I have a pair of vise grips clamped on the frame, then some bailing wire creating a loop for a spring to hook too ..... until I get the floor back in.

 

The only way the u-joint could cause your issue is if it was frozen & not rotating freely.

@kencombs is correct suggesting to look at the flange ....

 

Your u-joints look terrible .... as they are they would self destruct in a few years or a few thousand miles.

The brown rust with fresh grease creates mud.

I think NOS parts is great for many things .... I personally have not heard anyone complain about quality of modern u-joints.

 

Yours look absolutely terrible for being nos.   You need to clean them up, make sure there is no pitting on the shaft or needle bearings then assemble them & re-install .... meaning you need to press them out from the drive line to accomplish this.

 

Not a big deal to clean them & inspect ..... A typical u-joint is maybe $10-$15 ?

Only suggesting I might just buy new ones if they are a reasonable price.

 

In my truck I have Cleveland u-joints. Cheapest replacements I know about is on ebay for $101 each + shipping.

I only hope mine look as good as yours when I remove them to clean & inspect. .... I will be cleaning mine & hoping they are usable.

Or I may go deeper with a rear end & drive line swap .... To avoid $100 u-joints in the future.

[Sam Buchanan]

13 hours ago, MarcDeSoto said:

These pics were taken with the driveshaft off of the car.  The yokes are fixed so I can't get out of phase that way.  The driveshaft is original and has never been cut, shortened, lengthened, or modified in any way.  

 

Are we seeing a gap at the "lower bearing" indicating the joint is not centered in the yoke? Or is that a photo artifact?

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Sam Buchanan

[MarcDeSoto]

4 hours ago, kencombs said:

Try bolting the flange in place without the joint and shaft then turn and look for 'wobble'.

How would I bolt the flange in place without the u-joint?  There's no way to connect the driveshaft to the flange without the joint and bearing block clamps.  Yes, it's not perfectly centered.  I plan to fix that and remove the bearing and clean and regrease them.  The manual says there are two alignment arrows that you are supposed to put in line on the shaft and the front u-joint.  I hope I can see those arrows.  

Edited April 3, 2023 by MarcDeSoto

[Los_Control]

Good eye @Sam Buchanan Is this what you are seeing?

 

 

 

 

[Sam Buchanan]

7 minutes ago, MarcDeSoto said:

 Yes, it's not perfectly centered.

 

Well then.............

[Sam Buchanan]

1 minute ago, Los_Control said:

Good eye @Sam Buchanan Is this what you are seeing?

 

 

 

 

 

Yep.

[MarcDeSoto]

I removed the front drive shaft spline and relubed it.  I marked the tiny arrows with some white ink.  If you didn't know they were there, you could easily ignore them.  I found that when I tried to put the spline back in, it would not go back in until the arrows were perfectly lined up!  Now, I'm going to hammer out the u-joints, clean them and relube them.  

Edited April 3, 2023 by MarcDeSoto

[Los_Control]

I honestly have never worked with this type or your u-joints. ..... Or my Cleveland U-joints .... will be a learning experience for me.

 

My 1991 chebby, you press in the cap & then there is a snap ring that holds the cap in place.

They have to be totally inserted all the way in order to get the snap ring in place.

There is no way to install them wrong ..... unless you are me and 1 of the needle bearings is not set proper & you beat it into submission.

 

There should be some clip or ring that holds the cap in place ..... I have never worked on this style of u-joint before .... so I do not know.

 

The u-joint is obviously off center ... only a 1/16" or 1/8" .... that would cause the off balance you see in your video.

You will have to correct this. It could be all your problem, or just get you closer to fixing your problem.

[MarcDeSoto]

I'm having a major problem taking out the front u-joint.  I hammered one side through, but you can't take the u-joint out that way.  If I remember, you have to then hammer the u-joint back in, and out the other way to remove it.  You see, the circle inside prevents you from hammering or pressing it all the way out.  I tried to hammer and press it back in and press the other side out, but half way and it won't budge, not even when I heat the yoke up with a torch!  What to do?  I'm starting to get afraid of damaging the yoke!  

[OUTFXD]

On 4/2/2023 at 3:35 PM, MarcDeSoto said:

removed the driveshaft, but could not see anything wrong with the U-joint install. I ran the engine and the output shaft looks OK to me.  What do you guys think?

