My buddy has a 98 Ram 1500 4x4 and he comes to me with bad front drive shaft U-joints, so we tackle a rebuild of the whole drive shaft. New U-joints, double cardan centering ball joint, etc, something I've done a few times before on various trucks including my own. We did it together so he could learn. After putting the drive shaft back in it and testing it everything seems fine. But upon cleanup I find the little coil spring sitting on the bench, right next to the old one. "Sh*t" I muttered to myself. He's already taken off at this point. How important is this little spring? I've never left one out before until now. It seems to work fine right now, but I know they wouldn't include a part like that unless it was necessary. I feel like such a moron. Any input guy?

 

i admit that i don't know.
that little bitty spring certainly doesn't hold the drive train together.
anti-rattle maybe?

http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech-article-16.html

 

Not sure, anti-rattle makes some sense. If that's the case I'm sure the life of the ball will be shortened.