Now that everyones back from Springfield Ill and the big Plymouth meet, some
FYI stuff?
Heard some minor noise after reinstalling the Driveshaft in my 41, I
reinstalled that driveshaft without lubing the joint
( worked before, why bother) and thought I heard a ever so slight metal to
metal contact. Just enough to know its there.
well
It aint even offishul summer yet, so better at LEAST repack em?? Of course
Chryco was a tad backwards with U joints, kept em till mebbee 69 with those
ball and cross joints that U gotta remove to repack, OLD technology....
Sorta odd aint it, torsion bars, hemi engines, and a 30 year old U joint
design 'cept on Imperials?
anyway
Removed the shaft, 4 bolts per end, outta there in 5 minutes or so. And have
to replace another plastic tie wrap substituting for a stainless strap with
nut. So I remove the big end flex cover band and boy that 'Fibrated wheel
bearing and Universal Joint Grease' as recommended by the manufacturer is
awful soupy.... even soupier than chassis lube? Hmmmm that aint dark bronze
in color, its like graphite chassis lube... and at one end its a bright rust
color. Hmmmm again. Could some well intentioned DIYer have used MODERN
wheel bearing grease like for Disc Brakes??? That sorta soupy stuff that is
intended for high temp high tech close tolerance packed bearings and not an
OLD old old style ball and cross joint that NEEDs something to fill the space
that has some body????
AH so.
So I clean out old grease best as can, both joints, both ends removing the
sheet metal cover at the end(s) including the spring so I can really get at
the guts of the joint. All in all took close to an hour, but musta got 90%
of that old lube out. And put about 1 teaspoon lube in each end of each
joint.
Test drive showed none of that quiet metal to metal sound, and seemed to even
dampen drivetrain sound more.
NOW I can visit my friendly QUality Farm and Fleet store or TSC (Tractor
Supply Co) to try and find some REAL fibrated wheel bearing grease- my can is
sure 30 years old, maybe a teaspoonful left, musta used it on my 62 Belvedere
and others when new!!!
So folks
If YOUR ever lovin' Mopar dont have the proper lube in those old style
joints, might be time for the real stuff, the right lube???? You'll get your
hands dirty here but may be worth it, this fibrated stuff could quiet that
noisy joint that MAY be noisy even if it was recently lubed (with the wrong
stuff).
All FYI
Lars
|
|
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network