Thanks for the contribution to the thread, it helped bring things into perspective.

After installing the first set of snap rings, I put a pair of old caps on the Ujoint and lay them across the vice the same way you removed the previous caps (essentially seating the snap rings onto the ears to loosen up any pinching/binding) obviously this won't work when installing the yoke in which case I just take my time and tap and try to install the snap ring, lightly tap and try to fit again until it seats! I also put a little grease in the new caps so in case the cap falls the needles stay in the cap... (It's rare the new caps meet the floor! I mean I've never done it once🙄.... Been a looooooot more than only once 😂) You also don't want to make them puke with grease (same goes with rod ends too!), grease puking out the seal means the seal is now compromised, moisture and dirt will gladly take place of where the grease is, including but not limited to inside as well! When a part has a zerk, it's there for you to put a little grease in through out time, most people just gob it in and never grease them again! (Kind of defeats the purpose 🤷) An arbor press can be found cheap used, they are a beautiful thing! (Ball joint/Ujoint presses "aka BF C-clamps easily bend in the ears ESPECIALLY when using an impact.... But the tool sucks without using an impact so of course we impact! 😂) Lastly, WTF was GM thinking with the idiotic nylon crap? (Although living in MN, on second thought, maybe it's not that bad! 🤣)

Thank you!

Wow, you two are a bunch of butchers. Here is an idea. Go and learn how to change uni joints properly. Damn !

This is why pros like you are watching how to change them?

@@TonyTheTruckGuy never said I was a pro, however back then, I worked for a leading tailshaft manufacturer and in my time there I probably changed in excess of 100 uni's a week. I stand by my comment. Bunch of back yard hacks!

@@aussiebogan6978 Haters gonna hate. Done plenty this way.

@Tsunauticus III No thanks. Swatting flies with a sledge hammer not my thing.

thanks for the tips

Ok good I was hoping just a regular torch would work.

I've been sitting on it with a torch for an hour now. Nothing. So I'm not sure if a propane will work. Next step is map gas. Then find someone with a real torch.

@@Jim-A-Randy-Lahey I've never had a problem with propane. Mapp is no hotter unless added oxygen. Hold the propane about a 1"" out from the hole in one spot where the plastic will come out and hold it there for about 5mins. , when it reaches right temp it pull push right out. After the initial squirt, start moving the torch from side to side a little to spread the heated area to make sure you got it all. Do both sides, then knock the U-Joint loose with a hammer and drift.

U right sr👍👍👍👍👍

I went there in 1963. Marion Hardman was our instructor. Have used what I learned there ever since.

@@davidtyndall9604 I was there 30 years later. By that time (I have no idea how it was in '63) the dealerships would sign up for individual classes for good technicians that they wanted to improve for specific categories: the Automatic Transmission Diagnosis and Repair class was a different class and had a different instructor than the Manual Transmission D&R class. I'm pretty good and the dealership where I was sent me there for many classes. Dot Huff, a black woman, was the AT instructor and the best "Transmission Man" I have ever seen. She could test drive a Celebrity Station Wagon with any problem, with that nightmare-ish 440T4 transmission in it, and tell you which part was causing the problem, right down to the smallest roll pin that fell out of the valve body! When I wanted to move 400 miles to another city, I went there on vacation and went into the local Buick store and asked the S-M there if he needed any technicians, specifically an AT man since I was specialized in Automatics and quite good at it too. (I was told by the SM where I was working that I had the lowest comeback ratio in the nation. I had none since I was doing it there, but I'm sure there were a few others too.) He said no, he had plenty of guys and wasn't looking. I showed him the paper that listed the training classes I had taken at the Atlanta facility, 30 or more of them, and without looking up from the paper he was still reading he held out his hand and said... *"When can you start."*

@@ladamyre1 My story is a little different. I was late 17s or early 18s, every time I went looking for a job the first question I was asked was whether of not I had my military obligation our of the way or not. Vietnam was going on at that time. I went to a parts house that sold United Delco parts and tried to get a job, same question. I saw a letter on the wall informing all shops that sold United Delco parts that GM was offering classed. The manager told me to go down and tell them that I worked for them. I got to attend 5 one week classes for free. I then joined the Army and my MOS scores were the highest (of my test scores) in mechanics. "Go figure". I was sent to "Wheel Vehicle School" at Fort Dicks NJ and then to "Track Vehicle School" at Ft. Binning, Ga. Funny thing is that at the time I only lived about 5 miles from the GM Training center and after I got married I wound up about 5 blocks from the school. The school has been closed down for more than 10 years, perhaps longer.

