After reading some of the post about a "clunking" noise when taking off from a stop, and the luck some folks had in fixing it by greasing the splines on the rear drive shaft, I decided to give it a try on my 1991 EB. Since I had a slight squeak in one of my universal joints, I fiqured I might as well replace all three of those while I was at it. Pulled the shaft, replaced the rear u-joint. No problemo. Started disassembling the two u-joints at the front of the shaft and got in more trouble than I could get out of. There are two joints closely coupled on that end of the shaft that I assume is Fords version of a CV joint. Take my word for it. You don't want to take this assembly apart. It has needle bearings, a seal and a sort of pilot bearing in it and you can't get it apart without screwing it up. Ended up having to take it to a shop that specializes in drive lines and pay them $130 plus parts to put it all back together. Oh yeah, I greased the splines and the "clunk" is gone..... :-)

 

Don't feel bad. A week after I bought my 78 F-150 the driveshaft decided to take a hike down the freeway when I was doing 70 mph. Cost me around $200 to have a new one made by a driveline place. About a half a year later the same thing happened but I had the driveshaft on the other way so it was still hanging on to the slip yoke. I know this is hard to imagine but it wound up busting up the yoke on one end and I wound up paying $130 to have a new yoke put on and have the shaft rebalanced by the same place. Thats another good thing about 4WD. If you lose your rear shaft, just lock in the hubs throw her in 4X4 and your on your way.

People who say it can't be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

 

Yes, disassembling the CV is tricky but can be done by any home mechanic w/care. My first one I got apart fine but reassembly took me 5 hours, over 4 of that spent doing it wrong LOL! The second time I did one it took me maybe 30min to reassemble. The key to reassembly is that you have to install the forward (the one nearest the t-case) joint first. Next, it's good to have a helper. For the 2nd joint, you want to put it place but do not install any caps until you have pin in the centering ball and you know you have not knocked any needles in the centering ball out of place. The helper is there to hold the thing together while you install all 4 caps (if it flops around too much the pin and centering ball come apart and you're back to square one). Trust me, if you 'wheel this is not a bad thing to know how to do. . . it could be done on the trail if necessary (altho I carry a spare shaft to avoid such a possiblity LOL).

 

A good lesson is to learned from all of this....KEEP THE U-JOINTS GREASED!!!! I ahve been through my share of them and now gease them at regular intervals. Greasing is easier then changing them.

RULE OF THUMB IMPORTANT When you replace the U-joint the grease fittings must Rear faces front - Front faces rear. Keep this in mind or you will end up doing the dis-assembly assembly again.

Bob