U Joint Help!

[boontis]

I borrowed a ball joint press and decided to tackle the front driveshaft u joints today - following the instructions here: https://www.thenewx.org/threads/how-to- ... aft.34245/

The front one came out easy - I had a bit of trouble trying to get the shaft off after pressing out the joint and removing one of the caps - but after about 5 mins of fiddling it came off.

The back one pressed out nicely - but after removing the one cap I cannot for the life of me get it out of the yoke. I spent 30+ minutes messing around and it just won't come off. I then tried to press out the joint on the shaft to see if that would work, but that one doesn't seem to want to press out - I can get it 95% of the way out and then it seems to be binding on something. I tried both ways and keeps getting stuck.

Anyways - I would LOVE if there's some trick here that I'm not aware of - as of right now my truck is up in the air and not drivable

Thanks in advance!

[boontis]

I took a pick - I just cant get it to clear the lip of the yoke - its sooo close but I don't want to get in there and pry on it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5qwyq9mjdscm ... t.jpg?dl=0[/img]

[boontis]

I took a risk (not sure if you are supposed to do this) and pushed the one joint/cap back out the other side of the yoke with the press - managed to pull it off with vice grips.

Got the new joints installed on the driveshafts and later today I'll get it back on the truck. I did notice how tight the new joints were just on the driveshaft - had to really twist to get them to move. One is tight but smooth the other feels almost like there's a bump right in the middle of the range of travel. I'm almost positive all the pins were smooth before I squeezed it to get the snap rings on. Anyone know if this is normal?

[palmerwmd]

Sorry you havent had much activity in your thread.. I cannot be of assistance on this subject.
Gotta wait for SMJ

[boontis]

All good - I managed to figure it out - vice grips and a hammer and I got both caps off the ujoint - then it's pretty easy to get the shaft off. I didn't think it would be possible to grip the cap with the vice grip and pull it out, but once it's 3/4 of the way out it moves pretty easy.

Also - something I learned the hard way: If you find that you can't get the new ujoint back in deep enough to get both clips on, look for a small gap between the rubber seal and the joint body - that means a needle has fallen out and is preventing the cap from seating properly.

Got the front shaft back on last night - and now learned that it must be one of the rear ujoints that is bad and causing my vibration! I'll be doing the rears tonight.

[palmerwmd]

Got the front shaft back on last night - and now learned that it must be one of the rear ujoints that is bad and causing my vibration! I'll be doing the rears tonight.

You are going to get real good at this...

[boontis]

Well...the rears took me ~2:45 which was over an hour faster than the front...so kinda!

2 of the 4 needle bearings were actual dust - and after replacing it the truck runs nice and smooth at all speeds

[palmerwmd]

Well...the rears took me ~2:45 which was over an hour faster than the front...so kinda!

2 of the 4 needle bearings were actual dust - and after replacing it the truck runs nice and smooth at all speeds

Must be a nice feeling!

[BullDozer]

Thank you for the details. Need to check mine