Changing yokes on my 9" and wanted to know if there's a preference between u-bolts and straps to hold the u-joint on. Car will be a steet/strip ride with drag radials at the track. Yoke (u-bolt or strap version) not purchased yet.
I've always seen u-bolts used, not even sure what the strap is to be honest. The u-bolts are highly specialized for the application, there are several sizes.
I was going to use Moroso's girdle caps for the joints in my Comet, but after making sure the caps were the right size for the U joint caps, I ordered them and found that they don't fit the yoke's bolt holes (ctr to ctr distance is wrong ) Bought the little ****s for nothing. I don't know what they're supposed to fit, but it ain't a 9" yoke.
I brought up the question because there seems to be a lot of used 9" Daytona 1350 yokes "NASCAR yoke" on eBay that will fit my application. Most of them use straps to hold the u-joint on, but I've only used u-bolts.
I've been waiting on a good deal, but rarely the u-bolt version come up at a good price.
Just because you have a 9" doesn't mean there's one particular U-joint, in fact just for factory 9s I'd bet there's at least 8 of them that are "stock" for a certain application. You not only have the distance between the threaded portion but the OD of the bearing surface as well, also there are some with zerk fittings and some without, some are sealed and some just have the roller-bearings inside. After a few trial and error attempts what I ended up doing was take my parts to the counter and try out several (!!!) until I found one that actually fit, for grins I looked up the part number in the book and according to the book it was for a Mopar application...go figure.
Seriously, as D mentioned, for a universal joint these u-bolts are far from universal....lol.