Thread: plastic cones inside the needle roller cups

Just caught the dreaded collapsed double cardan joint before it failed completely. Close run thing though as the only symptom was a noise like a cricket behind the dashboard and only when accelerating. 1 cup was almost totally gone with no bearings and the other was in the process of turning to powder.
Anyway when fitting the new ones i came across some plastic cones that look a little like witches hats in the bottom on the cups. One had stuck to the spyder with the point of the cone going down the grease channel. Problem is this was on the second joint and i have no idea whether the first one i did had them in or if they fell out. Is it a major? What are they for? They look like they would block the the grease channel. The old non greasable units had them in too.

And to take up endplay of the roller bearings to stop clunks.
Regards Philip A