Great job keeping it real! "Not a fancy recording studio."

Definitely heard the snap, your experience is definitely a gift for diagnostics.

In late 70s had a job in an extention of a transmission shop where they rebuilt driveshafts for large cars that had 4 joints in he shaft with ball joint in between 2 joints. We would disassemble worn, used universal joints and they had machinery for fixing bad ball joint couplings. I had extra job position of going through stacks of shafts and ' checking ' by hand the feel of joints whether they were still usable or not. The opposite end of the fence - back in those days i had a friend who once dropped the shaft on his 57 ford and wrapped it temporarily with black tape when he lost all the bearings. The kook took a liking to this and decided to always use black tape instead of needle bearings. He was weird, his nickname was Dork.

noticed you took time to mark rear flange placement but no marking of individual driveshaft parts. its balanced as a unit i always mark each part to reinstall the way it was balanced

You have become my 'Go-to' KZfaq Channel. I just love your work ethics and the experience you have amassed over your work life; money cannot buy that. I hope that your YT channel goes from strength to strength, you deserve it. I don't want your videos to become 'Hollywood' quality movie productions, it is great as it is. But the odd GoPro wouldn't go amiss!

I would have a inspection of springs one may be broken! Excellent vids

Inspector/Professor Kenny 🕵️🎓 Cheers ☕

Love the ball joint press. Using it next time 😊 thanks

It's probably the weight that was on the truck when it was on the ground so when you take the weight off it might not be able to notice second guessing can really get frustrating I know I've done it to

That's a great tip for avoiding those roller bearings from falling out of place. Thanks! Glad you repaired your problem.

I agree, the orientation of the rear flange should not matter. Unless both surfaces have a rust profile you want to maintain. For instance if theres pitting or bumps and you mount it 90 or 180 off, now it has runout because one of those bumps can cause the flange to not sit flat. Marking all the yokes prior to dissasembly is very important however. When your using that balljoint press to push the caps back in you want to do it by hand with a wrench NOT the pistol. If one of the cups gets cocked in there and doesnt go in perfectly straight it'll bind and let you know to STOP. The reason the movement is tight after servicing is because the caps are bottomed out on the cross and the friction fit of the caps/bores cause them to stay in that loaded position. If you drive any of those caps outward i.e. with a hammer or tiger tool it creates freeplay and becomes very easy to move. This freeplay must be measured and maintained at .002" Too much axial play and obviously it will shake around. Too little and its bound up and will vibrate. It is impossible to replicate the exact same position the ujoints were in when it was built and balanced by the factory. These things are as precise as a swiss watch and those weights are typically between 3 and 14 grams. Id highly recommend to NEVER operate on a driveshaft unless you can prove its absolutely necessary.

Nicely done, once again. I happen to like MOOG parts, their entire line of automotive parts. They have had a terrific reputation for making excellent parts for years. If I have the choice between MOOG or some other brand I will opt for MOOG every time, regardless of pricing. I have never had a problem with MOOG parts. Precision U-Joints may be fine, even better. But, not better enough for me to not use MOOG if they are available. heh heh. Did anyone get that I like MOOG parts? heh heh...

Fire up the parts canon (Just kidding). I am happy for you that the simple thing fixed it and didn't cause you ptsd.

It almost looks like chatter marks on the U joint journals or was that just grease my first job was at a machine shop as a machinist and I made and repaired a lot of driveshafts it was common to see U joints that looked good at first glance but had chatter marks on the journals the other common thing was pulling them apart and one needle laying in the bottom of the cap those ball joint tools are the best I just have a cheap one now but if I broke it would replace it immediately. By the way Kenny no need to keep apologizing for the quality of your videos it’s great always amazed at how great you get the angles to show what you are explaining two thumbs up 👍🏻 👍🏻

Thank s!!

Once both clips are in place, I usually take a brass punch and tap the clip that is sticking out to get it to sit flat to start with and try to make sure that the cap isn't shifted past the snap ring groove. Then after everything is assembled I check for binding and tap as you do to get everything freed up. Great video on this and I have heard that "Snap" before as well and wasn't sure about the u-joints, especially if they have been done by someone else. Nothing worse than disassembling the caps only to find the one needle that fell over and was pressed into oblivion in a bench vise or hammered in and now is just metal flake.

On my old (84?) Chevy I was hammering away trying get u- joints out and my baby Brother came by for something and told me they were original. i don't remember if I took out clips or not but he said GM put some pooky in where the caps go and I had take a propane torch and heat them up. There was a little hole on the carrier part. Got propane torch started heating and this orange plastic/ rubber stuff started oozing out that little hole til it stopped coming out. Did both sides and u- joint came out with punch and one hammer strike . All caps. You probly remember that. My brother probly saved a drive shaft. This was late 90s..

Very smart advice Kenny! I always go with the first instinct when diagnosing something. Hope that U-joint stays quiet for you!

That snap sounded just like my 69 Plymouth Sports Fury's leaf spring before it broke in half.

I have an 04 dodge 1500 , no issue yet on the u joint but I will reference this video when the problem arise , thanks for sharing 🙏🏾

Test drives are essential. I will be visiting my my local dealer five times for the same issue. I finally insisted the tech take a short ride with me to actually hear the problem. IF the car was test driven on the first visit, it would be repaired in one shot. If this was not a warranty issue, I would go somewhere else. Flat rate does not trump safety. The time savings for the tech is monumental. My time and patience is worth something as well. I learn something from your videos every time.

