Ta destroyed my drive train

...and here I thought u-joints were fairly idiot-proof. At least the ones I've done, if something wasn't right, it was obvious. Yolks are designed to hold the caps in a specific place...they are either there, or they aren't. The bolt in caps, same thing...it either goes together, or it doesn't. How do you screw it up? Wrong size u-joint would be obvious. Worn or damaged yolk, again, obvious...but in that case, it wasn't the person changing the u-joint that caused the damage...they just should have said something to you about it BEFORE getting it put back together.

Bottom line, I'm doubtful the damage was CAUSED by the TA. Their biggest mistake was not identifying other existing issues and promptly bringing them to the attention of the driver.

 

this story does not pass my sniff test maybe some of the techs that are on here can clear this up ? how does an improperly installed u-joint affect handling ? other than a bad vibration I,m pretty sure the drive shaft has almost no effect on wheel alignment.

 

Hope to one day. Just keeping an eye open for a good used pickup truck to juice up.

 

Unless they dropped a needle inside, rammed it back together and kicked it out the door. I've seen guys do that on the half round yokes. Like really? Isn't it obvious that the strap isn't flush to the yoke and the cap isn't even seated?

 

Found a nail in my supersingle tire. Wasn't too hip to pull the nail in case the tire went flat then I'd be down. Limped over to T/A the tech pulled nail, determined no air leak and charged me $60 bucks for 'check and advise'.

 

Like I said...when things aren't quite right going back together, it's usually pretty obvious. Kicking it out the door with an obviously screwed up installation means one of two things: Laziness (doesn't want to correct the issue) or complete incompetence (they didn't notice). Either way, they wouldn't remain employed in a shop I was responsible for running. If you don't know, ask and it'll be a learning experience. Proceed in ignorance and you'll be out of a job. Whoever said "ignorance is bliss" never had to deal with anybody else's ignorance.

 

I replaced Ujoints on my Corvette's driveline and axles years ago, I wasn't aware of any alignment or balancing to complete the job. I just pushed out the old ones and put in the news ones and tightened them up and drove around like a brand new car.

 

Problem is a lot of the younger guys coming into the trade. A lot of them are just in it for the money. They don't care and have no desire to push themselves to be better.

 

It might be a hard lesson for them to learn, but if you don't keep getting better, you'll never earn the real money. If you want to chase the dollar, that's fine, but you have to be good enough for somebody to think you're worth paying. If all you want to do is the bare minimum while waiting for quitting time, there's the door...no need to wait for the clock anymore. I'd rather be short staffed and know everything my shop is turning out was done RIGHT, rather than have a fully staffed shop full of nincompoops.

 

I am almost to this point on my truck right now. Not dangerous; but just saw it needs attention.
I have the first yoke off trsansmission with a side to side slop and spin marks on ends of caps.
Movement is more than just pumping it up full of grease will stop.
Another in the middle also needs replaced. I do these myself, have for years,
and also can't see how it would affect or even influence your steering or handling?