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Posted by David Sherman on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 14:57:42 :
Last winter I broke a U-joint on a Tucker trying to get it out when the tracks must have been frozen to the ground. The snow finally melted down to where I could get under it and take the yokes and the broken U-joint off. The yokes are both splayed out somewhat, but they don't appear cracked or badly bunged up other than that. about 1/4 of the broken face on one side of the U-joint was rusty, which tells me it had had a crack in it for a long time. My question is, is it feasible to straighten the yokes in a press and keep using them, or will I need to find new ones? If I straighten them, they probably won't be perfectly balanced, but this is a Sno-Cat with a top speed of 15 mph running on tracks over snow, which isn't a very smooth or quiet ride anyway. If it is okay to straighten them, should I heat them, to avoid the chance of cracking them, or do it cold so as not to ruin whatever heat treatment they had? The yoke that broke is the one from the front side of the transfer case, but I'm pretty sure the U-joints are the same in all positions. The Tuckers have Dodge corporate rear axles both front and rear.
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