2005 U-Joints

[JThacker]

Do you have to have a press to disassemble and replace the two rear shaft u joints, how big a job is it? Jay

 

[steved]

Do you have to have a press to disassemble and replace the two rear shaft u joints, how big a job is it? Jay

Yes, and they are tight.



steved

 

[JFaulkner]

Do you have to have a press to disassemble and replace the two rear shaft u joints, how big a job is it? Jay

My friend who has the auto had to cut his apart to remove it and this was with a press. I used a press on mine and they weren't too bad.



This is the press I'm talking about.

 

[DHudak]

just had both my rear u joints replaced at 23,000. dealer let me look at them and one cap on each joint never had grease in it. don't know if they were in line with each other or not but i developed a growl on the coast side and a vibration from 8 mph to stop. 2005 3500 drw 4wd

 

[Brandon]

1 at 15k more need to be done soon at 50k, sucks the wife read this thread, I always told her it was the way she drove, since she chucked the rear shaft on her 01... .

 

[DerekW]

hahahahhahhahahahhahahahahhahahahahahha sorry to laugh but u found yourself a crappy shop with retarded techs. trust me I been there. I recently had mine replaced cuz I was eating the seals on the joints while playing in the sand and during offroad recovery during the middle of the night without a winch and just a short chain or strap. I would literally back down in the hole and drag 'em out normally around 2 or 3 in the morning on a school night (for my buddies) bout once a month I would get a call like that. I live on the eastern shore in MD and all we have is beach though we are 1 hour from the ocean. We have lots of sandy grit in the mud finally the sand was getting to the joints.



Because I had recently moved into this hous ena I didn't have a much of a garage (no vise and couldn't fit the truck through the door during artic weather) I took my truck to a shop and had it done. I now have bigger problems then before I went in. Seriously they moron techs decided to beat the u-joints out with a hammer but they didn't have a lick of common sense. They beat the **** out of the tubes and now with my excessive power plans for this year I will have to retube the driveshaft before my first pull to prevent the tubes from twisting where the shaft is damaged from the hammer. the shop foreman told me they couldn't get the joints out with just a hammer so they used a torch. Those SOBs better not have cut material from inside the cap mounting surfaces. I hope the used the torch for only heat so that I can reuse the ends of the shaft and just trash the tubes.



I personally learn to do u-joints working at the 4wd shop I worked at some time ago. I did work on a bunch of racing stuff too while there. I learnt to beat out joints. the reason we beat out joints was because this would yield less pinching of the ears of the yoke which causes u-joints to be excessively preloaded and wear out really fast. Read on for more details on the proper method. The shop you are going to I believe is using a ball joint press kind of tool that is pretty much a big c-clamp with a nut on the end for a impact gun. THIS IS A HUGE NO NO you pinch the ears really bad and wear out the u-joints in no time like your describing due to excessive heat from excessive preload. the same thing goes for using a vise to squeeze the new caps off the u-joint into the ears of the yoke. Pinching the ears is also included when using a socket that fits inside the ears with pushing in the caps. DONT DO IT AND YOU WONT HAVE TO FIX AGAIN. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. always with a hammer on the thick part of the yoke located between the ears and the driveshaft tube. ALWAYS AFTER INSTALLING A U-JOINT YOU WILL HAVE SOME DEFLECTION OF THE EARS AND THE U-JOINT WILL BE STIFF. OPEN UP THE VISE SO THAT JUST THE EARS SIT ON TOP OF THE JAWS THEN BEAT ON THE THICK METAL BETWEEN THE EARS AND TUBE. yOU ARE SPREADING THE EARS AND FREEING UP THE JOINT SO IT ISN'T PRELOADED AND LIVES ANOTHER 100k MILES.



always always use common sense when working on your truck or someone elses other sell your tools for scrap metal. Dealer techs almost always always are in too big of a hurry on a customers vehicle to have a slightest bit of common sense and think they can get away with every thing. the faster ways to get the job done normally arent the long term fixes. I think thats the reason for the saying "if you want some thing done right you have got to do it yourself" The only reason I got to the dealer is for some parts and to do burnouts with my buddies!!! i would consider the same if I were you. Also either a Spicer 1410 joint or a AAM will do the trick I personally like both of the these companies the same when it comes to qualtiy u-joints. Spicer has a longer history though and has a few engineers that have devoted their life to u-joints as I have read in articles featuring some of them in one of my circle track racing mags.

 

[DerekW]

oh in racing if you repalce one you replace them all. One the daily drivers all street no play slightly pumped numbers you can get by with just one out of 2 or 3 joints.

 

[DerekW]

oh and I forgots since its been a few months since I done a d-shaft but make sure if you are putting a joint in that has a zerk fitting to put the joint in right other wise you put the shaft back in the truck and break the zerk fitting and you tend to suck up trash into the joint also you sling all the grease out all over under the truck. put it in right the first time and you wont have to do it over again. trust me you learn the hard way I did at first then I became one of the main techs who did d-shafts and custom builts rearends, along with fabrication on the big custom suspension jobs.

 

[DerekW]

yeah once again sorry to laugh. i have been dealing with crappy shops especially dealer****s. I have been workin gby myself in my cold windy driveway, I am makin all the repairs immediately neccessary to make to through the winter and all others are being put on my list for the spring when its warm enough to be out there with out getting sick. I hope you either find another shop or start working on your stuff yourself. if you need help with the u-joints my trans is out of my truck and the driveshaft is sitting in the shed if you want a picture tutorial on how to change out u-joints.

 

[SKing]

I replaced my front ball joints today and I had 135000 miles on them. The top ones were still in good shape but I changed them all. The problem I see with this ball joint problem is that all the weight of the front is all on the lower ball joints. No weight on the top ball joints at all. Thats why there floaters. And that C clamp tool is a pain in the butt. I used a dead blow hammer and with a few wacks they were out. 4. 5 hours and I was on the road again. It took 2 wacks on the tierod conection and it droped to the floor. I think the trick to changing the ball joints is a dead blow hammer since the time it took to get one out with that C press I took the other 3 out with the hammer.

 

[REvans8993]

Hey jeff im having the same problem right as we speak. I have to take my truck back in and have them replaced. Robert

 

[ELK311]

Dealer replaced rear Ujoint. Under warranty thier cost $108 including labor. Not very expensive. Once the warranty is up I'll go greasable. Dealer would not install greasables, but did say if they could find a spot they would put in standard zerk fittings. They couldn't find a spot !

 

[DZink24]

My o4 goes in friday for rear driveshaft U joint... If my extended warranty will cover it. If not, I am doing them myself... 24,100 miles.

 

[jwilliams3]

yeah once again sorry to laugh. i have been dealing with crappy shops especially dealer****s. I have been workin gby myself in my cold windy driveway, I am makin all the repairs immediately neccessary to make to through the winter and all others are being put on my list for the spring when its warm enough to be out there with out getting sick. I hope you either find another shop or start working on your stuff yourself. if you need help with the u-joints my trans is out of my truck and the driveshaft is sitting in the shed if you want a picture tutorial on how to change out u-joints.

I want the picture tutorial on how to change U joints!

 

[DPKetchum]

Hey DerekW. Did you own a older Dodge diesel a while back. 2nd Gen?

 

[MAshley]

06 6sp, Dully with 34K miles, going in for a new driveline, dealer states it a u joint don't know which one.