Drive Shafts And Universal joints- C.V Joints and Clutches (week three) and Final Drive-Differential (week four)

Today we got to work on CV Joint. We first did a visual inspection, i found that cv boot was ripped and that the cv housing had cracks and the splines were teared. This caused the cv joint not meshing in properly with the shaft. As i started to take it apart i found that the circlips were bent and that it would not lock in properly and hold the tripod in place when re-assembling it. I took the balls out and re-greased them before putting it back in its housing. Both joints was moving and working smoothly. We found rust on the tripot shaft ends, dents and scratching were visible on the exterior body. The balls were not discolored and looked in good condition. We started doing clutches the next  day and were checking how to adjust Pedal free play and how it is caused. Most of the time just the clutch cables needed to be tightened from behind the pedal or maybe at the fire wall by way of tighting the nut. The clutch plate we were looking at was burned and worn out due to riding the clutch. We then started to check the run out of the flywheel and found it to be 0.14. Its also important to know what side the clutch plate goes on when re-assembling it, this is known by looking at the clutch plate and fitting the flat side of the clutch against the flywheel. We then checked the universal joint shaft for play. There was little play and could be fixed by replacing it and also i recommend balancing the drive shaft and replacing the snap ring.

Driveshaft:
Drive shafts, in general, are mechanical components that pass on torque and rotation with the aim of connecting other part of the drive train.Transmits power from the transmission to the final drive.  Universal joints at each end allow for an angular change in driveline.  Universal joint is commonly a cross joint which consists of 4 roller bearings and a cross which joins 2 yokes together. Normall serving on drive shaft would include adding weight on and re-balancing balance the shaft which will reduce vibration.


CV joints (constant velocity):
Used in FWD and 4WD vehicles to transmit power from the transmission to the wheels or final drive.  In a front wheel drive vehicle there are CV joint's located at the output from the transmission and at the wheel hub.  The inner joint is often of different design as it allows for the in and out movement of the suspension, can be a tripod joint which consists of 3 rollers inside sleeves.  The outer joint allows for easy circular movement but not in and out movement, consists of ball bearings inside a ball cage surrounding the inner race that is splined in the middle for connection to shaft.
Clutch disk, pressure plate, release bearing/fork, clutch housing.
a clutch allows the engine to be disconnected from transmission. When clutch pedal is pushed in a cable or hydraulics are used to press the release bearing into the fins of the pressure plate.  As fins are pushed in the clutch is pulled off the flywheel allowing the transmission to change into a different gear ratio.

Differential consists of a crown wheel, pinion, spider gears, side gears, adjustable side bearings, spacer. The differentialr-final drive transfers power from the driveshaft to the rear axle and wheels.  Pinion gear meshes with the crown wheel which turns the spider/side gear case thats splined to rear axle.  When the car is traveling  in a straight line the spider gears and side gears turn with the case but if the vehicle is turning a corner one wheel turns faster than the other. Gears which are worn will not mesh properly and the differential will not operate and also will reduce the life span of the components.