Is tack welding stock 44 axle u-joint caps worth the effort?

JoeB-JKURX

JoeB-JKURX

New member
A little short of cash right now relative to new axle shafts and am heading for Moab soon. Am a bit concerned that the caps will turn in the yoke resulting in losing the c-clip. I probably wouldn't enjoy fixing a U-joint or replacing an axle on the trail (or even out of town). Have heard on this forum that one approach is to tack weld the cap to the yoke. Any thoughts/recommendations on whether this is worthwhile would be appreciated.

Thx
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
JoeB-JKURX said:
A little short of cash right now relative to new axle shafts and am heading for Moab soon. Am a bit concerned that the caps will turn in the yoke resulting in losing the c-clip. I probably wouldn't enjoy fixing a U-joint or replacing an axle on the trail (or even out of town). Have heard on this forum that one approach is to tack weld the cap to the yoke. Any thoughts/recommendations on whether this is worthwhile would be appreciated.

Thx
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What makes you think that they're going to fail on you?
 
highoctane

highoctane

Caught the Bug
WJCO said:
What makes you think that they're going to fail on you?
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It's common for the u-joint caps to "walk" or loosen up and start to work their way out of the stub shaft ears when the half circle c-clips fail to hold the cap in place. A cheap fix that works great is to tack weld the caps in place. A lot of JK front axle u-joints fail not because of torque/overload, but because these c-clips failed to hold the cap in place. When the cap falls out, the trunnion is free to move around inside the ear, and literally destroy the stub shaft.
 
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JoeB-JKURX

JoeB-JKURX

New member
Do You Need to Pull the Axle?

highoctane said:
It's common for the u-joint caps to "walk" or loosen up and start to work their way out of the stub shaft ears when the half circle c-clips fail to hold the cap in place. A cheap fix that works great is to tack weld the caps in place. A lot of JK front axle u-joints fail not because of torque/overload, but because these c-clips failed to hold the cap in place. When the cap falls out, the trunnion is free to move around inside the ear, and literally destroy the stub shaft.
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It looks (when crawling under the Jeep) like they are pretty accessible. What are thoughts/experience about tack welding with the axles in place?
 
highoctane

highoctane

Caught the Bug
JoeB-JKURX said:
It looks (when crawling under the Jeep) like they are pretty accessible. What are thoughts/experience about tack welding with the axles in place?
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Thats how I did the ones on my last JK. I Just ground a spot clean on each cap/ear and tacked it in place.
 
JeepFan

JeepFan

Hooked
Hmmmmm. Tough call. We went to Moab twice in our 2009 JKU. Stock axles running 37s and never had a problem.

If it gives you piece of mind it can't hurt but, you'll probably be fine until you upgrade.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
JeepFan said:
Hmmmmm. Tough call. We went to Moab twice in our 2009 JKU. Stock axles running 37s and never had a problem.

If it gives you piece of mind it can't hurt but, you'll probably be fine until you upgrade.
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Agreed. On our Dozer JK, we lost a driver side bearing cap within 14,000 miles. That being said, we had 85,000 miles on our passenger side shaft and without any issues before replacing it with an chromoly shaft. Even now, it's still in good condition and I carry it as a spare.

If it were me, I would just leave well enough alone unless you suspect things are moving around. Of course, an easy way to tell if things are is to mark your caps with a paint pen.
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
highoctane said:
It's common for the u-joint caps to "walk" or loosen up and start to work their way out of the stub shaft ears when the half circle c-clips fail to hold the cap in place. A cheap fix that works great is to tack weld the caps in place. A lot of JK front axle u-joints fail not because of torque/overload, but because these c-clips failed to hold the cap in place. When the cap falls out, the trunnion is free to move around inside the ear, and literally destroy the stub shaft.
Click to expand...

I had heard of that happening but didn't realize it was that common.

JeepFan said:
If it gives you piece of mind it can't hurt but, you'll probably be fine until you upgrade.
Click to expand...

That's kind of what I was thinking. If it is easy to get to for peace of mind do it, but if no issues, I would leave it alone myself.
 
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