Annoying repair - And is it yoke or yolk?

[davepl]

So I've had a "drip a day" leak from the back of my transmission. If it were 5 years old I'd ignore it, but it's a fresh restoration and I can't bear to have it leak.

After a lot of drying and watching and drying and watching, and hoping it was from the grease packed in the u-joint (it wasn't) I asked around and the consensus from old people was that it's likely the plug in the base of the yoke*.

How do you get at that? Well, you need to take the u-joint out. How do you get that out? Take the driveshaft out. How do you get that out? Take the carrier bearing out. How do you get that out? Take the rear driveshaft out. How do you get that out? Remove the U-bolts from the differential output. Now remove the U-joint retention clips, and then, with a hydraulic press, push out one cap. Then flip it all over and press out the other side. Yes, I know it can be done with a hammer, but that's not my jam.

Then, after pressing it all out, I had to decide whether to skim coat it with some good old "room temperature vulcanizing" compound. But I wasn't sure that would do it, so I drove the plug out. Figured I would reassemble it with RTV. But the plug is put in with some kind of alien machine that grabs it coaxially, grips it, forces it convex and then installs it and lets it expand. You can see the "tooth" marks, or witness marks, where that's done. I doubt that tool exists west of the Mississippi, so I had to file down the plug to where it fit, but snugly. RTV both side. Drop RTV down the spline end just as a belts-and-suspenders move and push it around. Push it in the spline as best I can.

Reverse and reassemble.

All for one drip.

[davepl]

This month's Super Chevy (cough) calls it a yolk. Have I been wrong for 30 years or are they? I figured yoke from the old thing they put on oxen to pull a cart...

[michael bustamante]

yoke is what ive always known.
what a pain for 1 drip. i hope after all that it stays nice and dry now!

[hamjet]

It's a YOKE, and I'm not yoking

[leftybass209]

I'm sure that was a error on the editors part. Spell checkers work really well for wrong words, not so much for correctly spelled words with different meanings. I think there, their, and they're are the most commonly fixed "meaning" errors in a spell check.

[Stocker]

Eggs have yolks.... trucks have yokes.

[truckster]

A yoke is a mechanical coupling, and yes, it does come from the yoke used to couple oxen together.

As a side note, the part of a shirt that goes across the shoulders and the back of the neck is also called a yoke (also from its resemblance to a yoke for oxen).

[AirSpeed]

You could just unbolt the carrier bearing then drop the rear U joint and slide the yoke out of the trans. Watch out for trans fluid pouring out when you pull the yoke. Edit, I missed the part about the transfer case!

[davepl]

Originally Posted by AirSpeed

You could just unbolt the carrier bearing then drop the rear U joint and slide the yoke out of the trans. Watch out for trans fluid pouring out when you pull the yoke. Edit, I missed the part about the transfer case!

That confuses me. There is no room to slide the rear driveshaft out of the way to get the carrier bearing out of the way. My rear driveshaft only unbolts at the differential, so when you say "drop the rear U joint" either that's what I described above originally (rearmost U joint) or you're talking about a place I don't think exists (rear U joint behind carrier bearing).

No transfer case on this one, it's a 133" so two part driveshaft with a mix 3/4 and 1-ton parts. I upgraded everything to the big 1350 Spicer joints so maybe that changed something.

[davepl]

Originally Posted by truckster

A yoke is a mechanical coupling, and yes, it does come from the yoke used to couple oxen together.

Thanks! Then I guess they really do have egg on their face (ba dum bum).

The best used to be newspaper classified ads for car parts when you still called them into the newspaper by phone. You almost needed a Rosetta stone to decode them, at least in my town!

[AirSpeed]

Originally Posted by davepl

That confuses me. There is no room to slide the rear driveshaft out of the way to get the carrier bearing out of the way. My rear driveshaft only unbolts at the differential, so when you say "drop the rear U joint" either that's what I described above originally (rearmost U joint) or you're talking about a place I don't think exists (rear U joint behind carrier bearing).

No transfer case on this one, it's a 133" so two part driveshaft with a mix 3/4 and 1-ton parts. I upgraded everything to the big 1350 Spicer joints so maybe that changed something.

Sorry, I misread your post. Your carrier bearing should unbolt from the truck, Then you should be able to drop the joint at the diff and slide the yoke out of the transmission

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by davepl

So I've had a "drip a day" leak from the back of my transmission. If it were 5 years old I'd ignore it, but it's a fresh restoration and I can't bear to have it leak.

After a lot of drying and watching and drying and watching, and hoping it was from the grease packed in the u-joint (it wasn't) I asked around and the consensus from old people was that it's likely the plug in the base of the yoke*.

How do you get at that? Well, you need to take the u-joint out. How do you get that out? Take the driveshaft out. How do you get that out? Take the carrier bearing out. How do you get that out? Take the rear driveshaft out. How do you get that out? Remove the U-bolts from the differential output. Now remove the U-joint retention clips, and then, with a hydraulic press, push out one cap. Then flip it all over and press out the other side. Yes, I know it can be done with a hammer, but that's not my jam.

Then, after pressing it all out, I had to decide whether to skim coat it with some good old "room temperature vulcanizing" compound. But I wasn't sure that would do it, so I drove the plug out. Figured I would reassemble it with RTV. But the plug is put in with some kind of alien machine that grabs it coaxially, grips it, forces it convex and then installs it and lets it expand. You can see the "tooth" marks, or witness marks, where that's done. I doubt that tool exists west of the Mississippi, so I had to file down the plug to where it fit, but snugly. RTV both side. Drop RTV down the spline end just as a belts-and-suspenders move and push it around. Push it in the spline as best I can.

Reverse and reassemble.

All for one drip.

Yolk is the yellow center of an egg.
A yoke is the part of the Universal Joint that holds the end caps. Yokes can also be found around the necks of oxen to carry the traces for pulling an ox cart.

A new 'yoke' to repair that pesky leak on the transmission end about $70.00 if you buy a Spicer. I usually just clean the ATF off the center with acetone, get out the TIG torch and weld it shut. $0.10 for the gas and filler rod.

[midniteblues]

when you crash your bike without a helmet you crack your egg and your yoke spills out

"yolk!"
is the noise my beagle makes when i accidentally step on her foot.

.....sorry dave,i just had too


a good used yoke or a new one sounds like the best trouble free deal...but would your ds need new balancing then??

wouldnt a acid brush and some epoxy be a good ole' jerry rig

[MySons68C20]

JB Weld

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by MySons68C20

JB Weld

Is that like "Burma Shave"?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by leftybass209

I'm sure that was a error on the editors part. Spell checkers work really well for wrong words, not so much for correctly spelled words with different meanings. I think there, their, and they're are the most commonly fixed "meaning" errors in a spell check.

Dam homonyms.

K

[special-K]

I'm glad we cleared this up. So, yokes aren't high in cholesterol after all!

I like my yokes greasy and my yolks over medium...and lease, no grease!!