TOPIC:

This is the hot trick stuff man............

OK time machine on......1982.........
Tamiya U joints are made of brass and I have discovered they wear out pretty fast running in the sand and dirt I am just a kid and can't afford to replace them all the time. The bushings don't last either but you can buy bearings to fix that except back then they were expensive $$ too ( nothing worse then getting a really nice buggy now but the cheapskate never put bearings in it so the bushes AND the axles are worn out!, sorry got off there) So what is a poor boy to do about his U joints?? Even after the Super Champ steel ones came out they still wore out just less rapidly
My grandfather was scrounger and a bodger so I learned from the best....Always lots of odd things around..........Hey whats that?? ..........surgical tubing ......... OK, some of you may have just done the old "forehead smack" but that was the answer. I didn't go shouting it about but others in my circle noticed and did it too. I still do this for my runners but have never posted about it before, old habits I guess So here goes......
I think the pictures do most of the talking here but what you need to find is some of the tubing


I have had this lot for quite some time as you can see by the colour, it is a lighter shade when you get it. Check surplus stores or medical supply places a metre will do a lot of boots! Another source can be a sporting goods ? hunting store...There is a popular type of slingshot that uses this tubing for its rubber and precut replacements can be found for them. Here is the size I have....




It's fairly simple...just cut a piece to length....


Roll it back on it's self as much as you can...trust me this is key to the process!!


Then work it over the U joint until it is centered, you can help this along with a small BLUNT object. Be careful not to cut the tubing while stretching it as you will need too start over again.....




You can try using some soapy water but I found it made the whole thing hard to hang onto with my fat fingers


You can then slip the end back a bit to get the allen key / hex driver in to install it.........


So there it is, the secret U joint boots from long, long ago , I guess it never caught on or anybody did much about the problem because it wasn't long until the dog bone types appeared in cars like the Frog and the Fox and they had boots and they worked too. However hardened steel cups and dogbones a'la RC10 worked better I guess.
I have always thought you could do a version of this trick for dogbone types, perhaps with some spacers and mini zip ties, glue...hmmmm ........time machine off......for now.....

So I thought I would add a couple of pics of them installed. I grabbed my Sand Rover runner and I think these have been on for about 10 years! They are starting to show their age but are still serviceable...



They do make the U joint a bit stiffer but it really does keep them clean I have also added a drop of oil down through the end before installing them but for a vintage runner that might be over kill, it also is hard on the rubber tubing.

That's awesome. Simple and functional.