ADJUSTING THE U-JOINT FIT – May 3, 2019
We have a lot of finely machined parts in this vehicle. One of those is a u-joint made from Titanium, to keep it light. (U-joints are part of a driveline to allow equipment on one end of the driveline to move independently from the other side). This part was made perfectly, but the engineering spec was a little too tight. The bearings would not fit inside the holes! This meant that Dana Beebe (shown above) would spend many hours honing out the holes. This was faster than sending the part out to have the holes opened up, but still took a day to finish. It was Titanium, after all!
You can see the final silver part in the image below, now mated to a dark-plated steel part from the prop shaft. These pieces form part of the prop shaft assembly and will mate to the prop bearing unit that was just assembled yesterday.