26-27 u-joint housing

[Tlitwin]

I believe my u-joint housing was installed upside down. The grease fittings are on bottom and all the pictures I see show them on the top. What is correct. Should I just leave it alone? I have the engine out right now so it might the time to fix it, I think. Or is it hard to pull the housing off the drive shaft tube and turn it.
Thanks
Tom

[Mark Nunn]

The first thing I would do is unscrew the large grease cup and make sure that whoever flipped the torque tube drilled a clearance hole to allow grease to enter the joint. If grease can get in, it's your decision whether to right the tube. If there is no hole for grease, you can drill one or flip the tube.

[Tlitwin]

They did not drill a hole for the grease cup. That’s what got me looking.
Thanks Mark

[Scottio]

If the engine is out, now would be a good time to turn it over. I can see a benefit to having the grease fittings on the bottom. With them on the top I have to pull the floor boards to grease those places. Personally I would flip it back over the way it’s supposed to be but that’s just me.

[Allan]

Tom, there are two grease fittings, a large one and a small one. If the large one is at the bottom, and there is no hole in the round ball for the grease to go in, then the torque tube housing must be the correct way up, with the hole at the top. That would place the small greaser at the top too. If the small cup is at the bottom, then the torque tube is upside down.
To re-orient the large greaser all you have to do is rotate the ball cup.

Allan from down under.

[Mark Nunn]

I'm rethinking my response as I think about Allan's notes. If there is no hole for grease with the large cup at the bottom, the torque tube is correctly installed. If the small cup is also at the bottom, then someone may have drilled and tapped the bottom of the torque tube. You might have a plug in the original location at the top where the small cup was located originally.

[Tlitwin]

Both the small and large are at the bottom with no extra capped holes on the top. Is it easier to undo the bolts by the u/joint housing and rotate or the bolts on the rearend? Either way the radius rods will have to be loosened and possibly removed. Or should I just drill a hole on the top. My plan is remove the rearend next spring and go thru it completely.

[Allan]

Tom, to rotate the torque tube, the easiest way would be to undo the 6 bolts at the back and those at the front of the radius rods, and pull the assembly forwardover the ends of the radius rods. Then it can be rotated. You could get around having to pull it forward by removing the radius rods, but that involves pulling the back wheels so you can detach the radius rods.
Allan from down under.

[John Warren]

If it has the 3:1 pinion, it will be much more difficult.

[Original Smith]

Why not just turn the torque tube 180?

[John Warren]

26-27 radius rods have to be installed when the rear end goes together. If it has the 3:1 pinion, you could take the U-joint off ,you would then be able to pull the tube forward enough to disengage the radius rods , this may be your only option, other than taking the rear end apart . If it has a standard pinion, you can just unbolt the pinion / housing and front radius rod nuts and pull it , keeping track of shims/gaskets ,turn it and re-seal as you re-install. One of the things I do when I want to pull the drive shaft assembly is to unbolt two opposing bolts and bolt the housing and tube together using some short bolts, before undoing the rest of the bolts, this will keep it as a unit.

[Tlitwin]

The car has a ruxstell rearend and rocky mtn brakes. Does that make any difference? If not I’m even more inclined to leave things alone. Drive the car this summer and pull the rearend this fall. As I’m just weeks away from finishing a complete engine/transmission rebuild.
Thanks everyone for all the advice. I at first thought it was a simple fix but more I understand the car the more I learn.

[Norman Kling]

I have two 26's. Both grease cups are at the top and I can reach them by crawling under the car and remove the cups and fill with grease. It would be easier to do from beneath if it were turned over, but it can be done with the fitting at the top. You can fix your problem by removing 4 bolts and rotating the cover with the fitting 90 degrees and replace the bolts. Or you can, when you have the rear axle or engine out, rotate the drive shaft housing which would be a bigger job.

Whichever you do, be sure the hole lines up with the fitting so that you can completely pack the u joint and keep it full of grease. Norm

[Mark Gregush]

If the engine is out you can sure see which side the hole is on in the bell, if it is on top it would be a simple job to turn the retainer. If it is on the bottom then the whole T tube would have to be turned 180 degrees for things to line up. With it on the bottom, the hole in the bell, things might not line up because of the angle of the T-tube. For that matter, even with the engine in, take the 4 bolts out, slide the retainer back and have a look see. It should move back far enough to see.