hey all, been a while. i have a couple questions. first some info. the other day we had a pretty good snowstorm here. was in the country near a friends house, the road were not plowed and was at least a foot and a half deep. ran over something as there was a lot thud and the truck shook pretty good. didnt think anthing of it at the time. on my way home i noticed a bad vibration over 25 mph. took it slow , made it home. the next day while checking under the truck(04 1500 qc 4x4) i noticed my rear driveshaft was dented in near the rear ujoint. almost like someone squeezing a pop can. im guessing this is the source of the vibration. threw it off balance. this is the only visible damage under the truck. i found a junk yard replacement for 1oo bucks, they just wont warrenty the ujoints, no big deal. question is obviousely its not the original.can i just bolt it in and go? is there a way to get it as close to the original so balance wont be too far off? thanks in advance, carl

 

I would take it to get balanced. I think they use some kind of lathe.

 

I wouldn't be afraid to put it in and try it, as long as you don't see any visable damage on it, and the joints seem OK.

 

heres the update. my father and oldest son just brought me the new(used) shaft. looked better than expected and still had the front shaft and rear flange still attached. the ujoints were not as tight as mine either. put next to each other and marked the new one with chalk in relation to the old one. decided to roll the dice and just put it in. not one problem. took the truck for a ride at all different speeds endind up at 65mph. not vibration at all. this was a quick fix to last til spring, did this in the driveway and its only 14 out today.hope this helps anyone else. thanks to all who replied, carl

 

Good deal!

 

Glad to hear you are back up and running

 

I have a 06 Ram 1500. Can anyone tell me the trick to removing the drive shaft so I can put in new ujoints that have zerts.

 

Shouldn't be any real trick TG, mark the drive shaft flange and the differential flange so you can install it the way it came out, (Not really that important just for piece of mind), remove the four bolts from the Diff. flange, get a BFH, preferably soft faced, and smack the drive shaft flange. Some need more persuasion than others, put a catch pan under the transmission tail housing, then pull the drive shaft straight back toward the rear, should come right out, careful it maybe heavy.