WOW what a PITA that was. I had a squeaking sound whenever I switched out of 2H so I figured it had something to do with the front driveshaft. All I can say is clearance be dammed, cause there isn't any.

As it turned out, one of the u-joints had two cups rusted inside and the needle bearing were destroyed. Problem solved, now I'm off to do the rear driveshaft u-joints which will hopefully eliminate a highway speed vibration I'm getting. I hope the rear is easier to get out than the front was.

 

Alloro, how what model and year is your truck?

 

97 expedition XLT 4X4 5.4

 

Okay did the rear drive u-joints. Pulling out the driveshaft was cake compared to the front. However, changing the u-joints was considerably more involved due to the double cardan joint up at the front of the shaft. I nearly broke my 12 ton press getting everything apart and had to chisel out 8 of the 10 bearing cup clips due to rust.

Everything went back together okay EXCEPT for one stupid problem (grrrr). The joints I used were the ones that are permanently lubed with synthetic grease so there were no grease fitting on them. There is however a bump in the joint casting where a grease fitting could theoretically be machined in. So when I put it all back together the front cardan joint would only bend in 3 directions. That had me stumped for a bit until I looked in real close with a bright light and found this "bump" for the grease fitting was hitting when bending in the fourth direction. I had installed the joint with the bump facing the rear of the vehicle. The solution was to take if off and turn it around so that the bump was facing forward. After I did that, the joint bend in all directions.

 

Alloro,

Can you provide some specifics about what made the front difficult? I've never done one of these so the more detail you can give, the better. I have had a new axle shaft ready to be installed for about 2 years! Thanks!

I found a leaky CV boot 2 years ago. As a temporary measure, I squirted grease into the hole, cleaned it up with brake cleaner and then sealed the hole with "Right Stuff" gasket material. It has NOT leaked since so I keep putting this job off... (this stuff works great)

 

Well for starters, the back end of the driveshaft (TC end) has a cover that encircles the u-joint. This cover has to be unbolted and moved forward a bit, but you cannot remove it because the is no room to do so. Of course one of the bolts is up around the top of the cover, this gives you the opportunity to practice your Fantastic 4 Rubber Man routine as you'll be twisting your arm around in ways you never thought it could bend.

Then there's the 4-bolt flanges at each end where the bolts were originally torqued to 87 ft. lbs. before the rust on the few protruding threads developed. None of my air guns would crack them loose. I have bigger guns but they were useless because I could only fit a 3/8" drive socket on the bolts due to clearance issues. So a stronger gun would've just blew the socket apart. I ended up using a 2 foot breaker bar to crack them loose, then used the air gun to run them out. I put it in 4WDL when using the breaker bar to keep the driveshaft from turning. Of course this meant getting up and down to shift between 2H and 4WDL to be able to turn the driveshaft as I needed to access the other bolts. You have about 2 inches of clearance on one side of the driveshaft and about 1 inch on the other. So forget about reaching around the top of it for anything. All of the bolts (4 front and 4 rear) have to be accessed while they're on the bottom half.

Okay so now it's all unbolted, but the driveshaft (fully collapsed) is still about 1/2" too long to be able to just drop the front of it down and take it out. So you have to lift the back end (with the metal cover still wrapped around it) move it back as far as possible, then lower the front end and pull it out. Mind you, that metal cover is a pain in your backside from start to finish. It keeps getting in the way and turning in different directions, which results in it getting caught on anything with an edge to it.

All that was just to get it out. The fun part is getting it back in since you have to line it up with the bolt holes and keep moving the cover around out of your way. BTW, the socket you need to unbolt the driveshaft is a 12mm 12 point and the nuts to that cover were 13mm, the top one can only be access with a wrench a 1/4 of a turn at a time, if you're lucky.

 

You don't have to remove the driveshaft to change an axle.

 

alloro thanks for the heads up on the direction of the u joint i am sure u have saved me some time and some new 4 letter words

 

My pain is your gain.

 

Axle shafts are easy. You will need a 36mm socket for the spindle nut and you will also need to separate the upper ball joint/knuckle and the tie rod end to be able to get the axle shaft out. It is pretty straight forward when you get in there.

 

ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT

Apologies for resurrecting an ancient thread, but Alloro remains a frequent contributor on the forum, and I couldn't think of a better was to ask my question in context.

I'm getting ready to replace the rear u-joint on my front driveshaft, and I had a few questions ---

1. Any reason I shouldn't do both u-joints on the front shaft, at 185K+ miles?
2. Will I be able to do the service with the truck resting on its tires?
3. Mine's a 2000 XLT 4X4 4.6L. How do I get it so I can spin the front driveshaft by hand? ......or will I have to push the truck to-and-fro to access the flange bolts?
4. What does it mean, "(fully collapsed)"?
5. Do I need to replace the round cover, or can I leave it off, since it's such a nasty bugger?

I plan to soak those flange bolts in Liquid Wrench -- maybe I'll get lucky and they'll pop loose easily.

THANK YOU for joining the zombie thread of the day

 

Yes, do both u-joints while you have the driveshaft out.

Yes, you can probably get away without putting the truck up on jacks as long as your waistline isn't taller than the running boards.

No, if you're doing the job with the wheels down you should not have to move the truck. Because with a 2000 when in 2WD you should be able to spin the driveshaft and access all the bolts.

As the suspension goes up and down, the distance between the transfer case and the differential varies. Because of this the length of the driveshaft has to change to compensate. For the rear driveshaft it slides in and out of the rear of the transfer case (or transmission), but for the front driveshaft it is designed where one half fits inside the other half. Therefore the front driveshaft expands and contracts it's length. All the way together would be the collapsed position.

I would leave the cover on there because it protects the rear u-joint of the front driveshaft. I should point out that I just recently redid this job but on my 2001 Navigator and did not remove that cover at all. I was able to remove the 4 flange bolts and slide the driveshaft out with the cover bolted in place. So you might want to first try this without removing the cover.

 

THANK YOU very much.

I just tried to spin it by hand. Couldn't. I mean, it's 30-degrees out, and I was cold and cranky, so I didn't wrestle with it, but it gave no indication that it was going to spin. My 4WD control **** reads A4WD 4H 4L, is that "A4WD" holding me back?

Makes sense. Where's the joint? Under that rubber boot 2/3 of the way back on the shaft?

I'll give it a go!

.

 

The 2000 didn't have a 2WD position so the front driveshaft is always connected though the front diff and axles to the splined front hubs. If you lift the fornt wheels off the ground you should be able to turn the front DS.

(Hint: Put your year, make, and model in your sig line and then we'll always know what your working on - won't have to search through the thread or your 'garage' looking for it.)

 

Thank you, sir!