Joints too wide... by hundredths of an inch!

[texanidiot25]

Has anyone else had a problem with a brand of joints being too wide (cap to cap, not cap diameter) by literally hundredths of an inch? Don't remember the brand, but what ever advanced autoparts sells. Both joints didn't fit, and this is for the joint at the transmission... But the part number says for all 3 so it's not like anything is being mixed up.

What's the larger chance, the drive shaft being tweaked... Or having the wrong u-joint (by the slimmest of margins)?

Parts hunting has gotten ridiculous on this truck.

[Leviticus]

Not sure what brand they gave you, but if you can find a set of Spicer U joints with the grease zerk fitting, they are top notch in my experiences. A little more $, but well spent.

[texanidiot25]

Red and blue box is what I recall. The truck is at the dealership my dad works at.

This is frustrating. Stock replacement doesn't fit... But the adapter u-joint we put in last month to fit a 3/4 ton drive shaft to a C10 rear, that was measured with a damn tape measure, fit on the first try!

Shoulda taken less than an hour. Spent nearly 3 hours since the needle bearings kept wanting to fall outta place too. So it took several tries before we even got the clips in to find out that the thing didn't fit.

[Blazer1970]

They may be trying to sell you a Saginaw S44 joint like the later model GM trucks use instead of a Spicer 1310 or 1350 series (not sure what joint you are looking for). They are similar sized, but different from the Saginaw joints.

[71chevytruckguy]

I think advance's brand are PDQ. These trucks took a lot of different size u-joints dependin one engine, trans, rear end, 1 or 2 piece shaft, etc. Parts guy could have looked it up wrong. I know auto zone's duralast u-joints fit for sure, have used many of them. Chris.

[my67chevytruck]

I had similar issues with o'reilleys and autozone ujoints. after trying a couple i went to the driveshaft shop and dropped 30.00 for two spicers and they worked pefectly...

[texanidiot25]

Yeah, PDQs. I was there watching the screen with the advanced autoparts guy as he pulled up the part number. 3sp 2wd C20 joints had the same part # for auto or manual 3 spd, and for all three locations.

The truck is a heavy half ton, former D60, so that's the reason for the C20 drive shaft btw.

I'll keep spicer in mind in the future. But we were still furious that the factory sized one didn't fit... and yet the one we measured with a cheap-o tape measure that's a custom two-sized u-joint fit the first time!



Murphy knows my truck too well.

[bigsnookmaster]

For what it's worth, I try to write part#, manufacturer, and where you bought it, on hard to find parts for future reference. Good luck!

[Chevrolet4x4s]

Precision universal joints is all I use
Shane

[hotrod 80]

Houston drivetrain off the loop is a Spicer dealer . Call Daunte and he'll fix you up . I have also used Percision , but Spicer are the best imo. Hope one of the needles didn't fall over taking up the extra space . Did you end up fixing the D60 ?

[grayw0lf]

I had the same frekkin' problem with the U-joints from Adv Auto Parts & AutoZone. I was soooo pissed. I thought I had somehow managed to bend things up pressing the old joints out. I ended up sanding the retaining clips to get them to fit.

Glad I'm not the only one to have this problem.

[Trip59]

Dang, Wish this thread was around three weeks ago...

O'Reilly and AutoZone joints, two spots in the shaft were both too damn big. Messed around for three nights, screwed up two joints, finally took it to a local trans shop. Guy took .010 off the top of the cap, just enough to make the letters shiny, worked great. We got back and had to do the same to 1 other one to get it together.

I'd rather sand a little off the ridge on the cap than on the clip, seems more structurally sound to me.

Trip

[texanidiot25]

Originally Posted by hotrod 80

Houston drivetrain off the loop is a Spicer dealer . Call Daunte and he'll fix you up . I have also used Percision , but Spicer are the best imo. Hope one of the needles didn't fall over taking up the extra space . Did you end up fixing the D60 ?

I'll have to keep that in mind for the third u-joint. I don't know what was up, my dad tried it the next moring, and the sum***** FIT! Like, clips went in easy and the joint moved freely, not binding like the night before. Who knows...

4 u-joints, and only one fit..

Anyways, I'd stay away from the advanced autoparts brand in the future. Shoulda gone to Napa, they have spicer.

Graywolf- My dad thought that maybe he'd bent the yoke too, but, he had said in years he did drive-line work, that had never happened. Ruled that one out too, but you're not alone on that either