My poor Frankenstein '80 DL

[DagdaS]

So, the mad little monster, Tori, is having a bad week.    On Monday I took her up on Reecer Creek Road, to just below the snow line. On the way back I was running low gears, and decided to put her in 4WD. When I recommenced she shuddered hard a couple of times, but then evened out and behaved. Likely my fault in some way. Wednesday and Thursday I ran several errands for my folks, getting carboys from the storage, running to get pickling spices and garlic bulbs from the store, getting the heater pan for the canning jars... just ran all over.

 

The problem was that I was noticing more and more vibration coming from behind my position in the car. So, I took my dad out for a run on Friday evening, to get his expert diagnostic ears on it. He suggested I crawl under and have a look at the drive line, as it sounded very much like a U-Joint. The man is 73, he Knows. I crawled under today (we were busy after the ride) and started from the back, working forward. The CVs and Diff are 10-4, but the U-Joint at the Differential is going, specifically the bearings.

 

Since I have no garage facilities, nor significant equipment sufficient to the job, I'll be taking her to my folks mechanic. He is reliable, and honest, and has his own little soob. Though, it's getting warm enough he'll probably just ride his bicycle most days. 

 

I wanna get the monster rolling again, ASAP, as I have a young lady I'm wanting to take out, and she's made appreciable noises when I've discussed Tori.

[Norcalbratcap]

U joints are real easy theres tons of videos on you tube to learn how you can do it your self in 30min or so just make sure to get the more pricey greaseable u joints their like 26 instead of 12 but well worth it they last waaaay longer the cheap ones youll be lucke to get 8months out of if you like to wheel.

[DagdaS]

I like to go up to less accessible places, but don't really do any wheeling yet. She's more my get away buggy. I like the Primitive Roads, and the old, abandoned, or disused places. Badly patched, damaged, graveled, or unpaved, lots of curves and hills, and I'm happy.

[Norcalbratcap]

Id get the greasable ones none the less, and it can be done with minimal tools and space i usually only need two pieces of firewood of even height as a work bench

[DagdaS]

So, they're the blasted Staked In U-Joints. Mechanic has a used shaft with a shot front u-joint, so he's gonna swap the rear shaft with my rear shaft. Apparently, a significant part of the issue (root cause and so forth) was the rear diff has a downward angle, and when the beast was lifted, they left the spindle at stock height, meaning that the shafts have a pretty stiff down angle to the rear and front diffs. Add to that the fact that the whole assembly is a little short, and the mechanic says that's gonna cause problems later.

But, there are always solutions. We're gonna drop the spindle down so that the shaft rides a hair straighter. This will also fix the length issue. When they finally bag it again (totally inevitable, unfortunately) he recommends a shop that can remove the staked u-joints, and replace them with the usual type. And, when I do that, I'll have him put in the greasable type.