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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - U-joints

I'll be out in the garage today instead of on the road on a sunny day. Replacing the rear u-joint on the MGB axle fed by a 3.5 V8. I've read thru the archives and the consensus seems to be that the axle is strong enough, but no mention of the u-joints. Do I take that to mean that the MGB u-joint is generally not a problem? Or, are they beefed up when the drive shaft is fabricated?

Sunny skies,

Edd Weninger
Edd Weninger

I have a Rover 3.5 with a Camero T5 tranny and drive shaft. I had the Camero drive shaft cut and balanced and MGB U Joint welded onto the tail of the drive shaft to mate up to the stock rear end. After 2 years of driving and drag racing this set up has presented no problems.
Bruce

The MG u-joints should do ya fine, but Larry Embrey seems to have isolated a potential problem in that the flange itself -- in other words the cast thing that attaches to the u-joints -- is basically the weak link.

I've not had a problem with it with a 4.2 driven very hard, but still I wonder: would an MGC flange be beefier?


Ted

The MGC flange does not appear to be any stronger, but it is slightly larger, & takes a larger U-joint.
Jim Stuart

The factory V8 had a different propshaft assembly to any of the 4-cylinder variants and didn't share any parts. Maybe it was stronger.
Paul Hunt

I'd heard (read) that the tail shaft and universal joint were a bit marginal. I used GM parts to join my supra box to the MG diff. The compatible rear flange came from a GM Holden 6 cylinder sedan. It is the same general size as the MG one (it fits)but just a little beefier. I expect you will have its equivalent in the US. I'm using a 3.9 EFI & so far so good.
Peter

This thread was discussed between 08/03/2003 and 12/03/2003

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