Another UJ Related Question - Sorry!

[Lewis's Friend]

Hi all

Apologies for carrying on about these...

On the advise of some of your good selves, before going down the route of changing the UJ's I have checked the bolts holding them to the shaft splines.

To my slight horror, I've found they are basically too short for the nylocks to engage properly, and in trying to tighten them up to see if this got rid of the slop in the steering the few threads actually engaged stripped (surprise).

My question is, can I put M8 HT bolts in instead of the imperial that was originally in there? The bolt diameter on the M8 is slightly smaller by about 0.1mm, so there is a tiny amount more movement in the UJ hole.

I can't see why I can't just use M8, but I thought I would check with you learned folk first.

Many thanks...

[Lewis's Friend]

Thanks for the reply.

Decent nylocks I have in metric sizes, so I think I'll just order up some HT m8 bolts and go from there.

Hopefully the UJ will clamp up nicely and save me some work!

[Lewis's Friend]

greymrj said:

These are under tension not sheer so a change to such a close metric fit will be no problem. I agree with Philpott to go for a decent depth of nut provided these is no chance of it fouling anything. While you have got it off why not make up a simple dust/water excluder. I have seen a couple done that way. Either by modifying a 'bellows sleeve' from some other component or a section of cycle innertube wired or 'jubilee' clipped over. Mine is still clean and 'dry' (except for lubricant!) 3 years on.

I may give this a go over winter. My hope is just changing the bolts will get rid of the play in the joints and I'll get another few drives out of it before the weather gets bad.

[Lewis's Friend]

I've just ordered some 8.8 grade 50mm bolts. I've looked, and the nylocs I have are A2 grade stainless.

Should these be mixed, as I can't seem to find any information on the subject.

[Lewis's Friend]

Thought I'd just update this, really just to show all the advise is not wasted.

Put some nice new bolts on the UJs and humped them up tight, and the steering feels much better. Sadly, the UJs are 90 degrees out of phase with each other, so I will have to adjust that at some stage in the future...

Still, little steps...!

[Lewis's Friend]

AutoAndy said:

But is St.st the best to use....I am a little anti St St lately and am aware that it can be not as strong and more likely to cause corrosion in the Ms bit it tougher...

I have to say, I did buy some normal 8.8 nylocs too, but ended up with the stainless as they had more threads in them. They clamped down nicely though, so I'll just keep an eye on them.

I will be surprised if it becomes a problem though.