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driveshaft or u-joint?

K

K5dreamer

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so ive got a pretty serious vibration/shake whenever i lock the front hubs after the crash back in february. Im thinking the impact either blew out the u-joint (ive already replaced the rear joints), bent the driveshaft... or possibly damaged the axle shafts.

Just wondering if there was a quick way to check these things to see if they are ok, and how hard they are to swap with hand tools. Obviously pulling a driveshaft is a no brainer, but ive never swapped U-joints, and honestly im just hoping its not a shaft cuz i dont have time for that right now.

Just thinking about it because im driving out to the cabin to dump some stuff at the.. well... dump. and they are calling for another 6-12 inches, and im thinking the 4x4 would be handy to have on call for regular driving. as it is now it works just fine for short distances at very slow speeds, but i have to unlock the hubs to drive at any decent pace, otherwise id shake the body right off the frame.

EDIT - for those that dont recall, the impact was at about 40mph, into a jersey barrier, on the driver front corner of the truck. drove the fender back into the driver door, door dosnt open all the way anymore. also i think it bent the draglink, the steering wheel is 90* off center to go strait. but other than that it drives just fine. never stopped running, and never started leaking fluids.
 
The easiest to check will be the driveline, and it sure sounds like it may be the double cardan portion. First try to move the driveline at the pinion and look for any obvious signs the the joint is worn out. If it is that joint it should be obvious. If it is the double cardan joint above you will most likely need to pull the driveshaft to be sure. The shaft should move around on the joint smoothly. If it kind of locks into places the ball is flat spotted and the double cardan will need to be rebuilt.

As far as changing a joint, it is fairly easy with a hammer, vise, and a socket that is bigger than the joint cap. You tap the shaft down through the center of the vise with the open sides of the joint resting on the vise. This forces the cap up and out, then flip the driveline over and do the other side. Use the socket over the cap so you don't damage the driveline. All of this is after you have removed the locking clips. It is not so easy on the double cardan joint, and I have never done one to tell you the steps on it.

Outside of that you could check the joints in the axles to see if there is any obvious signs of a damaged joint. Have someone rotate the wheel while you watch the joints through the open knuckle and see if you see any movement. These are harder to replace mainly because you have to tear down the entire hub and spindle to remove the axle. Same basic procedure to replace the joint, but you should cushion the axle ear when it is in the vice to prevent damage.

Since it is only when you have the hubs locked in I would bet it is one of these joints, but I have been wrong before. I thought I had a bad joint and found out the splines had stripped in the driveline and were allowing the two sections to rotate independantly.
 
crap.... its never easy... guess ill start by pulling the driveshaft and seeing whats up with that. course i waited a year and till there was snow on the ground again to do this :doah:
 
lectric80 - youre my hero. i never even looked at the CV joint up where it bolts to the transfer case. for the life of me i couldnt find any play in the hubs, or the u-joint where it connects the driveshaft to the axle. but you seemed to feel my symptoms were indicitive of the CV so i checked it out...

of the four bolts that hold the driveshaft flange to the TC, 2 are missing entirely, and 2 are unscrewed about 1/8 of an inch. pulling one the rest of the way out, and heading out to the parts store to get 4 more... and some friggin loctite. anyone know the torque specs on these suckers??
 
don't need the big breaker bar, just get them good & tight. If you're using loc-tite, that'll help anyways. I have only ever used a wrench on them, usually with an extra wrench for alittle more leverage.
 
i love this place. here i thought i had to go start replacing u-joints and crap, all i had to do was install 4 bolts with loctite, just got back from a post-repair test drive. everything is operating good as new. :waytogo:
 
Good to hear!

The same happened to me after my first outing with my Sub. I didn't realize the stock auto hubs didn't unlock, and drove an hour on the freeway with a vibe that was getting worse & worse. Backed up to unlock the hubs, got home, and found 2 bolts missing!

I dug in the sand on top of the t'case skidplate, and what do you know? The bolts were there! I feel quite lucky. A dab of loctite, reinstalled, and no issues since.

Clay
 
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