Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Steering U-Joint and Ball Joint replacement instructions, 4x4, (Long Post)
I recently replaced my front steering u-joints and ball joints. Right front steering u-joint went bad at 80K miles. The rest was replaced as preventive maintenance. I utilized some info posted on this site by others but I'm a amateur driveway mechanic so I stumbled my way through. Below is an outline of the process that other amateur mechanics may find helpful. My truck is a '95, 3/4 ton, 4x4. Other years/models may have some differences. Much of the info below came from the repair manual. Other info is just MHO. Use good judgement and if your not sure, ask someone who knows. I'm not taking any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of this info (in other words, use it at your own risk!).
The first hard part for me was figuring out what differential I had and what axle. I now know that I have a DANA 60 front differential and a 4500 lb axle. If your not sure, I'd ask someone. I was told the DANA 60 is much larger than the DANA 44. I couldn't tell for sure using the repair manual example but the guy at NAPA could tell from a distance. The door jam sticker had the axle rating.
List of tools:
Anti lock brake mechanism: 8 mm wrench
Brake assembly: 3/8 Allen wrench. You may want to have a socket type so you can torque to spec.
Top ball joint: 1 1/8 socket
Bottom ball joint: 1 5/16 socket
Axle nut: 1 11/16 socket
4 bolts on back of hub assembly: 14 mm socket (must be 12 point). I'm sure there is a non-metric equivalent but I don't know what it is.
Steering arm: 13/16 socket
Big 3 prong puller or slide hammer puller. I was able to rent one that was large enough to mount to the wheel studs. Based on other people's posts, this is preferred. I had to check every auto parts and rental shop in town. Only one had one large enough.
1/2 inch impact wrench
Torque wrench that will go to 175 ft lbs (I made do with 150 ft lbs)
Pickle fork ball joint separator: You should have two; one about 1 in and the other about 1 1/4 inch wide. I was able to make do with one 1 1/8 inch.
Rubber mallet and big hammer
Special tools or press if you expect to push out the ball joints and insert the new ones yourself. I took mine to the NAPA shop and had them do it.
Parts:
U-joints: I read other posts that suggested replacing the stock u-joints with ones that have a grease zerk in them. My stock u-joints were Spicer by Dana P/N 5-332X, $79. 98 at NAPA. They are not available with zerks. NAPA also carries Precision brand and they do come with zerks. P/N 374 (made for NAPA by Precision), $48. 97. I also found Car Quest carries Neapco P/N 332, $38. 83, which also has zerks. (My truck is running one Precision and one Neapco).
[Posted by Tsielski previously]
I did though, buy two from Napa, with zerks, made by Precision. Don't have the part number, but the number on the boxes is 374. Napa lists steering u-joints for the 4500 lb axle on their web site as well, with zerks. Important thing about the steering u-joints for the 4500 lb axle is you need u joints with the 1 3/8" cup diameter and a 4 1/8" cross. Steering u joints for the 3500 lb axle are smaller dimensionally.
[Posted by Speedo previously]
The 5-332X is the Spicer number and as you have
have seen they don't come greaseable. See if you
can locate a Neapco 332, it is greaseable and IMO
it is a better u-joint than the Spicer. If anyone
has a question as to the greaseable joint being
weaker, its a moot point, I have broken several
Dana 60 axle shafts and never harmed a u-joint.
Ball joints: Someone else suggested changing these while your in there. Not that much money especially if you don't what to tear this thing apart again soon. I didn't have any trouble finding the front ball joints. Top one is much smaller than the bottom one. NAPA had them in stock and I assume Car Quest did also. Napa P/N 10339 and 104149, $30. 88 and 31. 99 respectively.
Cotter pins: You'll need three for each side. The one that holds the axle nut on is pretty big and I had trouble finding them.
Disassembly
1. Someone suggested putting the truck in 4 wheel drive before you start so that it is easier to reassemble. I did and had no trouble. Haven't tried it the other way.
2. Raise and support the vehicle.
3. Remove the front wheel assembly.
4. Remove the brake components by using the 3/8 allen wrench. Wire or tie it up without damaging the brake line. Don't spread the calipers too far or you may cause the fluid in the brake reservoir to spill out.
