I had a buddy pull the U-joints out of my front drive shaft. picked up some new ones and was all set to put it back together till I found a ball joint in the caradian joint (CV joint?). how do i replace this joint? is it easyer to take the shaft to a tranny company? am i buying more parts? can i get these parts from part source?

 

I just trade the CV joint along with the shaft for a rebuilt one at Napa.
Don't remember the exact price but it was reasonable.

 

ill have to see of napa in leduc will do that.
do any of the local guys have any leads or favourite shop for this sort of thing? looks like i kinda jumped the gun on this one.

 

I have bought just the centering joint for that CV joint at Napa before. It can be a hard part to find, Napa was the only parts store in my area that could find it. I have put numerous u joints and numerous rebuilt front shafts into my two dodges, nothing seems to last. I had a whole shaft from Napa last 8 months, another entire shaft from Carquest last a year. I replaced all the u joints myself a couple times they lasted 1-2yrs. The last time I fixed one of them I bought the parts from Quad4X4 off the internet. They sell what apprears to be very high quailty u-joints and have all the right parts for the centering joint. Also, they have good instruction manuals, etc, if you need/want them. Price was reasonable too.

A side note: 8 months ago I replaced the rear U Joint (the one on the rear axle) with the highest quality greaseable joint I could buy at Napa. I greased it every 2-3K miles. Replaced last week with a factory spicer, 3 of the 4 cups were bone dry and rusted out, apparently grease only was going to the one cup. My final opinion on U joints is that the factory (or other higher end) non-greaseable joint is the best option. I feel the greaseable joints have too poor of a seal to keep water out, apparently regardless of how often they are greased.

FYI

 

I better check mine...I installed a new one over 6 years ago..

 

If you run a lot of miles, get used to getting a rebuild on a regular basis.

I have mine rebuilt/replaced at Pat's Driveline just about every year. I run mainly highway miles and like mentioned earlier, nothing lasts.

I have actually gotten into taking the front shaft out for the summer months and that gains me some mileage to boot.

I usually spend about $400 bucks to have it rebuilt and almost every time, the double cardan gets replaced. The u-joints themselves are not the problem, it's the centering ball in the center. You can't grease them anymore and once they start to go, it's to late.

I did try replacing just the ball at one time. It took awhile to find someone that sold the ball, pulled it all apart and rebuilt it just to have it fail about 2 months later. Once the socket in the center of the cardan goes, it's to late.

Right now, I'm looking at actually clocking the transfer case down to take some of the angle out of the shaft and see if I can get some more mileage out of it or actually replace the shaft with a "normal" u-joint at either end.

Jeff

 

Well... there is a heck of a good idea....Remove the drive shaft during summer..Sure its a pain..But I do most of my long distance traveling in summer...No use wearing it out more for summer driving...

 

Yes it is a pain but at the same for me anyways, I don't need it during the summer. I run a pretty regular highway route for work everyday and I actually gain about 200kms per tank without the shaft in it so in the end, it's worth the hassle.

Jeff

 

If I didn't use the 4wd time to time in the hills, I would pull it to see. I haven't replaced that shaft yet and it has 380,000 km on it. Seems tight to me when I pull on it during services.

 

i ended up at pats driveline. they where willin to sell me the parts. in the end it was only 150 bucks for them to rebuild the shaft for me. worth the money for me. supposably you can grease that cardigan joint with a special attachment, but i havent found one at the hardware store.
i have been told the minium grease scheduale is about 5000km (every engine service). though you need a thick hi temp grease for drive line componets. on the kenworths anyways. you would be suprised how many kinds of grease there is.

 

Pats has always been good to me. Got my Tranny and a xfer case rebuild kit from them for the 97, reground the flywheel etc. Thats pretty good cost to rebuild.

 

[QUOTE=
I usually spend about $400 bucks to have it rebuilt and almost every time,

Jeff[/QUOTE]

Dude , if that is the case you could of bought a free wheel hub kit 3 times over and saved lots in MPG in the mean time.and still be on the origional shaft .
The first thing that goes on my front end be it a axle universal , wheel berring , driveshaft I am pulling the trigger on the kit . The only reason I didn't aleady is I'm hoping they come out with one that has the same track width in the front and I never drive the truck have 50 000 KM on my 02.5 , One may think its a lot of money but add up the unit berrings , driveshaft , axle universals and the cost of labor to keep changing them out , the kit then is very cheap as you will never have to replace these parts.

 

If you are talking 380KM on your 97 , the shaf is still good because it only turns in 4x4 , on an 02.5 it is turning all the time hense it will ware out faster.

 

if your only running your truck every couple of months, have you looked to see if your grease is solidifying? one of my uncles used to put motor oil in the hubs of his trailer before he used it in the spring. he said it loosened the grease up and kept the bearings lubed till the grease worked back into the bearings.

 

Good point. Forgot about the newer ones not having the axle disconnect.