The first time I ever had to have u-joints changed, I took my two double-jointed half-shafts ('66 Corvair) to a local machine shop to have the work done.
Thinking I was going to see some serious hydraulic press action, I watched as the guy proceeded to whip the old ones off and put the new ones in with a hammer!
He even made sure to make sure I knew to reverse-whack each cross a little bit to free up the caps and crosses if there was a little binding. Basically ensures each cap is seated up against it's clip instead of bound up on the cross. Even brand new installs don't have to be tight as it turned out.
Had the four done in less than 10 minutes (a lot less if I remember) and I was on my way.

Even after that I still tended to use my bench vise, until the day I was working on a big Ford car for a friend ('76 T-Bird I think?) and realized my measly little vise was not going to cut it.
Didn't know about the fancy tools back then, so off I went to get the sockets, some wood, and my trusty hammer. Had the old ones out and the new ones in in about 10 minutes my first time! Man, was I ever impressed with myself! Hah!
Ever since then though, I've used hammers and sockets every time and had zero issues.

Paul

 

Not all greases are created equal. While using moly grease in a U-joint may not be disastrous, it likely will not provide optimum performance. I use one manual grease gun with grease designated for U-joints for the U-joints. You will find that even amongst greases designated for U-joints there are significant differences. You should choose one that flows within the grease gun. The manual gun allows you to control pressures so as not to damage seals. I use separate greasing equipment for other parts of the chassis with different grease. So far, in 55 years of driving, I've never had to replace a greasable U-joint that was maintained properly.

 

Also be sure to double and triple check

 

Also be sure to double and triple check that you dont disturb the needle bearings in the caps when you remove and replace them, had one fall in the bottom of a cap one time and busted then end out of it when I pressed it in

 

Aye aye, sirs!

I'm reconsidering my timeline for the replacement of the u-joints. I have next Friday through Sunday off, so that's going to be my target for this job. I'm most likely going to go through Summit to get what I need and I think it'll have ample time to get here before then. I have no grease gun, no grease, no u-joints, nothing to mark my parts to keep them aligned, yadda yadda, so I think I'm gonna pick all that up through Summit and while I'm at it get new u-joints for my 78 Bronco that uses the exact same u-joints as my 77 F100. I figure I'll make sure I'm well versed in u-joints once I replace 8 of them between the two vehicles. I'm gonna learn me some u-joints. Heck, I might even clean up the shafts and paint 'em. Maybe I'll do something obnoxious like this.

 

Reputable brand parts bought in a walk in store can be replaced quicker than a oops I ordered the wrong one. As me how I know that...one to many times I oops a Summit or Jegs order...

At the parts house you can bring your old part in hand and compare on the counter to the new one.

be fancy and mark your d/s with a paint marker from Walmart or just some spray paint. Or get a tire marking crayon (yellow or white) at the parts store and use it on other items too like tires, old truck parts, X GF car windows. lol

Get a grease gun that has the tip kit with it. Needle and regular zerk attachments.

 

I do tend to agree with that line of thinking, especially with wear items or things you might need on short notice such as brake items. However that advice came late. lol I had ordered about 8 hours before your comment. I've had good luck with Summit in general and the one issue I've ever had was the manufacturers fault, which Summit handled... in an untimely manner. That was my only problem with them, it took like 1-2 weeks to get an out of the box faulty part replaced.

I got everything delivered in about 1 1/2 days. Ordered 5am on the 6th and received my order at 1pm on the 7th. They were shipped from Nevada which explains the unexpected quick delivery. I decided to rebuild the double cardan joints on my Bronco while I'm doing all of these u-joints. They're like $50 to buy a new one from most places, but Jeff's Bronco Graveyard has the ball and spring to rebuild them for $11 a piece. I've heard good and bad about JBG, but I figured I'd give them a shot, it's only a $22 risk. That order showed up today before I went to work and I didn't realize how small those parts are. I saw the size of the box and thought "Aw man, they only sent one". I opened it up and there were two in the box together. This was like a 2"x2"x3" box. lol

I'll grab some items to clean and paint up the shafts today after I get off work. Might as well if I'm gonna go this deep into a first time u-joint project. I'll begin on Saturday.

