Theres a weird clicking coming from my front end today so i looked and the ujoint inside the front hub(coming out of the front axle) has a bushing missing and i can shake it about an inch back and forth. It also has a little puddle of oil under it by the bottom ball joint. Its obviously been doing it for awhile since its rubbed some of the hub down. Is there anything special i should know about this before i tear into it and wheres this oil coming from?

 

The oil is probably from front axle shaft seal gone out. I've had to replace my u-joints and seals also. Is it the driver or passenger side? Regardless of side you'll have to remove wheel, brake caliper and bracket, rotor, hub, and axleshaft. Just so you don't have to size it the hard way like me, your axleshaft nut takes 1 11/16 socket and if I remember right the 3 hub nuts that are the 6 point are 14mm. If it's passenger side, the seal is tricky to replace because of the way it sits in there by the cad unit. The u-joints go in and out just like a regular one on a driveshaft

 

its the drivers side. i hope it didnt rub the bolts on the back of the hub bad enough they go back in... ill hafta look at it again but it looked like the shaft from the ujoint to the axle was solid ? also how much were the ujoints and seals? and how much oil am i leaking. can i drive it for a day or two or should i park it ?

 

I was having a brain fart when I posted that last message. I've had my front axle apart several times so I wasn't thinking straight. You have to pull the diff cover and carrier also to replace the driver side seal because it is actually up against the differential. Dana axles have 'pre-loaded' bearings and are supposed to require a special tool called a differential spreader to remove the carrier, but mine pryed out. If you remove the carrier, DO NOT MIX UP THE LEFT AND RIGHT MAIN CAPS OR THEIR TOP AND BOTTOM. It supposedly makes a big difference. Good news is that the axleshaft will pull through the hub and you don't have to mess with seperating ball joints. If you're still one here in the morning I'll take a quick look at mine to see if I remember anything else significant about doing mine.