I have a 99 Quad cab 4WD with the 5.9 and only 70,000 miles on it. The other day i noticed a loud clicking noise from the passenger side at lower speeds and started to investigate. It turns out the u joint has broken on one of the four ends. I now have two questions as follows---- should i try and do this myself ?----meaning can a decent backyard mechanic do this with relative ease in the coarse of a weekend. Two, i have a trip coming up in three days in whitch i will be towing a boat about 200 miles round trip. Wil this give out and cause serious damage? It is all freeway and i noticed the noise goes away when at higher speeds. I thank all of you yhat have posted over the last year or so! You have helped fix minor problems on this truck many times! Please reply and help my through another one!

 

Take a look and see if it's something you want to do yourself. As for me, as much as would like to, I'm gonna go to a shop for mine.

http://pavementsucks.com/tech/hub.php

 

Danamal, if you are a decent backyarder and are comfortable with doing a complete brake job, you can easily do u-joints. Is your truck a 15 or 2500? The 2500 is a little different by having 4 bolts that hold the hub bearing in. Also, you may have to take your rotors off with the hub bearing. I don't know when they change to a removal separate rotor. The pavement sucks how to description is good. Plan on two days and have the new u-joints ready for the job. I got mine at NAPA. Do a search on here about hub bearing and u-joints as well as the article on PS. Also line up the tools needed like a torque wrench to at least 200ft/lbs, a 1 11/16 socket for the axle nut, and vice is handy for the u-joint removal and assembly. The hardest part is getting the hub bearing out and sometimes the clips that hold the u-joints in. The rest is time. I'd say go for it. I'm a backyarder and I didn't find it to be too bad. Have you ever done your brakes on this truck and do your rotors come off without the hub bearing?

 

I did this job on tuesday night, I had all the tools prepared and had the replacement universal joint. I did it in about 2 hours and 45 minutes, and it cost me $15. Just be patient with the removal of the old universal joint, I used a ujoint removal tool from harbor freightthatI got for 30 dollars. Made my life much easier. Jason

 

The truck is a 1500 and i have done the brakes. That was easy. Do i have to remove the axles and if so how do they come out?

 

All the information you need is at the pavement sucks tech section. I did my drivers side u-joint about 2 weeks ago, was kinda a pain but is do able. Unfortunately when I did mine I must have screwed up the inner axle seal because now I have a pretty bad leak out of the axle tube. I am not too sure I want to takle that replacement job though.