On a 120, can driveshaft’s front universal joint be lubricated from
below. If so, what is the trick to doing it?
Thanks,
Mike Balch–
'53 OTS
Des Moines, Iowa, United States
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In reply to a message from old spats sent Tue 4 Apr 2006:
Mike
There is a special tip made to fit the tight areas like U-joints.
It is pointed, and the tip actually goes into the little hole in
the grease zerk. It is available at most auto parts stores.
Joel–
The original message included these comments:
On a 120, can driveshaft’s front universal joint be lubricated from
below. If so, what is the trick to doing it?
Thanks,
Mike Balch
–
ex jag, '66 E-type S1 4.2, '56 XK140dhc
Denison, TX, United States
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In reply to a message from ex jag sent Tue 4 Apr 2006:
Mike
I believe the factory supplied U joints (on XK140s anyway) actually
were provided with extended (ie. extra long) grease fittings, which
protruded out far enough to be accessible. I have seen these on an
old XK140 spare driveshaft.
You can always grind a little bit off the tip of your grease gun,
so it will fit in there. Just keep grinding away a little at a time
off the tip, until it eventually fits onto the grease fitting.
You can also try jacking up one rear wheel off the ground and
leaving the transmission in neutral so you can rotate the
driveshaft back and forth a little to try to find the position with
the most clearance.–
The original message included these comments:
On a 120, can driveshaft’s front universal joint be lubricated from
–
Gary Grant S818919DN
Ottawa, Canada
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Lift your tunnel carpet on the right rear corner and see if you have a small
removable access plate held on by two screws to the tunnel cover. This is
where you grease the front U-joint if you have a JL or SL (short tail)
gearbox. With the JH and SH boxes the tailcase is longer and you can reach
the U-joint from below. If you don’t have the access plate, now you know why
it was added on later cars. I looked in the parts catalogues but it doesn’t
seem to be listed separately.
Rob Reilly - 679187
On a 120, can driveshaft’s front universal joint be lubricated from
below. If so, what is the trick to doing it?>Mike Balch
'53 OTS
In reply to a message from R, J, G K Reilly sent Wed 5 Apr 2006:
Rob,
My car was built in late 1953 with a JL gear box. I will check
tomorrow for the access plate. It just didn’t seem possible to do
it from below. Now I know why.
Thanks,
Mike Balch–
The original message included these comments:
Lift your tunnel carpet on the right rear corner and see if you have a small
removable access plate held on by two screws to the tunnel cover. This is
where you grease the front U-joint if you have a JL or SL (short tail)
gearbox. With the JH and SH boxes the tailcase is longer and you can reach
the U-joint from below. If you don’t have the access plate, now you know why
–
'53 OTS
Des Moines, Iowa, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
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In reply to a message from old spats sent Wed 5 Apr 2006:
This discussion has reminded me… Assuming that you can get at
the grease nipple, can you use grease for these universal joints?
The service manual and lube charts for the 120 and 140 specify 140
weight oil for this application. I’ve tried numerous sources to get
straight 140 weight oil (including agricultural/tractor service
places) but had no luck. All they can offer is 85-90/140 gear oil.
I’m nervous about using anything but what Jaguar specified, but I’m
also nervous about leaving them unlubricated any longer given how
little grease I found in the wheel bearings when I bought the car
18 months ago…
-David
XK-140 OTS–
david xk140
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Hope someone may be able to assist with advice – looking to lubricate the front universal joint and splines in my XK120 OTS, preventative maintenance, no problems noticed.
Is anyone able to provide a photo of the access plate referred too earlier in this thread, please? Before I start ripping up carpet too much – it appears glued to the tunnel over the gearbox when it was restored.
Also is it possible to use a normal grease gun fitting from under the car if I am patient and rotate the UV joint to an appropriate point?
The workshop manual says not to grease the UV joint, instead use the oil DavidXK mentions above from the lube charts? Will grease damage anything or will it do the job?
Appreciate any thoughts and advice?
This is used if you have a JL or SL or OSL gearbox with the short tail.
The long tail JH and SH have the u-joint farther back and you reach it from underneath.