5. Remove the anti-lock brake sensor and bracket. Three (3) bolts. Put it back out of the way.
6. Remove the cotter pin and axle hub nut.
7. The book doesn't say this but I removed the steering link from the hub assembly so that I could easily turn the wheel and because I didn't know what all was going to come loose when I pulled on things.
8. Remove the hub to knuckle bolts. These are the 4 twelve point bolts on the back side of the hub assembly.
Note: Someone else suggested spraying penetrating oil on the hub assembly a day or two before you plan to try and pull it free. I did. Wasn't sure where things were going to separate so I sprayed it all over. Easy to do when the wheel is off and the truck is in the garage. I sprayed down between the disk and the disk dirt shield and all around the back side. I also sprayed into the 4 hub to knuckle bolt holes on the back side. I'm not sure if this helped but mine came right apart. Others have noted trouble getting theirs apart.
9. Attach a large 3 prong puller or slide hammer to the wheel studs. Others have said that you can use a prong type puller attached just behind the wheel studs but not to attach anything to the disk. I was not able to find a large enough slide hammer. I think the puller has to fit over a 7 1/2 inch diameter circle to be large enough. This assembly can be a real tough one to pull apart and some have separated their sealed bearings that are not serviceable and inside the hub assembly. The preferred methods based on other's posts seemed to be to use a 1/2 inch impact wrench and a wheel-stud-mounted puller or a large slide hammer. If you don't know what a slide hammer is, ask a tool rental shop or auto parts store. They have them. I did. I heard the slide hammer works best. If you use a puller, tighten it with the impact wrench as tight as it will go. Hit the center pin of the puller with a large hammer a few times. Tighten again with the impact. Hit a few more times, Tighten again. Keep this up until she comes loose. I was lucky. Both of mine just came loose as I was tightening the impact wrench. Never needed the hammer.
10. When it comes loose, the hub assembly may come off the axle shaft or the axle may come out of the differential. If the axle starts to come out of the differential, be sure to support the axle shaft so that it does not damage the oil seal that is clear down inside the axle housing (or in the differential. Not sure?). You have to service that seal from the other end I'm told and that's going to be a lot more work and disassembly. If the whole thing starts coming out together, it's heavy. I found it difficult to support the hub assembly and the axle. It want to flop around on the u-joint. I'll be watching mine for leaks for a while. On my second side, the hub assembly came off the axle spline and that made it much easier to remove the axle and support it.
11. The dust shield will come too and a thin metal spacer that sits next to it. Remember how they go back together.
12. Remove the steering knuckle and axle shaft if they didn’t' come out with the hub. Be sure to support the axle shaft as it come out so not to damage the oil seal.
13. Remove the cotter pin from the upper ball stud. Lower ball stud doesn’t have one.
14. Remove the upper and lower ball stud nuts.
15. The book says to strike the steering knuckle with a brass hammer to loosen. Remove the knuckle from the axle tube yokes. It's not that easy. I used a pickle fork to pry up the tapered spacer that is over the upper ball joint stud. The spacer has a split in it and flat spot in front. It looks like a heavy washer. Once you get it started up, it should come pretty easy. Once it's out, the top stud is floating loosely in the hole. Some penetrating oil will help. You can beat on the ball joint stud if your planning to replace the ball joint.
16. Before you remove the lower one, stick a pin or screwdriver in the cotter pin hole of the upper ball stud so the whole thing doesn't fall to the ground (or your foot).
17. I drove a 1 1/8 inch pickle fork ball joint separator between the ball joint and the knuckle. Don't worry about the rubber boot if your replacing the ball joint. You really should have a 1 1/4 wide in pickle fork but I couldn't find one. You still may have to beat on the stud with a hammer.
I took the Axle and the knuckle to my local NAPA machine shop and had them install the new u-joint and the new ball joints. I had to leave them all day, they reported two hrs of shop time and charged me $95 for both sides. (4 ball joints and 2 u-joints).
See a separate post for re-assembly.
