Changing oil and found slack in left axel u-joint. I will be replacing both on the front axel. 82k miles on the truck.

Is there anything that I should be aware of or tricks to getting it out. Have searched the forum but did not find anything usefull.

What brand u-joint should I get? I do very little off road 4 wheeling. I want something that will last. It will be a greaseable joint.

 

Have you changed your Ujoints yet? i just rebuilt my entire front end. Up here in Alaska our local drivetrain shop only offered was a AAM replacement. I got 74k very hard miles before right side U joint sheared in half. If you have any questions let me know!! ~jj

 

Precision #464 from rockauto.com. you need a 1 11/16 socket to get axle nut off. use bfh on bolt heads to get the hub bearing assembly off. pull axles out, replace joints and go back together.

 

I did mine at about 80k. You need to blast the steering knuckle with penetrating lube like PB blaster or such, where the hub bearing mounts into the steering knuckle. It more than likely will be siezed up with rust to the knuckle. There is a link somewhere in the forum to the removal of a siezed up hub bearing. Definitely need a BFH and possibly a blowtorch to heat up the knuckle a little. I don't think there is a greasable ujoint offered for these axles, but you might get lucky. I went back in with spicer ujoints.

Wood

 

Not sure the brand but my replacements have nipples.
Getting the bearing out is the hard part. I didn't have a huge pullers but it was big enough to fit on and put pressure on the hub. With the bolts backed out about an 1/8" I put as much pressure as the puller would allow then with a large solid punch hit the bolts. It would work better to have someone in the truck to turn the wheel back and forth so you can work the bolts evenly. it took some beating but I didn't hurt my bolts and got it out. the puller adding the pressure was the key. I used an old kingpin from something as a punch and held it with a vise grips. Good luck, if one is gone they both will be.

 

Ha my truck has 32k miles and my u joints were cracking into pieces, brought it to dodge and they also said my ball joints were severely worn and my wheels were tilting out(explains my bad tire wear) i didnt notice because my mother was driving my truck all winter and i was driving my plow truck. I will def upgrade once my warranty doesnt cover it anymore.

 

precision 464!

 

Be careful not to seperate/damage the unit hubs, they are very expen$ive, like $400 a piece! I just put a dynatrack free spin hub kit on so i was not trying to save the factory hubs, but was surprised how easy you could damage them removing w/ bfh. The power steering press method worked very well for me to get hubs off. Also, if you pull inner axle out to do the u-joints, be very careful not to damage axle seals when you put them back in! Use ant-seize when putting back together and next time it will be a lot easier.

 

Good point on the unit hub bearings. You definitely don't want to separate them unless you are ready to shell out about $250 a piece for them. I managed to get mine out by soaking them down with PB Blaster and pounding them out with an old POS socket as well as using the powersteering and an extra socket extension against the axle shaft collar and the finally came out after some "working".

Wood

 

The best method I found was to use a puller mounted to the lugs and torque it down with an impact wrench. Turn the wheel to the right tap on the bolt on both side. Turn the wheel to the left and do the same. Torque down with the impact wrench again. Do this over and over until it comes free. This is about the safest way to remove these very expensive bearings.

 

I believe Moog has a greaseable u-joint. I just did my ball joints at 90k but my u-joints were in great shape still(weird huh?). And like mentioned above, apply anti-seize so it will be easier next go around.