Here was my day, and what a guy from a driveline shop showed me.

I was changing the joints in my front axle, way fun. Broke my vice trying to get the things out using the tried and true socket method. Called a friend who worked for a driveline shop and he dropped by, showed me the slickest thing. They open a vice wide enough so the driveshaft falls into it, and the unit is supported by the outside bearing caps of the joint. You then take a standard claw hammer and hit the yoke in the middle, ie, between the opening for theu joint cap, and the connectionto thedriveshaft tube. Give it 2-3 good strikes, andthe downforce of the hammer blow to the yoke will push the shaft down, but with the outside caps being the support, it will drive the upper cap out of the shaft. Flip it over and do the other side. Hadthe joints out of theintermediate shaft in4 minutes flat...way slick.

I questioned him (as I'm sure others on here will) the method prior to using it because I was afraid I would damage the yoke. He assured me the shop he works in has done it for 10 years and never had a yoke failure, and they do fleet maint. so it should have come up if it was an issue. They always used a claw hammer because the smaller head allowed a more precision strike, and although they've never tried it, thought that the force of a sledge might be too much.

Since I had broken my vice, I took 2 pieces of 2x4, layed them on edge about 3" apart, and used them for my vice "jaws". all you really need are two items, same height, to rest the outter bearing caps on, no clamping required.

 

Thanks for the tip. I have some bricks floating around somewhere.

 

The shop I got to do mine put them in a vice and used a press but you could probably figure something else out.

 

Could somebody double check me on this: I need 2 ujoints (no CB), the Spicer Life model is SP-5-790X for a 2001 1500 2wd. Is that what you all found?