Projects Universal Joint Issue

I can’t access the grease fitting on the rear universal joint on my ‘54 Country Squire.
I’ve tried a needle adapter and no luck.
I’ve got the car in the air with the suspension at full droop with the shocks unbolted and it won’t articulate enough to get get grease in to it.

It looks to me like the spider is backwards and the grease fitting should point forwards instead of backwards.
The universal has a tiny bit of play so I bout a replacement and it is the same way.

am I missing something?

 

No ,just reverse the joint .

 

The u joint is in backwards now

 

The fittings in my daily suburban are like that too, I have to take the driveshaft out to grease them. I put a C-clamp on the caps so they don't blow off when shooting grease in there. I've also just held the caps with my hand before. It's not a huge deal to remove the driveshaft but I can't think of a better way.

 

When installing a U-joint with a grease fitting, always place it so it is under compression by the driveshaft, not tension. It should be able to be greased, too.

Yours is wrong on both counts.

 

Would it be possible to install an angled" grease fitting?
Look here:
angled grease fittings - Search Images (bing.com)

 

Perhaps remove the cap that is in the way and replace the zerk with an angled one?

Ben

 

yours and the new one you show are assembled backwards. the grease fitting should point away from the rear. cut the strap on the new one and spin it around then assemble.

 

Thanks, HAMB members to the rescue again!

I’ll cut the strap off of the new u joint and flip the caps as suggested.
I never noticed that the grease fitting wasn’t in compression.
Another mystery of what happened to this car over the past 70 years.

 

I did the c clamp trick when I had the driveshaft out changing the engine and transmission, but it’s pretty inconvenient to pull the shaft to grease every time.

 

Agreed! But for some reason No matter which direction my U Joints are in, the zerts are still blocked. I really need the zerts with a 45* angle but I just wanted to get it done. I'll remember this the next time I crawl under it to grease them.

 

Easy way to remember this, the grease fittings on U Joints always point at the driveshaft tube.

 

Fixed!