Hello, my name is John Kelly and this is the WeberAuto YouTube channel. This will be the
first of a multi-part series on universal joints and the we have eight different types of universal
joints we're going to be looking at here we're going to look at some history we're going to
look at the Diagnostics the proper service work how to replace these with it without destroying
the drive shaft or the universal joint itself how to check for axial play radial play all kinds of
great things but to do that we need to define some things first if you ever wondered what are all
these names associated with you joints there's the card and joint there's the hook joint there's the
pelham joint there's the Sheppard joint there's a double offset joint there's a tripod joint a
tripod top a tripod joint there's the rubber flexible coupling sometimes called a rag joint
there's a whole bunch of different types of and there are all universal joints some of these are
constant velocity universal joints some of them are not constant velocity joint symbol will cover
the differences between those we'll take a look a little bit of the history of universal joints and
show you some fascinating things of how a sundial is related to a discovery of how a universal joint
is not a constant velocity joint we'll talk a little bit about a gimbal and how a mathematician
with the last name of Cardno has been associated with the name of a card on or card an you joint
double card and you joined single card a new joint and and how you joined he didn't invent those at
all even though there's plenty of websites that that says he did I'll show you some research by
some professional people that have will show us who really did what and we'll take that all the
way up through mr. Clarence Spicer who actually he did not invent the new joint of course but he's
the first one to patent and design a new joint for use in automobile with an oil bath that would last
a long time without having constant service work being done on it and how that has how that initial
invention from mr. Spicer had grown into a huge corporation Dana corporation that we know today
and so we'll we'll take a look at all these these different universal joints once again the service
diagnostic and repair on these things and there's a lot more to it than then most people think one
of the common questions that I receive is I just from technicians is I just replaced that u-joint
on my vehicle and now there's a vibration could it be bad you joined or what did I do wrong there's
all kinds of things that you could have done wrong and there's there's a possibility that
you did nothing wrong it's just the universal joint that you're using might be garbage we're
going to compare eight different universal joints different brands and universal joints some made in
China some a the United States and there's one made in China that says made in USA right on it
we'll take a look at their measurements the the quality of their construction and the differences
between a good quality ÿû joint that automobile manufacturers use right out of the factory
brand-new and a lot of garbage that is sold in auto parts stores around the country for real
cheap a lot of people think that all you joints are the same and the only difference is the price
so by a twelve dollar u-joint instead of a sixty dollar u joint well there is a difference and yes
it's it's more money to get the quality one but hopefully by the end of this series on universal
joints you'll know what the difference is and why you would want to pay two for the better universal
joint then for the garbage one and so let's just quickly take a look at the different types of
things we're going to cover in this series and then we'll get started with some history and
background okay in our second episode coming up we will compare universal joint quality I have here
on the table eight different brands of universal joints two of them are brand new factory universal
joints and then we have several we'll all the others are aftermarket replacement universal
joints and we will look at the differences between them I have on these two boards here that will
look in great detail a comparison of a factory u joint produced by Spicer and then an aftermarket u
joint when I told you about that was made in China but it's cast right on it says Made in USA it
appears to be a direct copy of another u joint but there are there are some differences some major
differences between these universal joints and so we will take a look at the differences between
those got this board here that we'll take a look at also the differences in the snap rings we have
Universal joint snap rings that come in different thicknesses to control axial in play and that's
something that should and can be measured to diagnose whether or not your u-joint is centered
and whether or not it's it's excessively worn even though it hasn't totally failed and so we
will learn how to do that in the service portion of this multi-part series okay in another episode
coming up we will cover the six different types of constant velocity joints that are currently
used in production vehicles of today and these six joints are the tripod or tripod joint we have the
double offset joint we have the cross groove joint we have the shepper joint we have the
flexible rubber coupling and then we have what is incorrectly referred to as the double card an you
joint system but people are going to call it that forever so wilted will make sure you know what the
real name of it should be but people are hard to change they're not going to call it anything
different than what what they've heard over the years will cover diagnosing a constant velocity
half-shafts and the proper terminology link shafts half-shafts torsional dampers the what types of
joints are used where if you've got a rear-wheel drive vehicle which one of these joints do you
have if you have a front-wheel drive vehicle which one you have which one is the inboard joint which
one is the outboard joint how do you diagnose them because you do not diagnose them all the
same some have normal movement in and out axial movement some do not and so we will go through
all of that as well as which ones can be serviced which ones you can disassemble inspect for damaged
replace the boots the clamps we'll talk about three different types of boot clamps the earless
clamps the one with the ears and then the ones that you have to use a swage clamp to compress in
place we'll go through all of that in this series okay in another episode of this series we will
cover the proper tools that you need to properly remove and reinstall universal joints and do the
