How To Remove Plastic Injected U Joints: Most Easiest Process

U joints are basically a cross-shaped part of the driveshaft, which is used in your rear wheel drive vehicles to rotate the driveshaft to transmit torque force to the rear axle. When the vehicles move through high or low places, the driveshaft can be moved flexibly up or down; that’s why every joint is universally fitted.

However, when you drive vehicles, there is a lot of pressure goes on these universal joints because they rotate several times faster than your vehicle wheels, it causing them to decay day by day. There are many symptoms to understand that the universal joints of your vehicles are going in bad condition day by day; we will discuss them in another article. Anyway, whenever you realize that your U joints are in bad condition, you will need to replace the U joints of your vehicles as soon as possible.

When you try to replace the U joints in some cases, you can see the injected cap. Which is used to hold most of the driveshaft bearing caps, so it is challenging to remove from regular mechanics, so how to remove plastic injected U joints? In our guide. It has been discussed in detail, So let’s start our guide without wasting time.

How To Remove Plastic Injected U Joints

In this section, we will discuss in-depth how to remove a U joint bearing in a completely safe way. Also, in the guide, we have suggested videos in different ways to remove plastic injection. So, let’s take a step by step look.

First, press your vehicle’s driveshaft, and try to move it. In most cases, it is not usually moved from the place, but if it moves from place to place, it means it needs to be replaced. Also, take a careful look around it to see if there is any kind of damage or something stuck. Then follow the following steps.

Before Starting You’ll Need

• Vise
• Hammer
• Drain Pan
• Shop rags
• Marker Pen
• Safety Glass
• Mechanic’s Gloves
• Ratchets and Sockets
• Jack Stands and Floor Jack
• Screwdrivers and Wrench Set

Step 1: Wear Safety Things And Jack Up Your Vehicle

First, you need to wear safety gloves and safety glasses for your own safety. Then with the help of a floor jack, you have to jack up the rear part of your vehicle. Set it securely with the help of jack stands. Do not work under the vehicle; just hold the vehicle only using a jack; secure it also with jack stands.

Step 2: Mark The Driveshaft

Mark the driveshaft with the help of the marker, where the differential flange is joined. So that when you are reinstalling, you can easily install it in the original position.

Step 3: Remove The Fasteners

You can see that there are around four nuts or bottles for attaching driveshaft and differential. Use ratchet and torque wrench to remove them safely. 

Step 4: Remove Driveshaft

After successfully removing the fasteners, you need the driveshaft pushed forward and downward to bring it out of the transmission. But before you do this, be sure to keep the pan and some rags around because when you remove it, some oil will drip out.

Step 5: Check The U Joints And Remove

After driveshaft out, you try to move all its joints; you can see that each joint is moving smoothly in all directions. Now basically, we have to do our focus work. We will now remove the U joint.

First, you need to use retainers or snap rings to secure the bearing caps, and then you have to remove them later. We need to apply a lot of force and heat to remove the plastic injected U joint. To remove joint bearing cups, pressed-in driveshaft safely, we can use three common methods.

First Method

You can use professional U Joint Removal Tools for U joint removal, which is a very simple method. However, it will be a costly option if you are not a professional mechanic.

Second Method

You can use a big hammer to remove it, but in this case, you have to hit hardly continuously. You just have to be more careful because one of your wrong hittings can damage the driveshaft.

Third Method

You need to use Vise, which will help you remove the bearing caps easily. First, you have to place a small socket on top of the bearing cap, but in this case, you must make sure that the diameter of the socket is slightly smaller than the bearing cap. Then place a large socket on the side of the opposite bearing cap so that the cap comes out easily as soon as you press it.

You may lose some needle bearings as a result of this process. But don’t worry too much about it, because you will get these with new U joints.

You can also follow this video on Youtube if you want to make your work easier.

Also Read: How to Adjust Roller Rockers: Step by Step Complete Guide

Final Verdict

We have tried our how to remove plastic injected U joints guide to starting from primary level so that if you have minimum knowledge about parts of vehicles, you can easily remove. However, most of the driveshafts use injected plastic instead of snap rings to hold the bearing caps of the driveshaft, which makes the process much more difficult for many.
In this case, if the process seems difficult to you, we recommend you take the help of technicians. Here you can take the help of the most trusted YourMechanics.