[DeTomaso] half shafts and u joints

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/19/09 18 14 56, justingreisberg at hotmail.com writes:


> 
> I plan on reusing the stock half shafts with new u joints in my 
> restoration.  So I took out all the old ujoints (2 were all rusty and frozen, and the 
> other 2 on the other half shaft looked like new!) and then noticed there 
> are small weights welded on to the brackets that connect the ujoints to the 
> trans and axle.  I of course did not look at the orientation of the 
> brackets relative to the actual half shaft, or to each other, so I am now 
> concerned I will put the whole thing out of balance.
> 
>>>A very valid concern.   There are arrows lightly stamped into the 
surface of each side of the splined sliding shaft; those arrows need to be 
pointing at each other (and of course you can't mix up the pieces side-to-side).
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone know if these small weights were added to balance the 
> half-shaft/u joint assembly, or if they were added to balance just the end plate 
> bracket?
> 
>>>The assemblies are balanced as a complete unit.
> 
> Also, in an earlier post, someone had said the half shaft should be 
> arranged so that the 2 halfs of each half shaft are 90 degrees from each other.  
> On my car, one side has them almost even, and the other side has them 30 
> degrees apart.  It sure looks like they were never changed since new, 
> although always hard to know.  Any thoughts?  Justin
> 
>>>This is definitely wrong and will definitely set up a vibration.   You 
said that one side of your car had rusty U-joints and the other side they 
were like new; might I assume that the misaligned side is the side with the new 
U-joints?

Look for the arrows (you might have to scrape paint away) and line them up 
and things should be right again.

At this point, it seems that you may well have become totally lost, in that 
you might have mixed up the components side-to-side?   In that case, your 
best bet is probably to just take all the pieces down to a driveline shop and 
have them assembled and re-balanced.

Good luck!

Mike

Mike



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