Shay U Joint Assembly / Disassembly

[Sherwood]

In replacing the trucks with the replacements for new geasrs on a shay that had not been run yet I find that one of the slip joint between the crankshaft and trucks binds severely.   The replacement gear kit included an extra slip joint sleeve with u joint half, the mating piece of the u-joint that presses on the crankshaft, and the ring that holds the u-joint together.

How do you assemble the joint, do you just squeeze the two ends together enough to fit into the ring and pop back to shape in the holes?  Also, is there any way to disassemble it without just snipping off the ring?  I would rather just replace the sleeve part, and not try to pull off  / press on the part that goes on the crankshaft.

Thanks

[Biglars]

"How do you assemble the joint, do you just squeeze the two ends together enough to fit into the ring and pop back to shape in the holes?  Also, is there any way to disassemble it without just snipping off the ring?  I would rather just replace the sleeve part, and not try to pull off  / press on the part that goes on the crankshaft."

First off it might help to remove the truck before you do this.

Do not bend the u joints in as they should be metal and therefore may not bend back perfectly.

The o ring is a strong rubber or plastic and will change shape if squeezed in so give it a squeeze. This should allow enough room to remove and reapply the u joints. 

Good Luck
Larry

[Sherwood]

Thanks - once I got that the coupling was flexible it was no problem to change the u- joint components!  I just assumed it was similar to the other black plastic pieces  Now I see that in the service parts it is called an O-ring which would have been a good hint. 

I also noticed that on the older shay I had the sleeves and u-joint ends that connect to the crankshaft were metal and well formed, with a little grease they had always worked just fine.  The later one (soundraxx version) that I was running for the first time with new trucks and gears in hand had plastic sleeves that were poorly formed - more round than rectangular to match the shafts.  I heated the shaft that goes into it to open it up a bit, then sanded the shaft smooth and with enough grease it works OK.

The one replacement sleeve in the kit with the gears was also plastic and as poorly formed as the original one.