I think your garage is WAAAAAaaay less cluttered than mine.  You really need to work on that!

[Dodgeb4ya]

21 hours ago, MarcDeSoto said:

I'm having a major problem taking out the front u-joint.  I hammered one side through, but you can't take the u-joint out that way.  If I remember, you have to then hammer the u-joint back in, and out the other way to remove it.  You see, the circle inside prevents you from hammering or pressing it all the way out.  I tried to hammer and press it back in and press the other side out, but half way and it won't budge, not even when I heat the yoke up with a torch!  What to do?  I'm starting to get afraid of damaging the yoke!  

Don't take that hard to find u-joint out until you have found the problem.

Don't attempt to remove it unless you know the proper way.

 Do not use heat to remove these joints.

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Dodgeb4ya
Spelling

[MarcDeSoto]

I had to use heat to get the u-joint out.  I watch videos where they just take two swings of the hammer to remove the joint.  Wish it was like that in real life.  I forgot about this, but when you press the first side out, you get a channel lock pliers and twist the cap off.  Then you hammer the other side out and do the same.  Easier said than done!  I'm going to sand the journals smooth before I reinstall the u-joint and I'm going to not take out the rear u-joint.  Had enough of that.  

[MarcDeSoto]

After examining the needle bearings in the caps, I don't think the brown color is rust mixed with grease.  I just think it's old brown grease.  These U-joints came in a box wrapped in paper.  I do think I should clean this old grease out.  What would be the best way to do that.  I'm thinking put some Marine Clean to clean the grease out of there.  I also rented a free ball joint, u-joint tool from O'Reillys.  I hope it works better that the hammer and socket method.  I hi temp wheel bearing grease good for U-Joints?  

Edited April 4, 2023 by MarcDeSoto

[Dave72dt]

On 4/3/2023 at 10:55 PM, MarcDeSoto said:

  I'm going to sand the journals smooth before I reinstall the u-joint and I'm going to not take out the rear u-joint.  Had enough of that.  

Journals on the joint or on the driveshaft?   Roughness on the joint means it's junk.  A vise is usually all that's needed to install joints.  Be careful with the installer.  It's easy to bend yoke ears and break needles.

[MarcDeSoto]

I finally put my front u-joint together.  It wasn't easy and I got an education on u-joint caps and block and needles.  Here are some of the lessons.

1. just because two crosses look the same doesn't mean that you can swap caps and blocks on them.  

2. The caps and blocks are machined for the cross that it came with.  So I put together a cross by putting caps and blocks on by feel.  If there was any slop it wasn't the right cap.  Also you can't swap needles easily because some needles are thicker than others.  

3.  I finally put together an NOS cross with the right caps and blocks, but could not get the second snap ring on.  

4.  I learned that after you put the first snap ring on, you have to press the other cap in a little deeper to get the other snap ring on.  

Can't wait to get the driveshaft intalled and the engine running to see if I correct the driveshaft wobble!  

Edited April 7, 2023 by MarcDeSoto

[rcl700]

On 4/2/2023 at 11:48 AM, D35 Torpedo said:

I hate to say it, but I think the trans output shaft is bent. You see the brake drum wobbling as well. It's not just a U-joint. That's a funny thing to be bent. Unless the car was picked up with a fork lift a few times to many. 

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by rcl700
.

[D35 Torpedo]

1 hour ago, MarcDeSoto said:

I finally put my front u-joint together.  It wasn't easy and I got an education on u-joint caps and block and needles.  Here are some of the lessons.

1. just because two crosses look the same doesn't mean that you can swap caps and blocks on them.  

2. The caps and blocks are machined for the cross that it came with.  So I put together a cross by putting caps and blocks on by feel.  If there was any slop it wasn't the right cap.  Also you can't swap needles easily because some needles are thicker than others.  

3.  I finally put together an NOS cross with the right caps and blocks, but could not get the second snap ring on.  

4.  I learned that after you put the first snap ring on, you have to press the other cap in a little deeper to get the other snap ring on.  

Can't wait to get the driveshaft intalled and the engine running to see if I correct the driveshaft wobble!  

You need to seat the snap rings, both of them. Does it have a grease nipple? If not then they are greased for life. Doesn't hurt to put new stuff in.