5.0 MPG

Well guys I wraped up my shreaded drive shaft and u joint repair. I learned a little trick that I will share. Bare with me while I post the steps, and the pictures I have.

Step 1

Remove drive shaft by loosening 4 bolts in front of differential.

Step 2

Remove old u joints by first removing clips with needle nose plyers and a lot of WD 40. Then use a spare socket and a hammer to pound the metal caps out. You will need to prop the shaft up to give you enough room to manuever the cap out. Use WD 40 excessively.

Step 3

Below is a picture of what you will need to install the new u joints. Instead of pounding them in with a hammer or paying a drive shop $30 to press them I bought a big C clamp. I'll show you how I used it.


[IMG]local://upfiles/26004/C78454FBC1464207A49133B0ACEBF41F.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/26004/3F07C4D1BF6C41BEB32E9B11B295E58F.jpg[/IMG]

5.0 MPG

Step 3

You will also need a socket that fits inside the u joint housing. I used a old Napa 11/16 1/2"

[IMG]local://upfiles/26004/31DEF7A004B34620832CCE2EEDC44B48.jpg[/IMG]

5.0 MPG

Step 4

Remove the caps being careful not to spill the pins inside. Then place the u joint inside the drive shaft housing, and carefully place one of the caps over the u joint end, keeping everyhting centered. Slide the u joint in all the way and the cap as far as it will go.

[IMG]local://upfiles/26004/F9DB32123D5D40BB82CAF4257E86F2C0.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/26004/78A7FC35E85A468BB97A71EB79215E20.jpg[/IMG]

5.0 MPG

Step 5

Place the c clamp over the u joint with the socket on the open end. The open end of the socket should face outwards. The most importand factor here is having everyhting straight. If its off just a little it wont slide in correctly. Then just tighten the c clamp down and the cap will slide into the housing like butta. Once its in repeat this step and place the security clips on the ends and re install the drive shaft like to removed it.

One of the bolts holding the drive shaft to my differential was gone and the others were loose so I used a lot of torque seal. I took it for a spin a little while ago and all the play and slapping is gone.

[IMG]local://upfiles/26004/13394E79FD6F4CC7AFE1512258CED4C4.jpg[/IMG]

Grimace5.0

We use a ball joint press like this:

5.0 MPG

Yea I priced a couple of those out last night and the cheapest I could find a Harbor Freight was $30 bucks. The c clamp was $5? What would you do?

5.0 MPG

I was about to use one of these.....

[IMG]local://upfiles/26004/323A4965684F4BDBB64954A39551FEE0.jpg[/IMG]

Grimace5.0

I hear ya. When we ran the Jeeps we were doing front axle joints every couple weekends. For one every two years I would use a c-clamp as long as it would work.

Grimace5.0

Been down that road too......