diver64

I have the dreaded staked U Joints and have settled on this as the culprit in my rear end shaking. I've replaced everything else back there so this is the final stop I think as the pinion seal is leaking so maybe the u joint movement caused the leaking seal? I ran across the thread on replacing the staked joint with a replaceable one and ordered the kit to give it a shot.

Question: What was Ford's thinking in putting this in instead of a regular replaceable one with a grease fitting? They must have had some kind of reason for the staked Universal Joint but I can't think of one right off hand

powerranger262

That 04 was a bastard stepchild. Test platform.

diver64

Well, ended up trying the Neapco Kit which didn't end well for me. I ordered a new driveline with greaseable dana/spicer u-joints installed.

The jump in the backend may have been caused be a driveshaft but I'm not sure how it could have gotten dinged and it looked ok but you never know. We will see

gone postal

Lower assembly costs. When I was dealing with mine I found an article about the wonders of the new assembly method.....which Ford promptly scrapped after people started having problems with them.