Is this a bad u-joint? w/pics
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Record Breaker
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,970
Likes: 20
From: Clermont, Florida
Yep, I took a silver Sharpie and marked a line the entire length of the bottom side of the driveshaft from the rear differential all the way down the driveshaft to the tail piece on the transmission. I also marked the location of the bottom bolt and bolt hole in the differential flange so the bolts will all go back where they came from.
Jimmy
Jimmy
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Record Breaker
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,970
Likes: 20
From: Clermont, Florida
Here is an update..
I worked on the u-joints over the last few nights. I put the driveshaft back in on Friday night and buttoned everything up yesterday morning. Went for a test drive and did not even get out of my neighborhood. The truck had a real bad vibration, starting at 25 mph. It was very bad and I knew something was not right so I came back home.
When I put in the new center u-joint it did not turn as easily as the others. I thought maybe that was the problem. I removed the driveshaft again and bought another u-joint at Advance, and swapped it out. I also found that I had a few of the bearing caps between all 3 u-joints that were not quite fully seated so I fixed those and reinstalled the retainer clips. One thing I also found was somehow when I had reinstalled the driveshaft I had gotten the rear differential yoke turned 90 degrees from where it should have been. I don't know how I missed that with all of the reference marks I made but I still made that error anyway. The other thing I believe I did wrong was the first time I put the driveshaft back in I completely tightened down both of the bolts that hold the center support bearing in place and then I had tightened the rear differential bolts. I think that may have put the driveshaft slightly out of line and maybe caused the vibration. The second time around I just snugged the center support bolts down and then bolted the diff yoke in place, made sure the driveshaft was lined up right and went back and tightened the bolts on the support bearing.
I took a short test drive last night and the truck did fine, no more vibrations. I went by Advance and they gave me a refund on the bad u-joint. I went on a real test drive on the turnpike today and got on up to 70-75 mph and the truck did great, smooth as glass and no vibrations or steering problems at all. So the u-joints must have been the cause of the original vibration problem.
I still have a slight wobble in the steering wheel at about 55 to 60 mph and the truck has a very slight brake pulsation type of problem when I slow down to stop so my next possible solution will be new rotors. I think mine are slightly warped. They have about 25,000 miles maybe 30,000. It feels like a slight body roll when I am coming to a stop.
I will keep after this until I get it fixed.
Jimmy
I worked on the u-joints over the last few nights. I put the driveshaft back in on Friday night and buttoned everything up yesterday morning. Went for a test drive and did not even get out of my neighborhood. The truck had a real bad vibration, starting at 25 mph. It was very bad and I knew something was not right so I came back home.
When I put in the new center u-joint it did not turn as easily as the others. I thought maybe that was the problem. I removed the driveshaft again and bought another u-joint at Advance, and swapped it out. I also found that I had a few of the bearing caps between all 3 u-joints that were not quite fully seated so I fixed those and reinstalled the retainer clips. One thing I also found was somehow when I had reinstalled the driveshaft I had gotten the rear differential yoke turned 90 degrees from where it should have been. I don't know how I missed that with all of the reference marks I made but I still made that error anyway. The other thing I believe I did wrong was the first time I put the driveshaft back in I completely tightened down both of the bolts that hold the center support bearing in place and then I had tightened the rear differential bolts. I think that may have put the driveshaft slightly out of line and maybe caused the vibration. The second time around I just snugged the center support bolts down and then bolted the diff yoke in place, made sure the driveshaft was lined up right and went back and tightened the bolts on the support bearing.
I took a short test drive last night and the truck did fine, no more vibrations. I went by Advance and they gave me a refund on the bad u-joint. I went on a real test drive on the turnpike today and got on up to 70-75 mph and the truck did great, smooth as glass and no vibrations or steering problems at all. So the u-joints must have been the cause of the original vibration problem.
I still have a slight wobble in the steering wheel at about 55 to 60 mph and the truck has a very slight brake pulsation type of problem when I slow down to stop so my next possible solution will be new rotors. I think mine are slightly warped. They have about 25,000 miles maybe 30,000. It feels like a slight body roll when I am coming to a stop.
I will keep after this until I get it fixed.
Jimmy
Thread Starter
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Record Breaker
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,970
Likes: 20
From: Clermont, Florida
Here's an update if anyone is interested...I put new front rotors on tonight, took a test drive and the steering wheel wobble at 55-60 mph is completely gone. Everything is doing fine now except tonight I saw one of my bump stops is now gone...I guess that gives me a new project for Saturday.
Jimmy
Jimmy