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front driveshaft assembly

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Old 11-29-2008 | 06:05 PM
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kell's Avatar
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front driveshaft assembly

I have a 1994 Ram 2500 pickup. It has an assembly that connects the transfer case to the front driveshaft that has two u-joints and, between them, a sort of yoke with a ball joint in it. I had to take it apart because of a broken u-joint, and found that the ball joint is all messed up. It doesn't rotate freely. It also, I believe, may have had needle bearings in it where a little stub pokes into the center of that ball in the middle of the assembly. But the truck suffered many years of neglect and was in bad shape when I bought it and that ball joint was just toast before I ever set eyes on it.
Anyway, it's Saturday night now and I'd like to find out by tomorrow morning what I can do about that ball joint. Can you take the ball out and work on it or do you have to replace the iron yoke that contains the ball? I didn't get it figured out before I called it quits for the night. I'm tempted just to eliminate the ball but I suppose it requires to align the joint and keep it stable.
Old 11-29-2008 | 07:28 PM
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From: pacific northwest
Oh boy....

It's called a cardigan joint and it works like a constant velocity (cv) joint. When mine crapped itself I took it to the driveline shop down the road where they charged me 175 to replace it. Other than that I can't help much; it looked like more than I wanted to wrestle with so I threw some $$ at the problem. Good luck, cd
Old 11-29-2008 | 10:20 PM
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From: s .e. pa.
hi
there is a repair kit from napa for the cardigan .
i did mine app 1 yr ago .
problem i had was napa did not have or list the boot for over it ?
got the boot from a truck shop and paid too much as they charged me shipping to get it next day .
found out boot is a nepco part .
if you need the number i can get it tomorow .
i used new napa u jouints , but i realy did not like their design / quality !
take your time assembling it , it was not super hard just had to have all parts properly aligned .
Old 12-04-2008 | 06:27 PM
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done

I bought a repair kit for the joint, and three u-joints, all bad. The ball kit's expensive. By the time I bought all that stuff and rebuilt the driveshaft it probably would have been cheaper, and would certainly have been easier, just to buy the front driveshaft off a 2500 at the local junkyard.
Old 12-05-2008 | 09:42 AM
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I just did mine, the ball repair kit was 34.00
Old 12-05-2008 | 11:47 AM
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34 bucks

Where did you buy yours?
Old 12-06-2008 | 08:07 PM
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From: Hampton, NH
front driveshaft

I just rebuilt my front shaft and all u-joints but it seemed too tight when i was done, i figured it may break in? It now just goes clunk clunk clunk. it spins freely but now theres play in the cardigan or where the ball and socket meet in the double u-joint section. I noticed a small crack in the socket and I'm not taking this biotch apart again. My 3500 needs a new driveshaft also, I usually never take the easy way out and spend the money, but I don't want to buy 3 new u-joints again so i can return it with my core. On ebay there's a remanufactured DS for $226 shipped w/o a core and Autozone has reman. for $195 w/core.
Old 12-07-2008 | 03:49 AM
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From: Mid-Mich
Originally Posted by kell
Where did you buy yours?
that was just for the ball and another piece, no u-joints
auto value store
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