U Joint caps decide not to go to Carlisle

About 1.5 hours from Carlisle my u joint caps decided to leave and drop the rear of my drive shaft to the ground. Got a tow to a shop but they couldn't get the right size u joint until tomorrow. The fun never ends on road trips with this car. Plus the grass was full of ticks on the side of the road.

Its the way these cars shift I bet.

the first day I bought my wagon I got u joints thinking they where bad. but they where fine. Now you got me thinking.

Never a dull moment!The joys of owning a classic car/wagon!

The shaft is only a few months old. I didn't think it would cause problems.

Well....you got a pretty picture out of it...

Bummer!

Where are you staying tonight?

Tim

We're at the Quality Inn in Carlisle. Hopefully the car will be done early and we'll drive back to pick it up.

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

Where are you staying tonight?

Tim

you thinking of washing your wagon again?

buickestate wrote:

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

Where are you staying tonight?

Tim

you thinking of washing your wagon again?

I thought if he was close I could help tomorrow.

Where is the car?

Pep Boy's in Bethlehem. If they don't call early I'm going to check and see if they got the part. If they did I'll drive over with a guy from my club and pick it up.

That sucks! Now I'm worried about my Caprice making it to Carlisle.

Sucks to hear that, hope you get it back and smooth sailing the rest of the trip there and back home. You going to the show field or just going as a spectator?

95BRMW wrote:

That sucks! Now I'm worried about my Caprice making it to Carlisle.

Dave, we can always take my Caprice... You like sweating your balls off the whole way? I know were not going to the show field, but we do have to take a GM, even as spectators. We would look like idiots pulling into the parking lot with the Ford or the Chrysler.

I'll be on the show field.

Hope the d/s isn't bent,.

Stemmler wrote:

I'll be on the show field.

Good. Can't wait to see it, two-toned DGGM over silver is my favorite Caprice wagon color!

Well the car is on jackstands. Pepboys messed it up, imagine that!!.. We had to use a grinder to get the u-joint they put in back out!!! Back to the Mechanicsburg store, where they proceeded to give us the wrong u joint again!! Stuck for the night, Mickey is driving Bill back to his hotel. He will go to Autozone and pick up the correct u joint in the AM and we can finish the job I hope!!

Thanks John and Mickey for the help............

i,d like a better explanation,.
messed up what?
grinder?
huh?

Nick

+1

+2 Manny Moe and Jack sound like a bunch of A-holes

It was noisey from the word go. Not the right u-joint I suspect. Will know more when we get the new one in................

Thanks to Tim I was able to get the corrct U joint in and made the GM Nationals this morning. It still has some noise but it much better. Will have to take it back to the drivesaft shop when I get home.

Thanks again to Tim, Mickey and John.

This is the first time I've ever heard of this problem. Makes me wonder if maybe a mistake was made during the installation. Not trying to impugn you, but just trying to find a root cause.

I'm dealing with some "installer error" on a recent job I did, but come to find out there was a hidden defect in a hose that I didn't see until I finally removed the hose from the vehicle.

Glad to see you were able to fix it. Sometimes (a lot of times) those PepBoys guys are idiots, especially when it comes to older style cars like ours. I took my OCC to a PepBoys and it took them an hour to tell me they can't do a front end alignment on a car with rear fender "skirts" like our wagons have. Don't know what the heck that had to do with a front end alignment. Anyway, I was glad to come across your wagon today at Carlise, too bad I missed you, but your wagon was pretty sweet. I love me some DGGM Caprice wagons!!! Hope you had a good time despite the breakdown, and hope you have a safe and uneventful trip home.

bill did you make it home ok?

I'm still in Carlisle. Leaving tomorrow morning and hopefully making it all the way home with no tow trucks invovled..

It may have been an error when I installed it. But I asked my mechanic to take a look and make sure I installed it properly. One thought was they may not have put the clips on the caps and they worked there way loose due to extened time at highway speeds. Made sense to me but but I'm still leaning a lot when it comes to cars.

I learned a bit about u-joints as well. My father showed us how to center one after installation. Might help me to go after the high speed vibration in the Impala......

phantom 309 wrote:

i,d like a better explanation,.
messed up what?
grinder?
huh?

Nick

Still want this explained./

the u joint was stuck in drive shaft had to cut it out. bill good luck on your trip home. let us know how you make out