Well fellas I sold the truck. Still have my Red 2nd gen so I'm not going anywhere. I will do my best to not let this one get in such bad shape.

My apologies to anyone who finds this thread in the future hoping for more pictures. If I were to do it all over again I'd probably just replace the tranny and the ujoints rather than gamble on a refurbished od housing..

 

That's one way of fixing it.

 

You were talking about a mystery ticking noise coming from a loose front drive shaft? I'm having a mystery grinding noise coming from my truck when I am at speed and I let off the accelerator. Sounds like a driveshaft spinning right under me. Not positive, could just be hearing the rear shaft spinning? 4x4 seems to work fine.

Would tying down the front shaft to see if the noise goes away be a bad idea?

 

I would be more tempted to remove it...... According to theory, it doesn't spin when not in 4x4, at least, it isn't supposed to, but, apparently, it does indeed.

 

Zip tie it to where it doesn't move and see if the noise goes away.