Hey guys!

I'm trying to replace my rear u-joint, and I cant seem to get the drive shaft off. I'm under the impression that the rear part of the drive shaft can disconnect from the differential while leaving the front attached... is that true? I can't get the shaft to release from the rear for the life of me. I loosened the 4 half-inch nuts holding the u-shaped clamps onto the u-joint, but it's still stuck. It looks like all the u-joint videos on youtube (at least the ones I could find) were all for a type of shaft where the rear part of the u-joint bolts directly onto the differential with a kind of plate. Mine definitely doesn't have that...

Any ideas/suggestions/knowledge?

Thanks much!

 

use a brass hammer or a regular hammer and a brass drift and the tap the back of the straps where you pulled the nuts off, it would be best too to put the nuts back on until the threadds of the strap reach the end of the nut then hit it.

 

I have those U-shaped strap bolts removed completely, it's just really stuck in there! It looks like it would just pop out forward, but the shaft won't move forward. I'll add pictures tonight.

 

well if you 've got the straps off get a big pry bar on the back of the ujoint and just pry and pry, if it still wont come spray it down with some pb blaster and let it sit for an hour or so then try again.

all you can do is pry and pry and pray. lol

 

So it will come loose even if the front of the driveshaft is still attached?

I didn't want to be too rough on it until I made sure I didn't need to detach anything else. I'll give it a shot tonight (I'm at work right now). Thanks much for the help!

One more question in advance... what's the proper way to go about greasing the joint and at what point should I do that?

 

it should slide forward or atleast rotate enought for it to fall down.

as far as greasing the ujoint there should be a grease fitting on it if not you have the never grease ones, and they are junk go to orilleys and get a Precision branded ujoint. dont buy a store brand. the Precision's are good i have not blown one yet. or you can shell out some more cash and get spicers(you'll have to special order them) or if your pockets are really deep you can get some from brands like CTM..

STAY AWAY FROM AUTOZONES DURALAST AND DURALAST GOLD!!!!!
when i bought my last truck the last owned had put the golds(highend lol) in about 2 months before i bought it and about a month after i had the truck the rear rear one gave out going down the highway, bent my shaft, tore off my exhaust and snapped the rear housing off the transfercase. so because this guy wanted to save a few bucks i ended up paying out the tail for parts.

 

Good to hear... I bought the low-end Duralast one for $8.99!

I'll hit O'Reilley's tonight and get the Precision ones... they're not too much, around $17 it looks like.

 

make sure there isn't a load on the shaft. In other words, if the vehicle is on a slop of any then the weight of the vehicle is transmitted into the u-joint at the coupling...which is in physics...equals a lot of force.

if that's not the case...just get a bfh and a pry bar.

 

Good point Silver... Have the truck in neutral and not on a hill...

Whatever you do, do not hit the drive shaft with a hammer.

 

Pry bar, big screwdriver, or tire iron.
Be careful it don't drop on your hand, or noggin.