Email me if you want the Word file.
I recently replaced my front steering u-joints and ball joints. Right front steering u-joint went bad at 80K miles. The rest was replaced as preventive maintenance. I utilized some info posted on this site by others but I'm a amateur driveway mechanic so I stumbled my way through. Below is an outline of the process that other amateur mechanics may find helpful. My truck is a '95, 3/4 ton, 4x4. Other years/models may have some differences. Much of the info below came from the repair manual. Other info is just MHO. Use good judgement and if your not sure, ask someone who knows. I'm not taking any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of this info (in other words, use it at your own risk!).
The first hard part for me was figuring out what differential I had and what axle. I now know that I have a DANA 60 front differential and a 4500 lb axle. If your not sure, I'd ask someone. I was told the DANA 60 is much larger than the DANA 44. I couldn't tell for sure using the repair manual example but the guy at NAPA could tell from a distance. The door jam sticker had the axle rating.
List of tools:
Anti lock brake mechanism: 8 mm wrench
Brake assembly: 3/8 Allen wrench. You may want to have a socket type so you can torque to spec.
Top ball joint: 1 1/8 socket
Bottom ball joint: 1 5/16 socket
Axle nut: 1 11/16 socket
4 bolts on back of hub assembly: 14 mm socket (must be 12 point). I'm sure there is a non-metric equivalent but I don't know what it is.
Steering arm: 13/16 socket
Big 3 prong puller or slide hammer puller. I was able to rent one that was large enough to mount to the wheel studs. Based on other people's posts, this is preferred. I had to check every auto parts and rental shop in town. Only one had one large enough.
1/2 inch impact wrench
Torque wrench that will go to 175 ft lbs (I made do with 150 ft lbs)
Pickle fork ball joint separator: You should have two; one about 1 in and the other about 1 1/4 inch wide. I was able to make do with one 1 1/8 inch.
Rubber mallet and big hammer
Special tools or press if you expect to push out the ball joints and insert the new ones yourself. I took mine to the NAPA shop and had them do it.
Parts:
U-joints: I read other posts that suggested replacing the stock u-joints with ones that have a grease zerk in them. My stock u-joints were Spicer by Dana P/N 5-332X, $79. 98 at NAPA. They are not available with zerks. NAPA also carries Precision brand and they do come with zerks. P/N 374 (made for NAPA by Precision), $48. 97. I also found Car Quest carries Neapco P/N 332, $38. 83, which also has zerks. (My truck is running one Precision and one Neapco).
[Posted by Tsielski previously]
I did though, buy two from Napa, with zerks, made by Precision. Don't have the part number, but the number on the boxes is 374. Napa lists steering u-joints for the 4500 lb axle on their web site as well, with zerks. Important thing about the steering u-joints for the 4500 lb axle is you need u joints with the 1 3/8" cup diameter and a 4 1/8" cross. Steering u joints for the 3500 lb axle are smaller dimensionally.
[Posted by Speedo previously]
The 5-332X is the Spicer number and as you have
have seen they don't come greaseable. See if you
can locate a Neapco 332, it is greaseable and IMO
it is a better u-joint than the Spicer. If anyone
has a question as to the greaseable joint being
weaker, its a moot point, I have broken several
Dana 60 axle shafts and never harmed a u-joint.
Ball joints: Someone else suggested changing these while your in there. Not that much money especially if you don't what to tear this thing apart again soon. I didn't have any trouble finding the front ball joints. Top one is much smaller than the bottom one. NAPA had them in stock and I assume Car Quest did also. Napa P/N 10339 and 104149, $30. 88 and 31. 99 respectively.
Cotter pins: You'll need three for each side. The one that holds the axle nut on is pretty big and I had trouble finding them.
Disassembly
1. Someone suggested putting the truck in 4 wheel drive before you start so that it is easier to reassemble. I did and had no trouble. Haven't tried it the other way.
2. Raise and support the vehicle.
3. Remove the front wheel assembly.
4. Remove the brake components by using the 3/8 allen wrench. Wire or tie it up without damaging the brake line. Don't spread the calipers too far or you may cause the fluid in the brake reservoir to spill out.
