FarmerNick

Mysterious part. Da fork is it? Dropped oil pan, steering damper, drag link, front shocks. Mysterious part. What in god's name is this thing? Got some rust on the front so probably not from internal engine. No threads on the inside. Little flange at the head. Looks cross hatched / machined at the opposite flat side. Rusty side is angled at probably around 20 degrees. See pics. Don't want to re assemble this and get screwed. Having a heck of a time thinking through what external component like this would hang on without threads.


Machined/crosshatched side. Also some.old looking greese on the inside.

Some spindle looking marks on here.

This is my hand. Largely unhelpful.

Top part that's curved right round 20 some odd degrees.

Randy Bobani

Looks like the trunnion of a U-Joint.

FarmerNick

Hmmm thanks I'll take a gander at the axel and front driveshaft joints tomorrow. I'm skeptical since the hole is so small but certainly won't count it out.

awg

where did you find it ?

kinda reminds me of the snout of an input shaft, such as an AW4

if you measure the OD, and length to taper, I could confirm (or dispel) that

maybe some did a mishap before

Dave51

U-joint cap from the steering column?

RockyMtn96XJ

To me it obviously looks like it was pressed in to something, and the flat head was exposed. Since there's no threads inside, I would say something else was pressed into it if that's the case. I wanna say look at the bracket end of the drag link... but I have no clue if its assembled this way. Just an idea.

Is that grease or mud inside it?

RockyMtn96XJ

Could it be some kind of bushing or sleeve (that doesnt go all the way through) and was pressed into a rubber bushing? I would say it has to be somewhere that it cant slide out until you start disassembling things...

Randy Bobani

How do Jeep guys not recognize the trunnion of a U-Joint? Non-greaseable, that is.

RockyMtn96XJ

Because non of us have had to make a mental image of what a non-greaseable u-joint trunnion looks like when detached from the rest of the u-joint...

If its a trunnion, how did it shear off so perfectly?

But I do see the resemblance.

I wonder if that piece was just laying in there somewhere and it happened to fall out during all of the disassembly. It does look like there are saw marks under the rust, possibly from someone else changing u-joints and had to break out the sawz-all to get one off... This would also explain the 20° angle of the flat side (cut side)

robsjeep

looks like someone took a saw to a stuborn u joint. no worries, carry on!

BruceB

I Have never seen a trunnion with such a small inside diameter where the bearings go into.

RockyMtn96XJ

Thought the bearings were inside the cap, and go around the outside of the trunnion...? Or am I interpreting your idea backwards?

BruceB

ok...I see...it isn't the cap, but if that was the part cut off from the u-joint, wouldn't the hole for the grease go all the way through?

RockyMtn96XJ

Neh, only if there was a zerk fitting on the center portion that allowed grease to go to all 4 caps. If it came from a greaseless UJ it would just have grease inside the cap. Thats how I'm assuming its done. To be honest, I have only had to change u-joints one time in my life so I'm not really the u-joint SME...

BruceB

so how di the hole in the center of the U-joint trunnions get there in the first place?