77 MGB drive shaft question

The front u-joint broke on my 77 MGB. I knew it was going bad, but thought it would last a little longer. (Hindsight, and all that!) When it broke the front yoke on the drive shaft was damaged so it has to be replaced. My question: will I have balance problems if I just replace the front yoke and u-joint? Should I replace the whole drive shaft?

Thank you.

If the other half of the ujoint is good, the eyes can get elongated, it's OK to replace just the front yolk. If you do not disassemble the sliding joint balance isn't a problem. If disassembled, correct assembly can be found in this article. One last comment, if you don't have a heavy duty vise and have never replaced a ujoint you may want to let a repair shop replace it. Look for a truck drive line shop or a 4 x 4 shop. Replacing a ujoint isn't always easy.

http://www.custompistols.com/cars/articles/ts_ujoints.htm

Clifton

Thank you for the quick reply, Flash75.

Last night I removed the other part of the u-joint yoke, the part attached to the flange on the transmission shaft, and it was damaged pretty badly as well so I'll have to replace it too.

I am a little confused about part of your response. I don't see how one can replace the front yoke without disassembling the sliding splined joint. It looks like the front yoke and this joint are all one unit, i.e., replacement of the yoke appears to require taking the joint apart. Now I wonder if I'm missing something???

By the way, now that I have the drive shaft off it is obvious that the u-joints weren't alligned correctly, per the link you included, when I got the car. I guess this hastened the u-joint failure.

Thanks again for you help and advice.

You are correct I had my parts terms reversed, thanks for reminding me.

Clifton