Help Install U-Joints
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Help Install U-Joints
Hello All,
My driveshaft has a little slippage - So I was planning on replacing my U-joints this weekend. This is the first time I am doing this. I did a search and found this thread to be very helpful. I am going to basically purchase 2 U-joints and some hi-temp grease as a precaution. Is it as simple as replacing the U-joints one at a time or do I have to remove the entire driveshaft? Which U-joint should I take apart first? Is there an easy way to pop out the snap clips? etc.
My driveshaft has a little slippage - So I was planning on replacing my U-joints this weekend. This is the first time I am doing this. I did a search and found this thread to be very helpful. I am going to basically purchase 2 U-joints and some hi-temp grease as a precaution. Is it as simple as replacing the U-joints one at a time or do I have to remove the entire driveshaft? Which U-joint should I take apart first? Is there an easy way to pop out the snap clips? etc.
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 1998
Posts: 729
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From: Windsor, ON, Canada
ONLY A SUGGESTION !!!!!
Hey buddy, if this is the first time that the u-joints are going to be replaced, you may want to find a place to do it for you. Like a performance shop or a tool & die shop that has a lathe OR balancing machine. I had mine first done via a dealership and had a vibration in the truck afterwards. I took the driveshaft off of the truck and took it to a performance shop and had them balance it. They would check the u-joints to make sure that everything was fine and then they would high speed balance it. They would even check to make sure that there was no movement in the hanger bearing. I ended up paying a little over $100 CDN for the entire job and that is with one new u-joint put in. It ended up that the new u-joints that were installed at the dealership was a different weight than the originals and was giving me a vibration. After the balancing, the truck was good to go. Just a thought but it is up to you how you wish to do it. Mine was a two-piece driveshaft.
Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean
Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 462
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Well I dont know about the 2 piece driveshaft, but my one piece on my '89 is a piece of cake. You can take it in and have it balanced, but let them put in their own u-joints if you do that. If it is a one piece similar to mine, if it is 4x4 its just 4 nuts per end. If it is a 2wheel drive there are 4 nuts on one end and the other end slips out of the end of the tranny. I drop the whole driveshaft when I do it, it is much easier IMO. Mark the ends of the shaft with the yoke on the tranny and differential. Then pull the whole thing out.
Remove the snap rings by squeezing it together with needle nose pliers and prying them out with a screwdriver if necessary. If you can compress the rings, they should be small enough to slip out, but sometimes they are stubborn. Wear safety glasses because these snap rings can jump!
Spray the U-joint down with wd40 where the cups ride in the shaft. I use a big vice to press the cups out. Sometimes if they are froze, i tap them out with an old socket. Push the whole U-joint one direction. Both cups should be loose now, one outside the driveshaft and one in the middle of the yoke. pull of the caps and the u-joint should slip out. Do the same with the oposite end before installing the new on either so it is not banged around or the new cups dont fall off.
Installation:
install one snap ring in place with needle nose. Remove ONE bearing cup from the U-joint. BE CAREFUL THAT THE NEEDLE BEARINGS DO NOT SHIFT OUT OF PLACE OR FALL OUT. The grease that comes in the u-joint usually keeps the needle bearings in place. Slip the end of the u-joint in opposite the installed snap ring. Align the end with the bearing cup on up to the hole and slip the removed bearing cup back on to the u-joint BEING CARFUL THAT THE NEEDLE BEARINGS REMAIN IN PLACE. Press the cups in using a vice with one jaw pressing on the driveshaft yoke and the opposite jaw pressing the bearing cup. you can press it until the jaw on the cup reaches the yoke. Using the socket, continue to press the u-joint in until you can get the second ring in. If the vice may is not strong enough to press the u-joint in enough, use a hammer to tap carefully with as large as socket as possible. Be carful not to damage the bearing cup when tapping.
Finishing touches:
Install the driveshaft according to your mathch marks using lock-tite before installing the nuts. and take back the unused extra grease.
After replacing tons of u-joints, I can do mine on my truck in less than a half hour total. My first time took me a two or three hours.
If you have a 2 piece driveshaft, I think the process should be similar, but I have never done them.
Remove the snap rings by squeezing it together with needle nose pliers and prying them out with a screwdriver if necessary. If you can compress the rings, they should be small enough to slip out, but sometimes they are stubborn. Wear safety glasses because these snap rings can jump!
Spray the U-joint down with wd40 where the cups ride in the shaft. I use a big vice to press the cups out. Sometimes if they are froze, i tap them out with an old socket. Push the whole U-joint one direction. Both cups should be loose now, one outside the driveshaft and one in the middle of the yoke. pull of the caps and the u-joint should slip out. Do the same with the oposite end before installing the new on either so it is not banged around or the new cups dont fall off.
Installation:
install one snap ring in place with needle nose. Remove ONE bearing cup from the U-joint. BE CAREFUL THAT THE NEEDLE BEARINGS DO NOT SHIFT OUT OF PLACE OR FALL OUT. The grease that comes in the u-joint usually keeps the needle bearings in place. Slip the end of the u-joint in opposite the installed snap ring. Align the end with the bearing cup on up to the hole and slip the removed bearing cup back on to the u-joint BEING CARFUL THAT THE NEEDLE BEARINGS REMAIN IN PLACE. Press the cups in using a vice with one jaw pressing on the driveshaft yoke and the opposite jaw pressing the bearing cup. you can press it until the jaw on the cup reaches the yoke. Using the socket, continue to press the u-joint in until you can get the second ring in. If the vice may is not strong enough to press the u-joint in enough, use a hammer to tap carefully with as large as socket as possible. Be carful not to damage the bearing cup when tapping.
Finishing touches:
Install the driveshaft according to your mathch marks using lock-tite before installing the nuts. and take back the unused extra grease.
After replacing tons of u-joints, I can do mine on my truck in less than a half hour total. My first time took me a two or three hours.
If you have a 2 piece driveshaft, I think the process should be similar, but I have never done them.
Last edited by spaceman12321; Aug 14, 2002 at 11:48 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,354
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From: Valencia, California
Hey I just recently did mine for the first time and I'm not even very handy with tools. It was prety easy, just take off the drive shaft, take out the little lock rings, get a socket about the size of the end of the u-joint, put it in a vise and start cranking....it took me about 2 hours to do the whole thing...realy easy.