Next Project, U joint replacement

[jos1959]

Next weekend I will be doing my last project on my 2002 XTR so far,replacing both drive shaft U joints
If you guys like I can make pictures and post'm here.
Anybody has bad experiences doing this repair?
I would appreciate the heads up :)

[Fordwheeler]

I did 2 in the rear DS of my 350 earlier this summer and I am sure glad we had a tortch to heat the old ones up or I never would have gotten them out on my own. Even then it was a pain

[jos1959]

Thanks for the heads up, I expect some problems with it so I have a guy with a bench press on stand by:)

[SKRWZ]

Not a hard job really, Jack the rear up so the tail of the trans is higher than the front to prevent fluid loss, now you'll need a 12mm 12 point socket to undo the bolt's heat them up fist to melt the locktite, before you remove the drive shaft mark the edge of the flange where it bolts to the pinion flange so you put it back the same way to prevent vibration issues, and the use of a impact is always helpful as well, then after it's out remove the clips and press the U joints out you can use a bench vise I used a ball joint press either should work, when you reinstall it put some red locktite in the bolts before you retighten them

[Fordwheeler]

I did mine on a bench vise but they still needed lots o heat.

[snap-on]

You should never have to heat it up.. only gm trucks need to be heated for the first u-joint removal and thats all (becasue they use injected plactic instead of clips)

Vice or something to hold driveshft, hammer, plyers... pluse 15 minutes of youre time

[Fordwheeler]

Mine needed heat. I tried in the vise with sockets to push it out with a 4' steel bar on the vise handle. Heated them up and they popped out in the vise. And yes I did remove the clips before I tried.

[jos1959]

Maybe next time try to WD 40 for a couple of days, I heard about that problem so I am soaking it now for the rest of the week.
Thanks SKRWZ for the note to jack up high enough to prevent transmission fluid loss.. never thought about that.

[Fordwheeler]

I'll definetly keep that in mind.

[Lone Ranger]

Heat and BFH... No other way to do them. I know guys like the u-joint kits but I've found that unless they're fairly fresh then they're fairly useless.

Now, be thankful you're not stuck with my last u-joint job. 2 blown outter D35 u-joints on my current Ranger. Front end's NEVER been touched in 15 years, up country truck. First time I use the 4wd I find that they're bone dry and they proceed to gut themselves on the trail. Oops. Now they're banging and squeaking, one side blew 2 caps out from the stress. I finally get around to doing them, 9 hours to do two, they're completely seized and "rust welded" in place. I stripped the largest bench vise I could find at Princess Auto (big bastard too), found that copious amounts of heat and pounding was the only way to free them up. Tons of heat and a shot of WD-40 helps, as well as with the ones that blew the caps I stuck the welder in there and laid a bead on the inside of the caps, and the heat sucked them in and away from the yoke. Another trick was once you get one cap out use it to pound out the other caps. I think it would have been less painful cutting my own fingers off with a butter knife than that job. Half the fun of it all was just getting the spindles off the suspension beams in the first place!!!!

Being a 2002 they shouldn't be too bad though. Hell, mine just finally got all new u-joints at 265k and 15 years. Maybe the new ones aren't lasting as long? Just the front outters were bad, the rest were acceptable. The reason they spit the needle bearings out in the first place was because the previous owner never used 4wd, spit out the axles seals too (another fun job!). LR

[kits_hacker]

my co-worker said his cousin lost an eye from doin u-joints if that helps, wear goggles...

[Lone Ranger]

Ouch! Mine just got its fender "rearranged" by a 20 oz framing hammer after I lost my temper with it (somewhere around hour 8):

http://www.atvphotos.ca/gallery2/d/8842-1/IMG_0167a.jpg

Instead of pulling the damage out I found a BII bronco emblem and stuck it on there and tell everyone the little bastard just kicked the fender in :D

And if that wasn't good enough i had to try and squeeze down an ATV trail not too long after..

http://www.atvphotos.ca/gallery2/d/8839-1/IMG_0166a.jpg

However, the tree did move out of the way though..

Moral of the story: don't let anger get the best of you during frustrating jobs, or else your truck'll end up looking like mine! I still can't figure out why no one asks me to work on their vehicles though hahahaha. LR

[Stainless]

You should never have to heat it up.. only gm trucks need to be heated for the first u-joint removal and thats all (becasue they use injected plactic instead of clips)

Vice or something to hold driveshft, hammer, plyers... pluse 15 minutes of youre time

Actually all Dodge 3/4 and 1 tons have the same, I have seen may ppl burnt by that crap, it really pisses me off they use plastic on u-joints its toxic and a safety hazzard for ppl working on the vehicles :icon_mad:

[jos1959]

That almost sounds like too much fun for one day:)
Tomorrow will be the big test for me but I think it's going to be allright.. I gave it lots of WD40 over the last week .. I would be really surprised if it would be a job from hell like it was with you lone ranger .
I'll keep you advised:)