Do I need to remove rear driveshaft to change u joint?

[pipeline010]

If it’s too long, it needs to be compressed. May need a little persuasion, rubber mallet. Sometimes they get air or something in there making them seem stuck in that position. There should be 5 grease points on the shaft. Someone earlier on page 1 explained the other end close to the t case very well, and as they said you will need an adapter to lube the female fitting, reason is there isn’t room in the constant velocity joint as it’s called to have a full fitting. It would break off during rotation. The end next to the pumpkin is good for 2 fittings. One is the joint you changed, if it is non serviceable, then there may be no zerk there. Same for the other 2 u joints on the tcase end, btw. The second, assuming there was a first, is on the shaft itself and I believe dirt donk explained very well.

after re-attaching the shaft to the rear (can't get it on both, too long) i'm confident the movement issue I had (which was really really minor) was due to the rear most u-joint. The one I took off had a good amount of play, the new one is locked in.

seems I just need to get a bit aggressive and get this shaft to begin sliding again. 2.5 SL is about max for the stock shaft (as I understand it), so full extension for several years has just stiffened it up.

 

[DirtDonk]

Information on the internet changes depending on who's dispensing it. I have a 3.5" lift and slightly shorter than stock shaft. Works fine, with the slip shaft in the middle of it's travel.
No shaft should be near it's extended limit when just tooling around town. You might find one extended a bit further than normal of course, but by the time it's almost fully extended it should be lengthened, or replaced with a longer shaft.
If yours was indeed running around at it's limit, then that would easily explain why the old u-joint was in such bad shape, as well as why the shaft was easy to get stuck in it's extended position like it is now.
Perhaps the lift threw the pinion angle off and extended the shaft.

Check for angled/tapered shims under the springs, and when you get it back together make sure that the rear pinion angle (where the rear end meets the driveshaft) is angled downward just slightly from the centerline of the shaft. To the tune of about 1 to 2 degrees. Anything more than that will start pulling the shaft towards it's limit.

You don't necessarily have to pull the two halves apart to grease it, because there is (or should be) a grease fitting there somewhere.
But at this point, with it all jammed up and dry looking like that, I think getting it apart would be a good thing. That way you could not only clean and grease it, but inspect it for issues.

Paul

 

[broncochevy]

X2. There is a good explanation with good advise

 

[Joe473]

X2. There is a good explanation with good advise

Agree with paul take it apart clean it and get the in and out motion of your shaft working smooth again. The crud will result in binding and clunking as the pinion angle and shaft moved during accel and decel.

After you get it all back together post up pics so we can see pinion angle and shaft penetration. While its apart measure the splines section and then measure it when together to confirm how much penetration you have. Your pinion angle will impact your shaft length.

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[pipeline010]

will do, thanks guys.

I'm not completely averse to just replacing this shaft, it's just not up on my $ priority list. I figured this would be a quick fix and turned into a headache.

the locking of the shaft is likely very new. living where I live binds up metal all the time and since it wasn't greased it locked up easy.

i'll spend tomorrow working the shaft in and out. with grease....

 

[Joe473]

will do, thanks guys.

I'm not completely averse to just replacing this shaft, it's just not up on my $ priority list. I figured this would be a quick fix and turned into a headache.

the locking of the shaft is likely very new. living where I live binds up metal all the time and since it wasn't greased it locked up easy.

i'll spend tomorrow working the shaft in and out. with grease....

Dont replace it right now until you decide on other stuff and check pinion angle. If you end up changing pinion angle your shaft length may change some.

There is a good stock shaft laying on the floor of my garage if you get in a bind with this one.

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[pipeline010]

Dont replace it right now until you decide on other stuff and check pinion angle. If you end up changing pinion angle your shaft length may change some.

There is a good stock shaft laying on the floor of my garage if you get in a bind with this one.

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wow awesome. thanks Joe. story followed by question coming:

I used some PB Blaster on it over night, took it off again from the diff this morning and gave it a few flat bangs on the concrete and eventually it pushed inwards a smidge. Did it again and it moved more....but it was so stiff it wouldn't decompress again. So I got worried I would just compress it with no way back so I stopped.

Went to my trunk, grabbed some of that Mystery Oil, put some just around the ring and banged it down again, forcing that oil inside. Grabbed the bottom of the slip yoke around my feet and pulled upwards and got it to release. A few more rounds of that and it was sliding easily enough. That mystery oil is pretty legit.

In between rounds of this (MMOil / compress / decompress) it was making farty noises. Figured it was normal and kept going. Then looked at the ujoint on the slip yoke and saw a pile of poop on the inside of it. The poop, of course, was old (OLD) grease. It was coming from a center pin hole at the mouth of the yoke, depositing on the u-joint.

So QUESTION: that pin hole is normal, right? I assume it's a spot to decompress the grease when it needs somewhere to escape, being that it's dead center on the shaft it looks like it was designed that way.

I've got a cheap-oh grease gun and will refill the shaft after I attach it back on tomorrow. It's cold and windy outside right now.

 

[Joe473]

wow awesome. thanks Joe. story followed by question coming:

I used some PB Blaster on it over night, took it off again from the diff this morning and gave it a few flat bangs on the concrete and eventually it pushed inwards a smidge. Did it again and it moved more....but it was so stiff it wouldn't decompress again. So I got worried I would just compress it with no way back so I stopped.

Went to my trunk, grabbed some of that Mystery Oil, put some just around the ring and banged it down again, forcing that oil inside. Grabbed the bottom of the slip yoke around my feet and pulled upwards and got it to release. A few more rounds of that and it was sliding easily enough. That mystery oil is pretty legit.

In between rounds of this (MMOil / compress / decompress) it was making farty noises. Figured it was normal and kept going. Then looked at the ujoint on the slip yoke and saw a pile of poop on the inside of it. The poop, of course, was old (OLD) grease. It was coming from a center pin hole at the mouth of the yoke, depositing on the u-joint.

So QUESTION: that pin hole is normal, right? I assume it's a spot to decompress the grease when it needs somewhere to escape, being that it's dead center on the shaft it looks like it was designed that way.

I've got a cheap-oh grease gun and will refill the shaft after I attach it back on tomorrow. It's cold and windy outside right now.

Clean it good. Grease the exposed splines and then wipe it clean leaving very light coating behind. Install and then a couple of pumps from grease gun after installed. Dont fill it or it will lock again. The hole is normal and grease will shoot out of there if over greased.

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