Driveline U Joints - Cleveland Style Parts Source?

homewood4

homewood4

Precision Fit
Oct 23, 2009
522
Citrus Heights & Tahoe
First Name
Greg
Willys Model
  1. Pickup
Willys Year:
  1. 1954
Looking to replace my Cleveland driveline U Joints - no one seems to stock or have parts numbers for them...
Anyone out there know where I can find them? Or what I can use in their place?
Same size but not slotted?
Bought some from Kaiswer Willys but don't seem to be correct size...too long..

Thanks
 
Re: Driveline U Joints - Cleveland Style

Homewood, I went thru the same thing several years ago. NAPA actually had them, but they were way too expensive, so I spent MORE money and changed out the comeplete driveline assy for spicer units. I thought the clevelands were pretty cool, but at least now if one breaks on me, I know I can replace it without hassle.
Steve
 
Re: Driveline U Joints - Cleveland Style Parts Source

Aqua,
Now the obvious question...
can I just find u-joints that fit (without grooves) and use straps?
I don't undertsand purpose of grooved caps.
 
NOPE. It's all or nothin' on these cleveland style joints. The slots are for metal tabs that bolt in to the yoke and hold the cap in. They serve the same purpose as the snap rings on the spicer units. If you decide to change over to spicer units all yokes have to be swapped out along with the drive shafts.[attachment=0:1jz5ft2u]cleveland 001.jpg[/attachment:1jz5ft2u]

You CANNOT just find caps that fit without slots and use the tab for two reasons:
1. If the slot is not present, the tab has nothing to sit "in" and therefore will break due to excessive bending pressure after a while if it manages to stay in place long enough.
2. More than likely the tab would rotate out of position without the slot to hold it in place and then you'll have a real mess.
 

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Hi Steve-

Whats the project like in terms of difficulty/time on changing out the cleveland drive shaft and yokes?

Did you also do the front shaft or just main?

Thanks

ROn
 
OK Think I've got I figured out.
Original Cleveland on left, new on right. The retainer grooves on new caps look like snap ring is supposed to go on inside of yoke. Problem is the yoke is not as wide as distance between retainer grooves. Looks like I'll be grinding inside of yoke faces to appropriate distance. Really frustrated that vendor did not provide any instructions and hasn't been to helpful when I contacted with questions. Once installed I'll put straps back on to give original appearance...
 

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homewood4...

Did you succeed swapping out the Cleveland style universal joints? Did you encounter any difficulties with the installations?

Am up against the same wall as you were and any advice would be appreciated.


Thanks.
 
After I figured out the snap rings went inside face of yokes things got a little better. Still had to grind yoke faces a bit to allow clearance for snap rings. Also had to reem yoke holes a bit to get bearing caps to fut. I plan on installing the old tabs too just to give it original look. Havnt had it on the road as of yet but everything looks ok.
 
Thanks homewood4...

I think that I know the site that you refer to about the Cleveland u-joint replacements/conversions... There's a question on the page that asks: How does this install without straps and bolts? ... The answer: The caps are larger and take up the space where the strap went.

As you said, rather vague and not very useful.

Thanks again for your input. :)
 
I pulled my transmission the other day. Before starting I read the manual and it said, "All the universal joints of this type used are similar in construction except that some are of the "U"-bolt type and others of the "Snap-Ring" type. " I thought well this can't be too hard, I've seen both types before. I raised old Leona up on the lift and low and behold; there's three types of universal joints. I actually had a little trouble getting mine apart. They'd been together a long time.
I saw this thread about the Cleveland universals. Homewood, were you able to replace the old ones to your satisfaction?
Did someone say that NAPA had replacements, how much were they?
How did others deal with this issue?
Thanks JIM
 
I have these on my 1956 wagon as well. No one seemed to have a clue what i was talking about when i was asking about them. I really want to pull my trans/tcase while i have my motor out. But I have not been able to get my Cleveland joints to budge. Any trick to getting them out? I have tried a u joint press from harbor freight with no luck.

I would also e interested to know what napa wants for them if they can still be found.
 
I haven't tried this yet but it might work. You might try putting a large socket over one end of the universal and a small one against the other end and put a good C clamp on each of the two sockets. It worked to get the reverse idler shaft out of my trans. Maybe it would work on the universal joint. I may try it myself tomorrow if I get a few other things done first. I guess you could shoot a little snake oil on them and let them sit over night. Personally, I never have the patience to wait after I get to that point. I usually forge ahead and break something instead of waiting.
The local NAPA store was no help but they gave me the name of another place in town to check. They specialize in drivelines. I'll try next week.
 
