VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Vibration

When they are right, they are smooth as can be.

You are lucky to find someone willing to work with you til it is right, like he did.

Hi Kevin,

Unfortunately, a lot of times the original poster does not provide a followup post explaining how the problem was solved. This leaves us all wondering!!! Thanks for the update. It pays to follow the above posted directions in this type of repair. No shortcuts.

I wonder if I really had needed a new Oakie Bushing when I decided to replace mine and the universal joint. I was unaware at the time of the importance of the shims and the tightness of the retaining collar. The 41 Manual only says, "install the four cap screws which attach the retainer collar to the rear of the transmission. Fill the universal joint housing with transmission lubricant through the opening for the speedometer driven gear." There were no installation directions with the gasket kit I bought from Chevs of the 40's so I thought they had mistakenly packed the 5 shims in the kit. I installed one shim with a bunch of sealer on it, and probable tightened it to around 35 pounds. I then lived with a vibrations coming from the floor until I installed new parts and came across the directions on the Filling Station web site!!!

Even the last statement about filling the universal joint housing with transmission lubricant is questionable if you don't remember that the transmission and the joint area call for 1 1/2 pints of fluid in total. I usually put a half of a pint in the u-joint area and a pint in the transmission. I assume that this is a good practice. I use an oil can that can squirt oil to control the mess of filling the u-joint housing at the speedometer gear opening. I did know that the lubricant would move back and forth through the rear bearing in the transmission. This equalizes the oil distribution between the two areas. But it could take a long time for the universal joint to have proper lubrication if you didn't fill it as advised. This could ruin a new dry u-joint.

It is not untypical for us to have a chat question about vibration problems every 3 or 4 months. I guess we need to remember the importance of the correct installation of the universal ball in this discussion. A lot of times we fixate on bad motor mounts, or the transmission mount, or worn drive shaft bushings, or a bad u-joint, as first places to look.

Good luck, Mike

I wonder if replacing the rear transmission mount could change the collar adjustment? Considering the old transmission mount being settled causing the rear of the transmission to be lower.

I wonder if all that mess of filling the ball is worth the trouble.

Seems to me that if you put enough chassis grease on the needle or brass bearings caps to the point that some squishes out and then merely top off the transmission, you'll be fine.

I have never filled the ball the way the book says do it and I have never had a problem with U-joint failure owing to lack of lubricant. Lets face it the first time you put the transmission in a lower gear there's a-gonna be oil a-flying everywhere and some will trickle (read flow) to the ball.

Does that means I know more than the experts that wrote the book? Sure. It would seem so, right.

So my advice is to put the U-Joint together using grease and top off the gear box. Easier and better. The reason for the manual suggestion is that someone shade-tree mechanic will undoubtedly put the U-joint up absolutely dry and not check and top off the gear box.

You can do stuff the factory way or my way. Mines better. Your call.

BTW: = humor.

Charlie

Hi Don,

I am in the middle of a 10 year plus restoration on my 41. This will be the first summer that I will not be able to drive my car. In the past I took on major projects during the winter but always had my car ready to drive in the summer. In that process I have had my transmission/engine out of my car, at least ten times. Some years it could have been 3 or 4 times. It was only the last two times that I knew about the importance of the tightness and shimming of the universal ball housing. Eight years I have been ASSUMING. Your suggestion that reconditioning the transmission mount is affecting things is another example of the need to correctly adjust the retaining ring when any work in this area is done. Kevin's experience with shimming the retaining ring with the retaining ring gasket in place is another example of the need to precisely follow the directions.

Thanks Don, and good luck, Mike

Howdy Mike, and all!

First, I can't say Thanks enough to all on the forum that help me out when I am scratching my head. THANK YOU!!

I've owned a lot of old Chevy pick ups (3100) and cars over the past 20 plus years and I have learned a lot from working on them, but Mike, I really had to sit and think about that U-Joint ball housing for awhile, trying to understand it.

How it moves with the rear end and it's overall function, and how the shims work as far making the ball able to flex and not leak, while not allowing for drive train vibration.

When I took the car back in the other day for the excessive oil leak and the tech called me and said the car had developed a vibration, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what could be causing it.

So, I posted it for discussion, and also read that post Mike shared the link to, and the light bulb came on. Mis-adjustment of the ball housing.

Like you said, when I had the car in for the u-joint replacement and Oakie Bushing install, the tech did exactly what you did.

One gasket and lots of sealer and I ended up with an oil leak but there was no vibration at that point. It developed after he tried to fix the leak.

I think he just got lucky the first time not to have a vibration.

Gaither,

Your right about finding someone who worked the issue through. This shop is family owned and the guy who owns it has been in business for 40 years.

Before that, he worked as a tech for a local Chevy dealer.

Thanks again,

Kevin...

Kevin, we're glad you got your problem solved.