@@davidtyndall9604 Great story David! Looks like it saved your life! I tell my story in the hope some young guy with a knack for machinery, and that's a lot of them, will get the idea to get a job changing oil filters at a dealership, show them he's smart by doing a good job, and get sent to the schools that are run by the guys who *designed the stuff!* I started as a tire busting front end man. I had read a lot of Hot Rod magazines too and thought I knew a lot about cars, but it was a rude awakening to see how poor a Hot Rod magazine education really is.

@@ladamyre1 You probably read the ones I had left over. LOL. I started helping my dad work on his old cars when I was about ten years old. I learned my fractions from playing with his wrenches. Metric, whats metric?

Glad I could help!

Personally I don't like greaseless ANYTHING (bearings or U-joints or anything else for that matter) but I'm a farmer and I've replaced SO many bearings and U-joints and other such stuff over the years that greaseless=worthless IMHO. Engineers *love* greaseless but they obviously have never been to the field with stuff and seen how it works out... stuff running in the dirt and moisture NEED greasing to push out contaminants... We had a Caldwell hipper (row disk) as well as a Ford tandem disk on the farm that came from the factory with sealed bearings. Those things gave nothing but trouble. They were okay back in the 70's and early 80's when the QUALITY of the bearings and seals was MUCH better than the garbage Chinese bearings which is all you can get anymore, but over time they wear, the seals wear and then dirt starts working in under them in the field, and moisture wicks in through the seal in the off-season when the machine is sitting. Rust and dirt destroy bearings from the inside. If you can grease them before you start working with it and regularly like every day before going to the field, you can flush out contaminants before they work themselves too deep into the bearings and get into the moving parts. The grease ring coming out from under the seal provides a sealant for the wear between seal and race as well. When the job is done and the machine is going to be set off for the off season, make sure it's greased stem to stern as well, as the grease will displace air and moisture in the bearings, make sure everything is thoroughly coated with grease internally to seal it off from air and moisture that causes rust or corrosion, and again the grease pooching out from under the seal will cap it off from moisture intrusion. The hipper used a pair of sealed square bore flat outer race bearings pressed into an angled cast iron housing which set the angle of the disk blades on either side, with a short square axle going through the cast iron spacers, blades, bearings, and bumper washer on one end and cast iron spacer/nut lock retainer on the inside. The inner races of the bearings were a bit wider than the outer races, to leave a gap between the outer races that sat up against a raised lip in the center of the housing which kept the outer races spaced properly and provided the thrust carrying member between the bearings and housing. This left a roughly half-inch gap between the outer races of the bearings when sitting in the housing, which was just an air gap with the sealed bearings. The outer seals were directly exposed to the elements and on an angled disk gang, running right down an inch or two above the dirt and with dirt boiling up between the disk blades when working, were constantly bathed in dirt spilling over, particularly since they were only about 2 inches below the dirt scrapers cleaning off the inside of the blades. So OF COURSE they didn't last. The original 70's bearings did okay for a few years then as they aged it was "have to replace at least 1-2 sets per year as a blade pair would lock up." I didn't have a shop press at the farm so I removed the housings which were held on by two bolts to the standards, and took them to the dealer and had them press in new bearings. By the end of the 80's the stupid junk Chinese bearings with such LOW quality and poor seals meant I was having to replace 3-4 sets per season at least and sometimes I'd have a set pressed in and had them lock up within a few hours of operation. I figured even with cheap Chinese junk bearings they should last longer than that and went into the shop and watched the shop guys install them one day--- the numb-nut wrench bender the tractor dealer hired was pressing the bearings into the bore by the INNER race, which you NEVER do, because it can dent the balls or crack/chip the raceways inside the bearing and cause it to destroy itself. Bearings should always be pressed into a BORE with a suitable-sized press tool that bears on the OUTER race to push