Center bearing replacement...uni etc

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DEFINATELY BUY GENUINE CENTRE BEARING FOR TAIL SHAFT .I used a fleabest centre bearing and it came apart within a weak ,there is a loose metal cap, was only pushed in and not vulcanized to rubber,i did email them but i got no reply back from them . with uni jts ,i was told to put a mark before removing shaft to reassemble on same spot, used the same type uni not genuine part.. the yoke may not have been machined for different uni . i have replaced uni jts on all my past vehicles, ( 7) NEVER HAD TO REBALANCE ANY OF THEM.

 

[SwampyPom]

Worked out the uni joint everyone told me should fit was actually the wrong one. Had to phone Hardy Spicer and work out which was right. Have phased in the tail shaft but it still needs balancing so will get that sorted and hopefully this saga will be done.

 

[Xenith]

Did my 4wd shaft unis the other day.
Make sure you mark the shaft and the bearing housing before removing and alot easier if you take the whole shaft out and work on it on the bench.
Took me a couple hours under the ute.
Also use the right sized socket to knock it out. Takes a bit of hammering to get it. Be gentle on the way in.
I got my uni j from BNT automotive.
Get a greasable one to. Last longer.

 

[Horatius]

Just changed my centre bearing (rubber was split) and the new uni joint I've got is different to the original. End caps are shallower and the clips are now on the inside of the joint rather than fitting on top of the end caps. I cannot find anywhere that has exactly the same uni joint, anyone find the same thing?
So now I've got vibration between 40-70kmh, should you need to re-balance the tailshaft after this job?

If you mark the tailshafts so it all assembles back the same way and use quality parts it shouldn't need balancing, but there are exceptions.

I replaced my centre bearing and unis with cheap fleabay ones for about 150 bucks for the lot lol. The original centre bearing was cracked and I thought might as well do the unis at the same time. The price for genuine centre bearing seemed quite steep, as were the locally made ones. I don't mind paying a little extra for good parts but at some point it seems unreasonable.

Of course it had a vibration and the centre bearing lasted 2,000 kms lol. As they say, buy cheap buy twice.

So I took it to a driveline shop who replaced the centre bearing and uni joints, then balanced it for 400 bucks. No doubt they use cheapy parts too, but as specialists are likely to source reasonable quality and I figured they aren't going to risk their reputation on garbage. At any rate it's been all good for the last 60k kms. Incidentally this was about half the price of simply buying one locally made centre bearing.