diagnostics with them the proper tool to use as I was taught when I was a young technician is not
a hammer and a chisel sorry guys that's not the right way to do it you may be able to occasionally
get by with with that but there are tools made for that and some are not very expensive at all
and are really cool we've got some factory tools here you joint presses we've got a ball joint
press back here in the vise that there's a special adapter for that you can get this is a forward
special tool this is a general motor special tool I'll show you another tool that you probably have
that you can convert to make into a u-joint press without damaging or bending any of those ears that
the u-joint bearing caps have to go through if you bend those things that those holes are lined board
and you bend them that then they're not aligned any longer and the universal joint either won't
go in properly or it will fail and you know what I'm talking about there are joints that I've put
in over the years that were really really tight no matter what I did and some of that could have been
the wrong snap rings as well talked about in one of our episodes but some of it definitely could
have been that I hit it too hard with a hammer and bent one of years and got it out of alignment
we also as I mentioned in before look at CV boot replacement the different types of earless and ear
type clamps and the tools that go with those the swage tools to compress them and so on we will go
through the whole replacement and reinstallation procedure to make sure that when you replace the
universal joint or diagnose the universal joint that there's not a vibration when you're done
with it okay in another episode we will look at actual on vehicle and on bench Diagnostics how
to hook up a dial indicator and do at an axial end play check different manufacturers have different
maximum axial up and down or radial rotational end play checks that you have to measure with a dial
indicator set up like we've got here obviously if you can feel play it's bad but you can have a
bad you joint that's out of spec with in play that you cannot feel for example most of these u joints
have a maximum axial in play of just under two thousandths of an inch most people can't feel mm
of an inch in play you have to measure it and so we will take you through the process of measuring
axial radial in play propeller shaft run-out flange run out all kinds of things on Drudge
shafts drive lines etc we will also go through the the same measurements on constant velocity joints
this one I've got the shaft off so it's easier to for me to handle but there are checks that
you can do to see how much to see if there's in and out play some should have it some should not
how much herbs or radial play there should be you can check all of that also okay in another episode
we are going to look at the different types of drive shafts and drive lines and will define
the difference between a drive line and a drive shaft we will look at different companion flange
styles where these drive shafts and drive lines hookup have several different styles of companion
flanges here and specialty tools to check for companion flange run-out to see if they're bent
if somebody's whacked on a few hard with a hammer when they were trying to get take them off to
change opinion shaft seal or whatever instead of using a polar it's a fairly common thing so
there's specialty tools for checking run out and seeing if there's any problems with these we'll
take a look at the different types of slip yokes and the service and the Diagnostics on those we'll
take a look at one piece to piece and so on and talk about three four or five doesn't matter how
many piece drive shafts and make sure that you understand how all of that works and the proper
terminology and proper service and diagnostic work associated with all of these all of these
shafts are non constant velocity shafts which means they speed up and slow down twice per
revolution as they rotate if the universal joints have any angle at all to them so these shafts if
the u-joint working angles are incorrect which we'll talk about a major and I have another video
on that also then you can end up with a terrible vibration and so but having out the incorrect you
joined the wrong you joined end play axial play the wrong centering of the u joint two different c
clips different thicknesses of the snap rings that hold the u joint end I didn't even know that came
in different thicknesses until a couple years ago I just put in it what came in the box but there
are things that you can do that when replacing a universal joint on a drive shaft that can
cause a vibration and you didn't eat you didn't even know that you did it so I'll show you how
to avoid those and finally in another episode we will talk about constant velocity drive shafts and
drive lines and the different types of constant velocity shafts and and what makes them constant
velocity we will learn about the rubber flexible coupling universal joint and how this thing works
in the trilobal yoke that that it goes with and how this thing can transfer enough torque that
it's used in high-performance vehicles all over the world with independent rear suspension we will
look at constant velocity joints on these constant velocity shafts we've got a shepherd joint here
we've got a double card an you joint here we've got the flexible rubber coupling these are all
constant velocity joints and but only if they're installed and angled correctly there's a unique
pinion flange right here for a constant velocity joint to connect to and then there are special
service tools that bolt up to the flange so you can for flam's run out to see if as you spin
it put dial indicator on here and see if it has excessive up-and-down movement as if the pinion
gear were bent or the flange itself or vent maybe it may be after an accident we will talk about
replacing center support bearings and servicing the double cardan joints for lack of a better term
at the moment it's actually a double Hookes joint but according to the sae standard j 901 these are
all just universal joints of different styles so this will be a fun series there's a lot to it as
you can see and I think you'll you'll learn a lot I certainly learned a lot preparing for
this series it's taken me several months just to gather all the parts and the information I
need just to be able to shoot this so once again this is the Weber Auto YouTube channel
this is a Weber State University in Ogden Utah where we have a wonderful automotive technology
program with both associate degree programs and bachelor degree programs have a good day