it in the hole; bearings pressed onto a SHAFT should always be pressed on against the INNER race for the same reason. NEVER the other way around! He griped they didn't have press tool, so I went to an oilfield supply house and bought a gas well rot line coupler that fit the outer bearing race and bore perfectly with adequate clearance and welded a 3/4 steel plate on one end for the press arbor to push against, and took the tool with me and made sure they used it. Got a little more life out of the bearings after that, but the crummy seals would still wear fast and allow dirt and moisture in and I could never get more than 2 seasons out of a set of bearings at most. After an episode where some punk kid the dealership hired refused to use the press tool and got the bearing cock-eyed in the bore and kept pressing until the bearing exploded like a hand grenade, and ruined the housing, I made the dealer give me a new set of bearings and new housing for free, and I went to Horrible Freight and bought me a cheap press and started doing them myself. I figured I'd try and experiment to make the bearings "greasable" and so I drilled a hole in the back of the housing straight through the center annulus that holds the outer races apart, threaded it and installed a zerk. Of course the inner sealed bearing seals have to go so that the grease pumped into the housing between the two bearings can actually get into the ball bearings, so I popped one side of each bearing seal off with a screwdriver before installing them. Imagine my surprise when I popped the seals off the new bearings and found that the factory basically assembles them DRY and then deposits one little pea-sized or so dab of a clear, cheap lithium grease on the inner race beside the cage before installing the seal. I mean it's less grease than the amount of toothpaste you'd tell a small kid to use on their toothbrush to keep them from wasting it! 90% of the time it wasn't even close to the raceway or balls of the bearings, just inside the seal under the cage, which means the bearing has to get hot enough for the grease to run before it would ever get into the raceway grooves and start actually lubricating the bearings. Any hope of that dab of grease being able to prevent corrosion or lubricate the seals and help seal off any gaps as the seals wear is totally hopeless. THAT is why the bearings were failing SO much! Once I installed the bearings and pumped the gap between them full of grease through the zerk which filled the annulus cavity between the bearings in the housing with grease (the bearings sealed to each other as the inner races are clamped together by the axle holding the blades and spacers on against the bearing inner races themselves) the grease had nowhere to go but to flood the raceways and force the air out under the seals, until the bearing was full of grease and grease starts to emerge from under the seal lips. Now running submerged in grease, and periodically greased daily when in the field and at the end of the season before storage, the bearings would then typically last at least 3-4 seasons, easily doubling the life of the bearings or more... til the actual thrust wear or load cracking of the raceways or balls would destroy the bearing. Contamination failure and lack of lubrication failure went to NOTHING. Now, not EVERY bearing can be replaced by a greasable or be made greasable. Hay balers for instance usually have a TON of sealed bearings, often in special housings or inside roller ends or other things that prevent replacing them with a greasable bearing or installing a grease zerk to be able to grease them. But I'm sure every single sealed bearing has the same stupid dibble of low-quality cheap grease put in them totally insufficient for the job at hand, particularly in dusty, dirty, high load conditions exposed to moisture and grit or running down in the dirt. For those I get a grease needle and pump them full of grease before I ever install them, so at least they start off with a full dose of grease which will coat everything inside and at least prevent moisture intrusion and corrosion to the extent possible, and which will lube the seals and help them seal off from moisture and grit working in under the seals. Some are positioned where you can't even get a grease needle to them after they're installed, so it's a "one and done" type thing; you just do the best you can. But at least they start off full of grease instead of having a pea-sized dibble of cheap low quality grease dabbed inside the seal before its pressed on and being otherwise dry. Fortunately the tandem disk used standard 3-hole flangettes so I replaced those sealed spherical-outer-race bearings with standard greasable bearings with 3 hole greasable flangettes. MUCH better!

