Ok, so today I had to replace the U Joint again, this is the same one I have already replaced twice.
IN my previous post I stated that my machine had 375 hours, I Must have been smoking a U-Joint that day because today I looked and it has 613 hours and there is no way I have ran over 200 hours in the last 3 months. I would guess maybe 20 -30 hours at most.
Anyway.
For the first u joint (a few years ago) I replaced with a Kubota OEM @ $60 , a few days of waiting on the part to get in and 2 trips.
On the 2nd one (4 months ago) I used the replacement recommended above, (1-1557DL from autozone) @ $7-8? in stock at my local autozone. 1 trip.
I was pulling trees over to be cut up and split for firewood. (They were already cut down) I know I work machines pretty hard, but am surprised this same u joint broke so soon.
I decided to try and find a NAPA replacement (Precision Brand) u joint. They are made in the USA and I have found NAPA products to be much better than the other Three auto parts stores stuff. (O'reilly, Advanced auto, and AutoZone) I may be wrong but sometimes it seems that their "lifetime Replacement parts" are more trouble than they are worth?
Ok So here is what I found... The NAPA PUJ 398 in stock @ $21.99 works perfect, EXCEPT the clips are the wrong ones, this u-joint only comes with the "Outside Clips"
Here are 3 options.
1. Use your old clips, if you can retrieve them.
2. Try asking NAPA if they have any spare clips they can give you. I was able to talk to the store manager, and he was kind enough to give me some Spare Clips he had in the back, the RTV 900 takes the "inside clips" meaning the clips go on the inside of the yolk to keep the caps from slipping off.
3. Cut (Break) the little loops on the ends of the "outside clips" off, you can then use them the same way the "inside clips" work.
In the above picture, the clip on the left is how they come in the package, the clip on the right is one I have cut the loops off of.
I just used a pair of pliers and bent the loop back and forth twice and it broke of, on the 2nd loop I used some dykes and cut it off.
I then clipped the modified clip around one of the caps of the old joint to see how it would fit, it looks to work perfect except it is a little loose compared to the others, but they do clip around the caps and should stay in place to keep the cap from slipping off which is the intended purpose.
Option 2 worked for me and I installed the joint today, I will update this if there is another problem in the future, other wise NO NEWS is GOOD NEWS if I don't update then it is working good.
Vance.