The Grinch said:
I have these on my 1956 wagon as well. No one seemed to have a clue what i was talking about when i was asking about them. I really want to pull my trans/tcase while i have my motor out. But I have not been able to get my Cleveland joints to budge. Any trick to getting them out? I have tried a u joint press from harbor freight with no luck.

I would also e interested to know what napa wants for them if they can still be found.
Click to expand...

Grinch...

Three of the drive-train universals on my rig were painless... They pushed out with just the force of my thumbs... I had spent a couple days prepping the joints by repeatedly spraying with PB Blaster followed with a tap or two with a hammer... The fourth joint, at the rear axle, required a quite a few choice words and a lot of stress on the HF u-joint press you mention.

The Seattle area NAPA parts dealers don't have the older strap u-joint bearings.

Good Luck!
 
Homewood4,

Do you have a NAPA part number for the new joints?


Thanks in advance,

Brant
 
Ok,
You folks are making me nervous now. :? I'm gonna put this out there again, just for the hell of it.
1. I found the cleveland joints at NAPA many many years ago. Each joint was close to $50.00. Too much money. They probably don't have them anymore. If you want them, go to Walcks, or Willys America, another Willys Vendor.
2. If you are trying to fit different joints in a cleveland style drive shaft and yoke, YOU ARE ASKING FOR TROUBLE.
3. I'm all for fixing and/or modifying to make things work, but this is not the area to do it.
a. Drive shafts are generally balanced units and should be installed with proper phasing.
b. If you are grinding and milling on the yoke ends, not only are you messing with balance, which will drive you nuts with vibration, but you are making the yokes weaker than they all ready are.
c. It's just plain dangerous.

For the money and time you are putting in to making things dangerous, you could swap out the entire drive shaft / yoke assemblies for spicer units and have piece of mind that a cap isn't going to go flying out at 45 mph.

You can get the complete front/rear driveshafts and yokes with joints from most of the vendors, because they usually have a stock pile of shafts out back. Tell them you want to swap out your cleveland set up for a spicer and they'll hook you up.

No the shafts won't be new, but you know they will be good. The joints of course will be new.

Wouldn't it suck to be driving along and have a joint fail at a speed?!

C'mon people! BE SAFE!
Steve
 
I am really kickin myself because I had all the parts to swap but sold them not realizing i had clevland joints in the wagon. I still have the drive shafts So I guess i will need the 4 yokes and have to get the rear shaft altered to wagon length unless the pickup and wagon shafts are the same length.
 
On the rear u joints, check for clips on the inside which hold the 2 non strapped ends in.
 
I thought I would also give you guys a further update on my attempts with this. Last sunday I took the driveshaft out of my 55 pickup, to look at changing the rear u joint. It was stamped Spicer 161, so I did some searching on the web and found a link that showed a cross refernce part # for similar ujoints at both NAPA and Autozone

http://www.nagca.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20395

So, I track down the ujoints, napa being US made, autozone from China. So I go with the US made one and get to work. What I find is that oddly enough, or maybe not, the existing spicer ujoint that I was to replace has different diameter ends, and the replacement joints all four of the ends are the same diameter. Oh no.

I think maybe its time to followp steves advise an look for a swap on the driveshaft and yokes, as I have clevelands, and yes the bolt tabs look cool, but I really think that staying with the clevelands is in many ways like slowly digging yourself in a hole that at some point forced to climb out of.
 
I did a quick search at NAPA PROLink for 1955 Willys... I logged in and found one Cleveland joint. It is the two bolt style. Part#NPJ P476 that has a List Price of $66.44, and my cost would be $48.95. They show 0 in stock, but since they are listed, there is a good chance they can get them. No luck looking for the 1 bolt Clevelands. Just for reference, I can get one with clips for as low as $11.21.... THAT said, I learned a long time ago to go with Spicer joints on all my trucks. Nothing lasts longer at least for me. I had bad luck with Precision, and TRW. As long as we are on the subject, I have a 4" x 6" card I keep in the glove box of my truck with part numbers and brands for belts, hoses, U joints, bearings, thermostat, cap, rotor, plugs, etc. That way I KNOW what will fit. Sometimes there is more than one part number, and you need to figure out which one it is that works for you, so this way, I can call around and make SURE they have a part that will work for me when I am stranded. Probably not that common, but when I called up for front wheel bearings in my 77 Chevy, they sent three sets, and told me to send back the two that did not fit!

~Chuck
 
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