​@@lukestrawwalkerTL;DR They are not "grease less" they just aren't "greaseable". You're also not supposed to make them "puke" (this applies to all parts with a zerk!). If the insides are coming out, what's to stop the outsides going in!

A press is preferred, but this method works if you don’t have one. Just be very careful not to hit the actual drive shaft tube with a hammer or pinch it in the vise too hard otherwise you can get driveshaft vibrations

Mine also had metal clips on the inside

😂

I have always just hammered around the top and base of the ears and they even out and get the joint smooth. I think that's why some people like the hammer in method better because reduced chance of ear bending.

Thank you!

Thanks!

Why did you comment 3 separate times? Are you special in the head? Yeah, they make tools for it that most people don’t have. This is a DIY video for people with limited tools. Some hundreds of u joints and never messed up a shaft, just need to be careful.

If it’s got this style u-joint.

That’s what I’ve been trying to tell people but the keyboard warriors know it all 😂 Don’t get me wrong, there were mistakes made here, but that was not one of them.

@@TonyTheTruckGuy wasn't insulting you,, I've learned alot from your vedios Tony , I just cut a driveshaft last night, had to do both ends going from 700r4 to ford 8-3/4 inch rear,,different diameter ujoints, just glad I caught it,,,outer clips on ford had to drive through with socket,,,but on the melt outs I just hit housing with hammer lightly and they poped right out,,but I looked you up to see how to install new and how they replaced the plastic intural clip,I thought they probably did metal clip inside and you proved me right,,Thanks

Oh no, I knew you weren’t insulting. Other people just like to.

Thank you, you as well!

They can’t be reused once the caps are heated or pressed out

I would inspect the u joints ahead of time. If they have the plastic pins like this, you will need a heat source. You don’t exactly need a full blown torch like this, but it helps. You can just buy a tank of MAP gas (yellow tank) at your local hardware store and that should get it hot enough, it will just take longer.

A propane torch is my preference. I did this on my S-10, it worked fine. A good heat gun will work also but takes more time. Acetylene torch a bit over kill. As soon as you get to the right temp, that plastic will squirt right out.

If the fluid level is correct I don’t think you should have an issue. Otherwise you’ll have to just put a drain pan under it to catch whatever drips and top off fluid when you’re done. Or you can try jacking up the rear of the vehicle to keep fluid from coming out the rear of the trans.

But I'd need to grow a 3rd arm to clamp the vise while I'm holding the shaft and all these washers 😋

@@TonyTheTruckGuy Lots of ways to hold the washers, hex nuts or even a socket in place while closing the jaws of a vise. Tape, bubble gum a dab of grease just got to have been raised on a farm back in the 50's and 60's where always having the right tool was never a thing.

@@TonyTheTruckGuylp

I always have a jar of peanut butter in garage. It’s a good temporary glue. Also good for holding screws on your screwdriver when it’s a tight fit. Then you get to lick your tools haha!

few people know when you hammer them you break the plastic washer in the inside. they shatter into pieces. I discovered this when I had to take one out after installing it.

You may also use a c-clamp or ball joint press instead of hammering.

I would imagine the shaft has a slip yoke that you can compress to shorten it and get it out of place.

@@TonyTheTruckGuy I got it. U joint caps were seized onto place so it wouldn't let me compress it. Since I was replacing it anyway since front diff mounts were shot..I used a flat hair hammer broke free.. 😌

@@jesusfavela3434 Good ‘ol air hammer coming in clutch lol

We just left it in there. The new clips go on the inside of the yoke so those grooves with the plastic in them are basically useless. You could probably scrape it out with a screwdriver or a pick if you really wanted to.

I used a torch, heated it up and then it came out with a flat head screwdriver.

It comes out easily with a scribe or other appropriate pick tool.

😂 helps to throw in a little humor especially when things are being a pain

Any bad u-joint can cause a vibration assuming the shaft that said u-joint is on spins while going down the road. On say a Ford that locks the hubs out, I’m pretty sure the front drive shaft stays still when in 2wd and hubs locked out. Yours probably spins, though.

@@TonyTheTruckGuy I think it does I have auto transfer case too

@@TonyTheTruckGuy feels like whole steering wheel is shaking drv shaft moves alot side to side too

What size sockets?

Very grateful for the video best one I found . I did my rear one last year it didn't go the best. Thanks for the help.

😂😂

Man I just did 2 of them yesterday and was using a propane torch to heat them and sure enough that damn thing exploded about 2feet in front of my face and scared the shit out of me. I though my torch blew up

2 of my caps exploded when removing. Fortunately I had read your comment before doing the job and was prepared. Also, I put the bearing caps in the freezer, worked like a charm! Thanks for the info.

I am doing same way on old parts as put it backs … so I should be fine no clips on bracket with bolts side

@@vicentegonzales3852 As long as there’s clips on the inside of the yoke ears and clips are fully seated. Also the joints should move freely as I show in the video as to not pinch the yoke ears in a vise or with hammer

exactly my point thank you

I'm not sure. Never encountered this style before, so I let the other guy do the work. Normally you could do it that way, I'm just not sure how tough this plastic crap is.

Go to car-part.com and search by year/make/model. It will search basically the entire country and you can sort by distance 👍

There’s 23 pages worth of engines if it’s the 4.9 L haha

Not positive to be honest, but it could very well be the Valvoline Cobalt.

