I have a 99 xk8 and I am having trouble reattaching the upper universal joint to the lower column shaft. can anyone tell me they best way to do it ?

 

Did you open it WAY up with a flat screw driver?

 

I have made several attempts to but , I can't quite get it to spread open. and i'me sure you know how much limited space you have under there. just enough to work with one hand.

 

You need to spread it a fair bit as its very tight, too tight to fit when new.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...column-165087/

 

A trick I did swapping racks on miata was one person sticks the screwdriver in the slot, another person turns the steering wheel to spread the U-joint.

 

thanks to everyone that gave me advice on this little problem. i'll give it another try tomorrow

 

get an old washer or bit of scrap steel and push it into the split taking care not to obstruct the serrated hole where the shaft fits. Then screw the locking bolt in from the threaded side, that presses on the scrap steel and opens up the hole as big as you want. Saw this on an old post so I'm not going to take any credit for this, just passing it on

 

Clever tip. I'll file that one away for future use.

 

At 10 mins into this video could have been where you saw it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGx4...ature=youtu.be

 

nah, it was definitely a post on this forum