Looks like Beavertail pops a tack weld on the ket to the drive shaft from Factory. GO Devil does not.

Is it okay to do this to do this? Looks like a good way to ensure no movement in the key but will it cause problems changing the U-Joint if ever needed?

Anybody have experience with this?

Reason I ask is that I have had the key shift before on the drive shaft to the top joint.

We have done it in the past and it wont hurt anything during disassembly or reassembly if you have to do repairs but can make it that much more labor intensive trying to make everything line up to get the parts to slide together. We just recently started tapping a hole directly above the keyway in the yokes to sink a set screw and loctite it to hopefully take out any play the key might have.

I have been putting a cup point set screw on top of the key for several years now. This really helps to stop fretting of the set screws on the shafts. I also put a collar on the PTO shaft to fill the space between the top UJ yoke and the shoulder on the PTO. I squeeze the end yoke against this collar with a bolt in the end of the PTO. If you do the collar thing you need a way to find the "sweet spot" for the UJ. I do it by using a UJ with a center "H" yoke between the end yokes. This stops all fretting and works great.

Mark F. Cheney

Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it.

I have a small tack on mine with the MIG... A good bump with the grinder knocks it loose and there's not much to clean up afterwards. Worked great for a while now.

It has been a while, but I believe with my old motor we hit each side of the key with a tap so that it formed a mushroom at each end and couldn't slide out.

I think you'll be fine tacking the outside ends of the square key to the u joint. If you leave the square key about a 1/4" long, then tack weld the top of the key to the joint you will avoid welding it to the shaft at the same time. Its a great safety to hold the key in place so you don't lose it even if the set screws loosen up.

Thanks y'all, I'm going to weld it this week.

Thanks y'all, I'm going to weld it this week.