Well.. as winter has set in I've noticed a few issues with my front axle.

First... there is fluid dripping on both front tires after truck has been sitting for 2 days...I figure this is the axle seals..

Second... metal crunching sound when 4x4 is engagued... figure this is the U jooints on the axle...

Third... very very loose steering and sometimes feels like the control arm is loose or something along those lines...

So... i figure I'm going to do some work and figure it will be cheaper to do it all at once...

axle seals/U joints/ball joints/alignment/fix loose steering

anyone have a clue on a good price with quality parts (no duracrap) and or speacial tools I will need and time frame?

I know there is a DIY for the steering but I really need to know if anyone has done the U-joints and how hard it is.. might just take it to a shop because I also need my drivers door fixed

 

for the axle seals, i imagine you could get it done in about 6 hours or less. it took me a few days because i started late a couple times and got sidetracked a couple times, those fish were calling my name.

the u joints are easy but i'm not sure about rebuilding the double cardon section of the front shaft but i believe there is a DIY on pavementsucks.

 

any speacial tools needed?

 

yea a welder i just got dont doing a set last night. I used my welder to make a 4 foot seal driver works great and now that i have it my next set of seals well take half the time.

 

i used a piece of threaded rod with a washer the size of the new seal on one end and the head of a sledge hammer for the hammer part of my slide hammer on the passenger axle seal.
they say a 1 3/4" socket is the perfect size to drive in the driver side seal.

don't forget that the driver seal doesn't have a stop in the tube so it would be easy to drive it too far. my passenger seal did have a stop in the tube. so just make note of the depth before you pull the old ones out.

other than that, you'll need a dead blow hammer for making sure the carrier is seated good when you re-install it.
and you can either use prybars or a come along to get the carrier out. i lined the hitch on my dads truck up with the differential and put a small chain around the center of the carrier and had him slowly crank the come along while i was under there to catch the carrier.

oh yeah, penetrating fluid, 3/4" breaker bar, cheater bar for the breaker bar, 1 11/16" socket, torque wrench capable of 175 ft. lbs, a couple cotter pins, new diff fluid and rtv, 14mm 12pt. socket that will fit your torque wrench (i couldn't get the top bolt on the hubs with the 1/2-3/8" adapter so i bought a 1/2" drive socket) and the seals. a good scraper (the razor blade type) and some 400 grit sandpaper get the sealing surface nice and clean too.

 

I see... well I've been looking online at parts

going to replace the following

L/R Front axle seals, U-Joints,Upper/Lower ball joints,all steering components including tie-rods, and track bar.

I used rockauto.com and came up with about $750 in parts
Also tried autozone (duracrap) and came up with about $620

I was thinking about doing the Hubs too.. but that's like another $500

is there anything else I should do while I'm working on the front end?

 

polyurethane boots and bushings

 

Timkin hub cost me 190 napa hub was 120 with a discount.