I just got my first truck. it is a 79 shortbed 4X4. I have a bad vibration and i looked at the u-joint and its cracked. I was wondering about how much work it is to fix it.

 

The part is probably around $25.

If you have a 3-5 lb ballpeen hammer & a vise, you could fix it yourself.

Otherwise,how much work are you willing to do toward it?


Dennis

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I want to do the work myself. I want to learn all that I can. I have a vise and a hammer. Is there a site with a description of how to do it?

 

They aren't too hard once you've done em once. You need to remove the circular locks and press out the spider. I recomend you remove them with a large "C" clamp and socket and not a hammer. Also mark the relationship between the shaft and the flange or slip joint and put them back together the same way. Don't forget to grease them when you are done.

good Luck

 

Which one is it? There are a total of 7 on my 79 and I've changed almost all of them.

Kevin K.

 

I am changing the one at the end of the drive shaft before the rear pumpkin

 

>I am changing the one at the end of the drive shaft before
>the rear pumpkin

Ah. That's the easiest one to do. When I did mine, I removed the 4 nuts from the clamps holding the u-joint to the differential yoke, and removed the clamps. I also used bungees to holt the shaft from smacking me in the head. Be sure to MARK EVERYTHING before you take it apart so you can put it together exactly like it was.

The front end of the shaft on mine had a double-ujoint knuckle that was held to the transfer case/yoke u-joint with 4 bolts. The bolts were like torx bolts (star shaped), but a box end wrench (forgot what size) will fit. Once those bolts are removed, e shaft should come out. I would remove the shaft this way as opposed to pulling the slip yoke off the shaft.

Remove the reatiner clips from the old joint and don't worry about breaking them. You get new ones with the new joints. If you can. press the old ones out w/ clamps as suggested earlier as opposed to a hammer. Personally, I used a 5lbs. sledge hammer and a few deep-well sockets and smacked the snot out of mine. I was told later that this can bend, crack, or even break the yoke so I don't reccomend it.

Once the old one is out, clean the yoke with very fine sand paper or steel wool to remove any rust, and install the new joint.

It's that simple.

Kevin K.

 

These guys are right>
Don't do the hammer thing unless you have to.
I prescribed the No-shop technique.

Press them out if you can.


Here is a *How to* you can read.

http://autorepair.about.com/library/weekly/aa102602a.htm


Dennis

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Yes, u-joints should be a easy fix....However, be advised, sometimes ya get the "u-joint from hell"....


Mine started out OK...I dropped the the drive shaft,remove the clips,tried the hammer/socket thing, nothing... slapped a c-clamp on it and BLAM....broke the c-clamp
Tried my other clamp...blam....it broke too...
Ok...went to the hardware store to buy a vise...a BIG vise...(hell, I needed one anyway...guess what...yep...BLAM...broke the vise (chinese piece of (lesson learned, quality tools only), Well, took the vise back cried/whined that they gave me a refund...(ok, so I lied a bit)...Went and bought a Better quality vise...BLAM...oops
So what shouldve only taken an hour at the MOST, Im in it about 3 hrs including drive time to town..20miles one way.
Finally broke down and went to my friendly neighborhood mechanic shop...They have AIR powered tools
:-)
Guess what...Took them 2 days to get it out...liberal doses of penatrant, impact hammer, vise...
so I didnt feel to bad after my feeble attempts with my (at that time) limited resources...Forewarned is forearmed...