U-joints have needle roller bearings so they like SAE140 gear oil, same as you use in your steering box. See page G5 of the Service Manual.
But High Melting Point grease is fine for the sliding splines.
Perhaps your leaky gearbox is better than nothing.
Thank you so much for replying, Rob. I have a JL gearbox but no access cover so looks like I’ll be swearing and cursing under the jack stands to lube that UV joint and spline!
Update, thanks to that photo Rob I had a closer look and found the cover, injected about 4 pumps of grease into the nipple for the splines, no idea if this is enough as the other end where the grease comes out is hidden but that was enough to top up the wheel bearings to the point of emerging from the small hole.
The UV joint had no nipple but a small hex headed screw in its place. Off to research whether its possible this might be a sealed maintenance free item, ie modern replacement part inserted as part of the restoration a few years back.
Is that right - lube Hardy Spicer joints with oil? I have had a very large number of British cars over the last 45 years and all have required a general purpose (wheel-bearing-type) grease, typically Castrol LM. Healeys, Triumphs, MGs, Austins, Humbers, Jensens, even the AC Cobra which gives its drivetrain UJs (all 6 of them) a much harder time than any XK would. The Cobra’s UJs are the same size as, and interchangeable with, the XKs. All have used grease - why oil for the XK? I can’t imagine it would stay in there very long…
I would definitely use grease on the splines, but I use a specific spline grease for this, which is black - not a normal high melting point chassis grease.
That is a bizarre statement. Every other car I have had which utilizes needle-bearing universal joints has them lubricated with grease, apart from the ones fitted to the Series Land Rovers which operate within the front axle casing.
I’ve never run a car as old as these Jags, though, so I suppose it’s possible the design of UJs changed at the start of the sixties. Here is the relevant page from my ‘63 Healey 3000’s Owners’ handbook, AKD4094B, published by BMC:
Ref. ‘C’, as required for the prop shaft in para.5, is listed on the next page as Castrolease LM, Duckham’s LB10, Esso Multipurpose grease, Shell Retinax etc. Wonder why Jag had different ideas?
Edit - I’ve only just noticed that the Healey handbook, which is a small hardback that came with the cars, shows a LHD car in the lubrication diagram! BMC clearly knew where the main market lay.
I guess it also depends on what type of universal joint has been fitted by mechanics during the 60 plus years since the vehicle left Coventry. I was reading about sealed UV joints (ie ‘maintenance free’) available from Moss Motors, for example.
Same goes for water pumps - understand that the original items with a grease nipple are no longer available.
Yes, no doubt there have been changes in the lubrication specs of u-joints over the years. My 1938 SS and 1974 XJ12 have no nipples in the driveshaft u-joints, they are lubed for life. Both still have the originals as far as I know. But the XJ12 has nipples in the 4 IRS half shaft u-joints which take Castrol LM grease or 6 equivalent brands.
My 1950 Mark V driveshaft has its 3 original u-joints and the manual contains the same statement that grease is not suitable and SAE140 is specified for them.
This forum has always been about accurate information. What you do with the information is your choice.
I think it’s an interesting demonstration of how design requirements change over the years, usually driven by the accountants. Servicing in the fifties was done very frequently, a lot of it by the owner - as late as 1965, AC handbooks for Cobras (which are essentially the same as the fifties Aces) required owners to apply a few shots of grease to the front and rear transverse leafspring nipples and front balljoints every 500 miles. A tad inconvenient, as each wheel has to come off…
As owners became less involved in maintenance, the advice has moved from giving regular shots of oil to the prop UJs to the now-common non-serviceable joint. I’d be interested to know how the actual engineering has changed. Perhaps more likely is that the design application has changed - maybe modern joint angles lead to a reduction in brinelling, and no doubt modern greases can cope with far higher pressures than those of the fifties.
Rob’s right - that’s what the manual says, and some owners may wish to still use SAE140. On parts like these, I would buy from an engineering supplier rather than a marque specialist to ensure a good make (GKN etc.), and always search for greaseable joints rather than sealed-for-life, which are still easy to find.