I took a couple pics underneath my truck the other day to get an idea of how things look while I waited for parts. The rear looks good as far as having no leaking pinion seal. I'm not sure on the transmission. It looks a little wet.

 

Pinion seal looks wet at one time but ok to me, that trans seal is a gonner.
Does the drive line phasing statement make scene?

Post up the part #'s from JBG and can you do a pic/walk thru of the rebuild the double cardan joint?

 

If it helps and you haven't performed the installation yet, Harbor Freight (or other places) sells a u-joint replacement kit like the one JKLN... shows on the previous page. I've done the big hammer and socket method, and never looked back once I bought my kit 20 years ago. Not too expensive, either. I know the parts houses rent the kits these days, but I'd rather have mine on-hand when I need it.

 

Yeah I get the whole phasing thing. I found a really good video on it the other day that explained it along with pinion angles and a demonstration. Amazing how much info is on youtube. I'll try to create a write up on the double cardan. I'll be following a video for that one, hopefully it isn't much different for me. It was a jeep vid for a d44 front shaft.

I might check out HF for that kit before I get started on things today. I'm waiting for the sun to dry off my work space (the road) while I eat the greasiest most delicious fajita burrito I could get. I'll start with my Bronco's front drive shaft just in case I screw it up I can still drive it.

 

A sheet of plywood or an old piece of carpet make a great spot to lay on. Make sure you use like spray brake cleaner or carb cleaner to get the u joint work area good and clean.

Chalk the wheels, set the e brake. Yea U tube has great video's.

 

Well this has been a pretty stupid endeavor so far. I don't have any u-joints replaced yet. What I do have is a front shaft completely disassembled and almost ready for paint. I don't recommend painting them if you're a perfectionist. I've spent at least a good couple of hours scraping, wire brushing, and washing with scotch brite and dish soap. Its still not perfect, but I can't go on like this forever. If you have a media blaster of some sort I'd imagine that would make things a cake walk.

I came inside to wash up and found my Summit box of goodies had been gone through by my dogs. Things were scattered, but luckily nothing was damaged. I hate being a dog owner sometimes.

HF was a no go for the ball joint/u joint kit. I'm not willing to drop $90 to buy that, not right now anyway. I rented one from a parts store for $125 of which I'll get back once done. The guy who got it for me proceeded to tell me what a pos it was and that he used it once on his truck and bent an ear on his driveshaft. After using it I'd say that was operator error on his part. It took a while on the first u-joint. Nothing wanted to go easily. Once I got the first cap off by developing a method involving a set of vise grips things went smooth. It probably took 10 minutes to remove the 3 u-joints. If I had just left the shafts as is I'd probably have all 3 done and back in already. C'est la vie.

 

I have a question. On the end of the slip yoke there is a hole. Its right behind where the u-joint sits. Is that supposed to just be open like it is? If you extend and collapse the shaft grease will push out that hole. It seems like contaminants would get in. On the other hand I guess it'd create a vacuum if it was sealed tight, so I dunno. The grease that comes out looks like chocolate icing, not an ideal look on a driveshaft, but still looks delicious. I'm afraid to open up the slip yoke.

 

I've got a '76 F-250/460/C6/2WD that has a similar configuration. During the greasing of the slip yoke, it seems like most of the grease goes out of the hole. I'm wondering if sufficient grease gets to the splines of the slip yoke. I also have a '55 Oldsmobile which has no such opening on the slip yoke. On that one the excess grease exits through the splines of the slip yoke. Perhaps the splines are machined closer on the Ford. ???????

 

My memory sez you're supposed to cover the hole with yer finger when pumping grease into slip yoke, maybe they had a "special" tool for that I dunno, the idea is to force grease where it needs to go.