Broken U-Joint Snap Ring

[Muskrat]

Anyone ever have to remove a U-Joint snap ring that broke? Went to do my drivehsaft rebuild today, and the damn things were rusted on pretty good. Managed to get the yoke off, and 3 at the rear hub, but the 4th broke on me. (the other's on the center joint are pretty stuck, need more pb blaster before I tackle them again.)

Any way. How should I go about removing this snap ring? I might just take it to a shop, or say screw it on the whole rebuild and just buy an aluminum d/s from these guys, if I can get them to do a vR-4 shaft for about the same price as an eclipse ($800).

I can post a picture if needed.

 

[TylerAdamson]

Last I heard they had a failure in a DSM shaft and stopped producing to investigate the failure. If they are back into production then that's the route I'd go.

 

[Muskrat]

I heard the failure was the typical yoke spline twist from using the stock yoke. DSS has the same failures.

 

[toybreaker]

Since you have the ring off the other side of that cross, one of the best ways to deal with this is to drive the u-joint cup away from the broken ring to relieve the tension and increase your access.

Once you have a little space on the backside, you can stick a pin punch thru the opening and gently tap the side of the punch. Try and spin the ring, or failing that, drive it towards the center.

Good luck!