Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

[Terry F.]

Okay, has anyone ever seen a Spicer u-joint in a GM box sold over the counter? It would of had Spicer embossed on the trunion and possibly on the bearing assemblies.

Also, does anyone know if spicer u-joints were actually installed at the factory during assembly? It is my understanding that spicer and GM were the two sources for u-joints back then??

Thanks, Terry

[Joe L.]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Terry-----

I have a HUGE inventory of original U-joints, especially half shaft u-joints [none for sale]. Most of these are from the 60's time period----some are even in "black-and-yellow" boxes. There are hardly any 2 that are exactly the same. Some are of Spicer manufacture and are embossed with "Spicer" on the end caps and/or body of the joint. Some are embossed with "GM" on the body of the joint. In these cases, there is NO embossment on the end caps of any kind.

It is my opinion that the same variations as seen in SERVICE occurred in PRODUCTION, too.

[Verne Frantz]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Joe,

Did any early Corvettes have U-joints with a little Chevy bowties cast into them?

Verne

[Joe L.]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Verne------

I've heard of this, but I've never seen one. Absolutely NONE of the many I have are so-embossed.

During the period that these pieces were produced, the Chevy "Bow-Tie" logo was not generally used for parts identification or, for that matter, anything else except vehicle branding. It did not have the stand-alone, symbolic significance that it has come to have in the last 20 years, or so. I've looked at a lot of 60's and 70's GM parts. Other than some trim pieces which carry Chevrolet branding I have yet to see another GM part identified with a "Bow-Tie" logo.

[Verne Frantz]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Joe,

I have a 29Kmi original driveshaft from a passenger car (one of those goofy 2-piece driveshaft cars) and all three U-joints do have the bowtie. I won't be at the driveshaft refurb step for a while, but when I get there I'll take some good pictures and send them to you (when I get that camera). They do exist. But like you, I've never run across any available through Service, or ever noticed them anywhere else.

Verne

[Terry F.]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

I had a feeling you might respond. Thanks for the opinion! Appreciate it, Terry

[Joe L.]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Verne-----

I'd like to see photos of them. My feeling has always been that the logo which some interpret as a Bow-Tie might be a similar logo of another manufacturer. However, it will be nice to see exactly what is on these and, perhaps, set the record straight in my mind.

[Terry F.]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

The answer is yes about the bow-tie. Send me a letter to tfringo@aol.com and I will send you pictures. Terry

[Terry F.]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Joe, I have them with the bow tie on them in GM boxes [not for sale yet]. But, here is the kicker!! I bet you dollars to donuts you have them in your stash also. The shot peening process pretty much obliterates the bow tie. But, who is to say it is a bow tie or something else. What it looks like is a bow tie with an "M" in the middle of it. Maybe it means "manufactured by Chevrolet." Send me your email address and I will send you pictures of them. Depending on how heavily shot peen'd the trunion is, you can see the logo embossed. Sort of interesting. I have talked to old-tmers that said there were warrenty issues and they wanted to be able to tell the Chevrolet/GM u-joint from the Spicer u-joint. Take care, Terry tfringo@aol.com

[Verne Frantz]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Terry & Joe,

The U-joints I have appear to be "lighter duty" than the new ones in your pictures. I checked mine again, as best as I could while still assembled, and they have a round recess on both sides in the middle of the trunnion. Outside the circle they all have the same bowtie with an "M" in it. Mine also have a casting number on them of 3707063 (could be 663). I noted that the bearing yoke that's welded to the end of the driveshaft also has the bowtie with the "M" and a casting number of 3742995. I was not able to locate those numbers in any of my literature. (or a part number that was one digit off).

Does anyone know of a supplier with a name beginning in "M" that may have sourced these parts for Chevrolet? (Melling?)

Verne

[Joe L.]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Verne-----

The GM numbers that you mentioned are old forging numbers. It's very unlikley that you will find these numbers in any GM parts catalogs, either as a part number, reference or ID number. They are old numbers dating back to the early-to-mid 1950's, but they were probably used long after that time.

I don't know of a manufacturer that uses the symbol described. However, keep in mind that many OEM suppliers of old (and, even, today) are companies with VERY unfamilar names----very often they are OEM suppliers ONLY and do not sell parts into the aftermarket.

In the case of the u-joints, it's possible that the ID is for the supplier of the FORGING only---not a finished u-joint. GM may have needed to outsource some of the forging work due to capacity limitations of their only 2 forging operations of the day (i.e Tonawanda and Detroit forges). So, some other forging company may have provided SOME of the forgings to whatever GM divison was actually manufacturing the finished u-joints. GM would likley have required the manufacturer to include their ID on the forging in addition to the GM forging number (the forging dies likely belonged to GM).

[Terry F.]

Re: Opinion's on u-joint manufactures please....

Vern, I sent you some other pictures of u-joints. Check them out. The one's you describe as light duty sound like the main drive shaft u-joints on some C2 and C3 cars. Take care, Terry

[Verne Frantz]

Pictures from Terry....style1.1 *NM*

[Verne Frantz]

Re: Pictures from Terry....style1.2 *NM*

[Verne Frantz]

Re: Pictures from Terry....style2.1 *NM*