Thanks to Greg, I'll make the measurements and see what I get.
With respect to U-joints, in a previous life and previous Spitfire (a '74) I ran
two U-joints to failure at different times. The first was a joint that got very
loud while decelerating, after a couple of weeks of listening to the noise (it
was Winter in Washington D.C., not good mechanic weather) I jacked up the car
and discovered one half shaft joint had lost the bearing pins completely in one
cup and the opposite side cup had dried grease. Several hours later with a new
on in place all was quiet.
The second faiolure was more of a disaster. I had a joint actually break
(one of the legs of the the cruciform housing) at the top of the Sunshine Skyway
bridge in Saint Petersburg Florida. I had no choice but to coast down until I
could pull over... nearly a half mile. The whole time, the half shaft, no
longer connected to the differential was banging away underneath the car. The
U-Joint housing at the ned of the shaft was damaged requiring replacement of the
shaft. The guide for the emergency break cable was also damaged by the banging
around.
The lesson from my experience is Greg is absolutely right to replace the
U-Joint at the first sign of noise or trouble!
Regards, John Pratchios
jpratchi@isdlink1.ess.harris.com
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