I have been getting some bad vibration from the driveline while going 60-70 mph, especially when decelerating down a hill. I recently replaced the u-joints in the rear end and that helped for a while but now its gotten worse and seems to be coming from the front.

Replacing the rear u-joints was a breeze but I'm wondering how easy the front drive shaft is to remove. Has anyone done this repair that could let me know how hard it is, and how difficult or easy it is to remove the front drive shaft?

I would take a look underneath myself but its been raining here lately so and I'm waiting until this weekend when i dries up a little bit so I don't have to wade through a puddle to get under my truck.

Any tips or tricks I should know about?

Thanks in advance.

 

pretty straight forward with removal. just not sure about removing the ujoints as I have never done them in the front

 

If they're standard single cardan joints like you have on the rear shaft, they should all be the same to change. Have a good look at them & see if they're the same & if you have adequate room to take the shaft off and put it back on. If you did the rear and have to both the tools and experience to do that, you should be able to do the same on the front. If you're unsure of the overall assembly details, I would recommend downloading a service manual and have a look at the section that contains the front shaft - that'll give you the description and pics that you may need.

 

Ya they are similar joints to the rear shaft. Replacing the joints themselves is not really a concern of mine. I was mainly worried about how the shaft actually gets removed and if there is ample clearance to remove without dropping the front axle.

I will take a look at the manual but if anyone has any experience with this that would be helpful.

 

yes there is. just drop the transfer case side first. and the driveshaft has a slip join in it so you can make it smaller

 

joint by the t-case is a cv joint and i have yet to find a auto parts store where they carry the parts to rebuild, i have a 96 dak 4x4 ext cab with a 318 and i just got one from a junkyard, parts stores its about 300 new with a 100 core or you can probably have one made for about 200. if it was me i would go with the custom built with a regular u joint so when it fails again you can replace them. also removal is really easy just unbolt it and feed it out.

 

Rockauto has them.