defiant1

Replaced the original universal joints. Wasn't too bad, although I got carried away with the heat and when I went to pound the cap down the rubber o ring came apart with quite a bit of force and got my attention with a shot to the groin.

But I digress. I got the greaseable u-joints. They have a screw in the bearing cap. I am used to trucks and grease zerks in the cross section of the joint. With these I have no idea how to apply grease. Is there a special adapter I need? Do I remove the screw to apply the grease or is this a special type of zerk?

Another issue I had was with the u-bolts that hold the u joint to the yoke at the differential. I needed to replace the ones that were on there as someone had severely cross threaded the nuts and thrashed the threads. I went to NAPA, O'reilly, & Carquest and no one had a set that fit correctly. I even took the old bearing cap (1 1/8" in diameter) & u bolts with to match up and nothing. The parts places actually showed in their books that I should have straps instead of u-bolts?? So, I got a set of u-bolts that were smaller and one that was larger. When I got home I decided to use the larger one as it fit the bearing cap better. The only problem is it would not fit in the yoke. So I heated the u-bolt and slowly bent it until it would fit.

I got everything installed. But I guess my question is why was this an issue? Why would I have to modify u-bolts for a universal joint. I would think this would be a stand GM type of part.

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Yellowstatue

Did you look inside the bolt hole to see if there was evidence of theads...indicating that originally there were straps and bolts and not U-bolts...if it was previously damaged then perhaps you need a new flange or stay with your new U-bolts and the grease zerks are usually in the cross like a truck, normally...

Bluevista

'70 was the last year for U bolts.
Be careful heating up high stress parts like that, lose the temper and they could bend like a pretzel or snap on a hard start.

I would check the pinion flange out well and see if it had threads too, anybody switch rears in the past?

The grease fittings are standard type on any that I've ever done, seems like some have a smaller thread size but not sure?
You take out the screw and put a fitting in.
I don't know why they don't include grease fittings with them anymore?

defiant1

I checked for threads and did not see any or where someone may have drilled them out. I guess I am stuck with the u bolts. The original u-bolts were mismatched so I am not sure what the hell happened previously.


I'll see if I can't find a fitting that works with these bearing caps. All the parts guys do is hand me a needle adapter for the grease gun. All this does is make a mess.

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oldsconv

I bought new U joints for my 70 Cutlass and have not installed them yet but they look like what you said with the fitting on the end of one of the bearing cups rather than in the cross/crotch area of the joint. I had a Moped when I was a kid and it had a grease fitting like that. I think it is a European style and maybe they use them because they are low profile and don't throw things out of balance, although I can't believe even a standard zerk fitting would mess things up? I believe you can get the adapter for your grease gun that looks like the end of a pencil that pushes into the fitting. I have seen that at the Auto parts stores

defiant1

Yeah, I guess I am looking for this type of adapter. So far I have been sold 2 things that do not work...