5. Remove the anti-lock brake sensor and bracket. Three (3) bolts. Put it back out of the way.
6. Remove the cotter pin and axle hub nut.
7. The book doesn't say this but I removed the steering link from the hub assembly so that I could easily turn the wheel and because I didn't know what all was going to come loose when I pulled on things.
8. Remove the hub to knuckle bolts. These are the 4 twelve point bolts on the back side of the hub assembly.
Note: Someone else suggested spraying penetrating oil on the hub assembly a day or two before you plan to try and pull it free. I did. Wasn't sure where things were going to separate so I sprayed it all over. Easy to do when the wheel is off and the truck is in the garage. I sprayed down between the disk and the disk dirt shield and all around the back side. I also sprayed into the 4 hub to knuckle bolt holes on the back side. I'm not sure if this helped but mine came right apart. Others have noted trouble getting theirs apart.
9. Attach a large 3 prong puller or slide hammer to the wheel studs. Others have said that you can use a prong type puller attached just behind the wheel studs but not to attach anything to the disk. I was not able to find a large enough slide hammer. I think the puller has to fit over a 7 1/2 inch diameter circle to be large enough. This assembly can be a real tough one to pull apart and some have separated their sealed bearings that are not serviceable and inside the hub assembly. The preferred methods based on other's posts seemed to be to use a 1/2 inch impact wrench and a wheel-stud-mounted puller or a large slide hammer. If you don't know what a slide hammer is, ask a tool rental shop or auto parts store. They have them. I did. I heard the slide hammer works best. If you use a puller, tighten it with the impact wrench as tight as it will go. Hit the center pin of the puller with a large hammer a few times. Tighten again with the impact. Hit a few more times, Tighten again. Keep this up until she comes loose. I was lucky. Both of mine just came loose as I was tightening the impact wrench. Never needed the hammer.
10. When it comes loose, the hub assembly may come off the axle shaft or the axle may come out of the differential. If the axle starts to come out of the differential, be sure to support the axle shaft so that it does not damage the oil seal that is clear down inside the axle housing (or in the differential. Not sure?). You have to service that seal from the other end I'm told and that's going to be a lot more work and disassembly. If the whole thing starts coming out together, it's heavy. I found it difficult to support the hub assembly and the axle. It want to flop around on the u-joint. I'll be watching mine for leaks for a while. On my second side, the hub assembly came off the axle spline and that made it much easier to remove the axle and support it.
11. The dust shield will come too and a thin metal spacer that sits next to it. Remember how they go back together.
12. Remove the steering knuckle and axle shaft if they didn’t' come out with the hub. Be sure to support the axle shaft as it come out so not to damage the oil seal.
13. Remove the cotter pin from the upper ball stud. Lower ball stud doesn’t have one.
14. Remove the upper and lower ball stud nuts.
15. The book says to strike the steering knuckle with a brass hammer to loosen. Remove the knuckle from the axle tube yokes. It's not that easy. I used a pickle fork to pry up the tapered spacer that is over the upper ball joint stud. The spacer has a split in it and flat spot in front. It looks like a heavy washer. Once you get it started up, it should come pretty easy. Once it's out, the top stud is floating loosely in the hole. Some penetrating oil will help. You can beat on the ball joint stud if your planning to replace the ball joint.
16. Before you remove the lower one, stick a pin or screwdriver in the cotter pin hole of the upper ball stud so the whole thing doesn't fall to the ground (or your foot).
17. I drove a 1 1/8 inch pickle fork ball joint separator between the ball joint and the knuckle. Don't worry about the rubber boot if your replacing the ball joint. You really should have a 1 1/4 wide in pickle fork but I couldn't find one. You still may have to beat on the stud with a hammer.
I took the Axle and the knuckle to my local NAPA machine shop and had them install the new u-joint and the new ball joints. I had to leave them all day, they reported two hrs of shop time and charged me $95 for both sides. (4 ball joints and 2 u-joints).
See a separate post for re-assembly.
Email me if you want the Word file.
