Hey everybody!

Anyone aorund this weekend that would be willing to lend a hand with a U-joint replacement or two? CTMs on Max are bad. Gonna replace with stock/spicer joints til I am done college. (Max is gonne be so embarassed to have street tires.)

Would like to get them done this weekend. Let me know.

Bobbi

Parents in town for the week... not sure what day they r leaving...

I will let you know friday night what the plans are... more the happy to give you a hand this weekend if I am free.

Tony

Wait a minute...aren't CTMs rebuildable? What do you mean by bad? I'm just curious. Wont be able to travel to get it done since I'll be replacing the o-ring in the rear housing AGAIN and getting ready to head to VA beach on tuesday.

Is it driveable?
If you can make it to Parkville we now have the space to work on it... I'll be slammed all weekend with moving and cleaning out the old apt and painting etc..., but we could work on it after work any day next week...

Bill - when you say rebuildable do you mean swapping in new needle bearings and giving it fresh grease?

no needle bearings. you just replace bushings and caps. that is unless the crosses are scored

I thought that those things are covered for life?

According to the web site: "This CTM U-Joint could be the last U-Joint you ever have to buy! The rebuildable feature is unique in the fact that now as long as the cross or caps are intact then the seals,bushings and clips can be replaced indefinitely! "
They didn't show any parts for replacement on the web site though. if the jeep is mobile and you don't mind the drive then I can help you.

OK...here is what I think I know....

By bad... I mean that the front end of the Jeep is making a gawd-awful noise, and there is a lot of play in the U-joints. They have not blown into a million bits or shredded my axles yet.
The CTMs are guaranteed for life... and rebuildable.
I heard that they are not so super good for regular day-to-day use, but are built for off-road type use.
I am gonna be daily driving Max for the next two years.

So I thought that the best plan was to replace with stock. Rebuild in my spare time then put them back on when I am done school.

Max is not drivable. Would prefer to do the work here, but still do own a tow rig, at least until Max is running because at almost $5/gal who can afford to drive a diesel-guzzling beast that gets 15 mpg?

As with all things in life, I want to find the fastest, cheapest, easiest way to solve this problem. Oh, and I am leaving town on the 1st for 10 days... so if Max doesn't get fixed this weekend, I'll post up when I get back. I guess I'll just have to go to the beach without him.

My parents fly out in a few hours (Friday AM)... so I will be free to give you a hand on whatever you want to attempt...

Weather doesn't look co-operative... but I am game for getting wet if you are...

Beats doing the list I have developed and avoided for the past few months...

Tony

Hey Tony....

Is Saturday or Sunday better for you? I am free both days. I am running around to get parts this afternoon. I think I have everything I need to replace the U-joints, tool wise.

Bill... Nester.... what might those tools be? I have a Hi-Lift jack, jack stands, the big socket for the hub, a U-joint press, a box of 300+ auto mechanic tools, a BFH.... :scratch:

Think I need anything else?

You'll need a 12 point 13 mm socket or wrench for the three bolts on the hub. The big nut is 36mm.
You'll need needlenose pliers or a flathead screw driver for the C-clips on the caps.

Wish I could join in the Fun!!!

Here is the u-joint press method:

you are going to need snap ring pliers and a couple of grade 8 6mm bolts (I think that is the size, but I will check) to get the ctms out.

Getting it out is a little different than a normal because the caps are so hard. Normally you can press the caps out by pressing on the joint on the opposite side as far as you can then grab the cap with pliers and pull it the rest of the way. But the caps are so hard that you can’t get a grip. So to get the caps out remove the grease fitting from the cap, thread a metric 6x1.0 bolt into the grease fitting hole and use it to remove the cap.

First of all... Thank you Tony!

As I suspected, what takes 20 minutes on the trail to fix took six hours in my parking lot. Those CTMs are a @#%$ to remove. Of course, there were tools I needed that I did not have (Well, did have but were broken), and the AP store, which I went to specifically because they told me they had a pair of Brute Force U-joints for my '04 Jeep Rubicon (It is always fun to explain the 99 with 04 axles. For some reason they just don't get it), sold me the wrong part.

So Tony banged away at the cap removal while I ran around town picking up the necessities.

At the end of the day, we were covered in grease and grime, Max was fixed, and I didn't get evicted for repairing my vehicle in the parking lot. The celebratory beers went down quite nicely.

Tony...Hope you didn't get it too much trouble for showing up at work in that condition.

So the down side (As Tony mentioned in his post; working on one thing always leads to something else...), we noticed that Max needed a front end alignment.

I was going to do that yesterday after school, but when I went out to take Max to my friend's house, I noticed black liquid running out from under the passenger side. Filthy gear oil. At this point I am hoping that it was just the oil left in the tubes after pulling the axles, but am not sure.

The outer seal had come apart, so I put it back together. I checked the gear oil level, seemed low. Went into the AP store (Luckily there is one in the school parking lot) got some gear oil and one of those handy pumps that Tony let me borrow a few days prior, and put a quart of oil in the diff. I have driven about 40 miles since with no further leaking.

Question is now: Should I risk taking Max to the beach...

Oh and I am having stereo issues. The stereo works when I get in the Jeep. For about 10 minutes. Then stops. I am losing power to the amp. The first thing that comes to mind is that it is a loose wire, but it seems to consistent to be that. I am thinking overheating, but I am not sure if that can actually be a problem.