Injected plastic universal joint retainers

[Gordon Maney]

I remember working on GM cars from the 60's through 80's. The OEM universal joints did not come from the factory with snap rings. They were held in place by injected plastic retainers. You could see the tip of the material protruding from the holes used for injecting the material. The method I used to begin disassembly of the joint was to heat the yokes with a torch, then watch the plastic flow from the hole like 4th of July worms.

Does anyone know how recently those were used? ....and did, or does, GM use them on light trucks?

[Tom Petroff]

As far as I know GM is still using injected plastic to hold the retainers in.
It's fast in production and robots can do it easier than fumbling with a circle clip.
I have seen them on 07 cars and trucks.
And be careful using a torch. You can over heat the yoke very easily.
Propane torch is a lot safer.
TGP

[Gordon Maney]

As far as I know GM is still using injected plastic to hold the retainers in.
It's fast in production and robots can do it easier than fumbling with a circle clip.
I have seen them on 07 cars and trucks.
And be careful using a torch. You can over heat the yoke very easily.
Propane torch is a lot safer.
TGP

Thank you!

Yes, heat control is important, I understand why to not overheat.

It is a method we used at an Olds/Cadillac dealership on all driveshaft work. I never let a student do it when I was teaching, I always demonstrated.