The grooves in the yoke ears are not far enough to the outside to use outer c clip style. You’ll need the kind I used most likely.

Can't see it from his house.

Wut

I’ve learned the hard way.. vise to tight on a hollow shaft can dent or bend it. The solids also can get bent if you beat it too hard. I use a ball joint press usually

@@extremerc76 Guess what. My drive shaft is aluminum. LOL

This guys works on shop and do a wrong job.... U NEVER use hamer on U joint... Cause = damege ur driveline

Chalk the wheels and put transmission in neutral then grab the drive shaft and rock it back and forth. If you don’t see any play in the u-joints (twist motion) then I wouldn’t worry. It’s pretty common for these trucks to slam into reverse haha.

@@TonyTheTruckGuy i tried twisting pushing pulling on both..nothing on the rear however the front i can twist it some and it rotates but not via bad u joints

@@billmessner8052 If there’s no weird noises or vibrations while going down the road then I probably wouldn’t worry about it. Might just be axle pinion play.

@@TonyTheTruckGuy so far no noises or vibration

I replaced the rear output shaft seal and did a transfer case fluid drain and refill. While i had the rear driveshaft out i checked the u joints. Both move freely with no noise or binding. I sanded the outer part of the slip yoke too. I no longer have a ''clunk'' from P or D to R in 4wd...it's still there in 2wd though. I think it's the front slip yoke or driveshaft

Yeah, it’s sketchy and impressive at the same time 😂

No need, sanded the rust out of the yoke holes then greased the u-joint after installation 👍

Sorry I can’t remember exactly it’s been a while. I just got them at my local o’reilly based on my year/make/model. Maybe there’s a glimpse of the box in the video with the part number on it

@@TonyTheTruckGuy it’s all good thank you tho. Lol I did pause it when you glanced over them I didn’t see a pn.

Just did this yesterday and I used anti-sieze for all caps

Most likely. It’s a good option with no torch.

Not my shop lol.

@Tony The Truck Guy well, definitely look into one. It's just easier, you knocked it out tho. Good job.

@@cheelinville125 I personally have one just not with me haha

Usually. I can’t say always because I’m not sure, but mine didn’t have any clips.

@@TonyTheTruckGuy I'm going to guess thats what the white plastic goop was for, doesn't need both.

@@freakindawgen Yeah that’s what I’m thinking. Idk what was ever wrong with regular clips like every other u-joint 🤣

I'm not sure exactly, but this truck was an '01 and a lot of new Rams are still using them! Junk.

Were you able to move the u joints freely or were they binding? It could be something in the rear end or even an unbalanced tire too, so the issue has to be pinpointed a bit more

Check your carrier bearing it may need replacing

@@joesickler9450 mine don't have a carrier bearing

@@anthonyyoung7344 mabe a knot on one of your tires or tire has a ballencer on wheel in wrong place

Like you’re trying to put the shaft back in but the u joint doesn’t line up with yoke? You should be able to chalk the wheels and put the truck in neutral, then spin the drive shaft so it lines up with the yoke at the axle.

Tony The Truck Guy thats what I figured i just wanted to confirm before i mess something up

Haha, never a bad idea. But just to be sure, the drive shaft didn’t have a slip yoke on it did it? Some drive shafts are a 2 piece and are splined, so if it gets pulled apart, it should go back the same way otherwise may cause driveline vibrations. Otherwise if it’s just like the shaft in this video where it just slips into the transmission, you can just do what I said before.

Tony The Truck Guy Mines a 2 piece 🤦🏻‍♂️

What year, make, model of truck?

I got this new portable press that looks similar to a ball joint press and it works pretty bomb for changing u-joints. That way I can avoid the vise and hammer all together.

You can TRY a normal propane torch but I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t get hot enough. I would at least try the kind in the yellow cans, it burns a bit hotter than propane.

You can use MAP gas instead of Propane. It burns much hotter. You can get it at any hardware store.

That’s it, the yellow tanks are the MAP gas.

It works with propane but it takes a while, about 5 min. To get first cap. Only a couple min. For the rest. Map gas is 3x more expensive

Propane will work fine and that's an acetylene cutting torch, not a blow torch but a actual blow torch would probably work also. A good heat gun will work, just takes a little longer.