Woah - What a gorgeous trailer. just wow. And dont feel bad, chaps - unlike me, at least you HAVE a trailer. Its U-Haul rentals for me for starters at least.
Marc - what a coincidence that you do that work - Scott @ GI said there are no more NOS or repros, so i spent the day with a paid helper trying to pry the @#$ star-caps out of the trans yoke-ends of the new u-joints i recently put in, with intention to get the yoke turned down 10 thousandths(thickness of new speedi sleeves that (if i cant find a better way to refurb the shaft ends) i will try to install side by side with the seam (hopefully) landing between the 2 lips of the seal).
Is there a trick to getting those fuckers out? - the star-inglers are so tightly spaced and hardened that you just cant get a tool behind them that strong enough to pry them out of the snap-groove.
Finally took a worn-down 1/2" diameter fiber cutoff wheel on a Dremel and cut off 5 teeth on each until the star cap released. Then i tried to press out the u-joint with my bench vice & sockets that would fit to push it thru - but even when pushed as far as it will go, i cant figure out how to get the needle bearing cup out (only came out 1/8" before i hit maximum sideways travel in the yoke. So i loaded both shaft assemblies into the back of the car to bring to a shop tomorrow to get them released without fucking them up, i hope.
1) That said - my preference would indeed be one of the legit metal refurb processes mentioned, without screwing with Lee press-on nails.lol
But a few calls to machine shops in my area resulted in no one who knew who did fame OR plasma spray work. Looks like this place about 45 min from me might do it - maybe you can tell me which process i should do.. I know i need to probably have them grind it a bit, layer on new metal, then machine it back to match the original diameter so the 35mm double lip seal fits just right
http://www.haydencorp.com/thermal-spray-coating-services/
2) By the way - i have the new GI u-joints with the small grease zerk between 2 of the ujoint "arms", which points straight out (actually biased slightly to one side of the u-joint - Question about that : i saw a fellow on youtube say that you should always install the u-joint so the zerk points to the middle of the drive shaft (ie: the tranny end zerk oriented out toward the wheels, and the wheel end ujoint zerk biased inboard, toward the tranny ....i guess the thought being making each most easily reached from the outside? Thoughts? And if true, should the small standard vertical zerk be retrofitted with a 45 degree zerk to make it easier to press a grease gun onto as you reach way up into the dark cramped tunnel?
.....>>> Or leave it perpendicular(vertical), and resign oneself to removing and sliding over the large rubber bellows to try to grease the tranny ed zerks from under the rear seat?
Very exciting about the nifty tach! It sure is a good idea when you have the car apart to run some extra wires from the trunk, along the rocker panel, and coiled up in the transmission area for utility hookups!