Thanks for the video, good information.☮️✌️

Kenny Good job. When you showed the rear u joint cross I saw the needle wear marks and thought there it is. Had the same thing years ago when had my shop and drove nuts. Sometimes a little wear is a lot. Keep it up I learn something from you every time I watch your videos 👍👍

Thank You for sharing your time and knowledge with us! Much Love and Hugs

U-joint, wheel bearing, carrier bearing? Thanks for your video. Good knowledge shared. Thanks.

Thanks for the video Kenny. Just did the 2 piece drive shaft with 3 u-joints on my 63 impala. I used my air hammer to drive the u joints out and back in. Little barbaric but it worked.

If the noise comes back, try pulling the driveline and greasing up the slip yolk splines with GM Lubriplate or a similar heavy white grease. Fixed dozens of similar complaints by doing this in my dealer days, even after a new slip yolk was installed. (sound familiar?)

I was always told if someone who knows what they are talking about is teaching you then listen . So here I am listening , watching and leaning . Really enjoying your content . Thank you .

Kenny that is amazing, the old ones looked great, If I would have made a bet, I would have lost.

Occam's Razor - usually the simplest solution is the best solution.

Your videos are the best on KZfaq

As usual, your videos are informative and easy to understand. In mechanics, most likely, if you are a decent mechanic, you can solve most jobs tickets that are put in your tray. Then, here comes the weird one that has you scratching your head......... just don't over think it and the solution will work itself out.

I chased an intermittent high pitched violin type sound for several years. Finally found that when the local, highly respected driveline shop changed a u-joint for me, they dropped a needle. They went on to force the joint together and ultimately bent the flange. Three years later I bought a tool large enough to do them myself and found the carnage. Even with a new UJ the joint was very tight. They had bent the ears at the flange end so a $70 factory flange free'd everything up like it should be. I've also seen ears slightly bent from people who put their vehicle in drive without coming to a full stop in reverse.

I use my ball joint press on every u-joint.

The early 2000 Dodge transmissions had the loss of pressure or prime on the torque convertor, or like the trans guy said about the filters from what I remember? Great job, Kenny.

My Dads 75 Chevy k20 had a loose spline on the trans output shaft that made that slapping noise.

Would be interesting to mic the joint ends, or use calipers to check for out of round. Also, remove the needle bearings, clean the cups and inspect for damage inside of them. I've already seen the damage on the shaft and but I've never looked inside the needle bearing caps. Great info. 👍

Worked at a farm equipment dealership for a bit. Definitely would have liked to have a ball joint press for this job! One thing I learned there are the names of each part of the joint. -The whole assembly is the U-Joint. -The part with the cups is called the 'Cross'. (I also called it U-Joint.) -The other two parts are 'Yokes'.

I've been replacing everything with Moog all my life. Do it once n done and never an issue again... I'm 68 now

I replaced U-joints on my old van, making sure they had grease fittings, and then got a lube and told them I just put on new you joints with fittings and I wanted those greased also. When they told me it was ready I asked them if they got the U-joints too, and they said No, they didn't have to because they were new and had grease. Man, they just don't get it. They are not filled with grease when new, but only have a little bit of grease in them. It's like I always had to fight these lube places to be sure they greased the U-joints when I took it in for a chassis lube, and one day I was at the transfer station on the scale next to their building and I hear a squeak. I wondered if it was a dry U-joint so I took it to the shop that was nearby and they looked at it and said it was a dry joint, but wouldn't put any grease in it. They said it would already be bad anyway. Well I shouldn't have listened to them even though I lived only a few blocks away. The police shut down the road to my house and I had to drive many miles in the city to get home about 2 hours later and by then it was no longer a squeak, it was a horrible sound that was so loud that traffic was honking at me. Long story short, both U-joints were completely destroyed. It's like every shop I took that van to tried to kill it and I did all I could to keep it alive. I still drive it and it's 32 years old now. What does it take to get U-joints greased? I finally figured it out. I do it myself. I have so many stories of shops that won't do what you tell them to and it cost me a lot of money.

I had a squeak on the rear of my bike (motorcycle). I only noticed it at night and only at some speeds (about 10 mph or slower). I would hear "squeak....squeak". I took it to the mechanic for my brand of motorcycle and told him I thought it was the bearings. He said "Your bearings are fine." I took it to another mechanic, "Your bearings are fine." This went in for a while. Multiple visits. Each time, "Your bearings are fine " Finally I went back to the official mechanic and told him to change the bearings even if they are good. He changed the bearings, no more squeak. This same thing happened with my other bike.

From first sound of the snapping noise, I would say it was the U-joints, but when you took it apart and didn’t see any damage or weird wearing, it looked like that is not the problem, but when you installed the new joints and it fixed the snapping noise, it came back to bad u-joints. This job was kind of a roller coaster. Glad it had a happy ending. 👍

I had a customer with a problem similar to that. Changed the u joints pinion gear and nut. Changed the drums and brakes. It turned out to be an internal separate tire. It took me 3 months to find it. It would click sometimes. Long story.

I'm guessing one of those cups had a needle missing....🤔😳😏😏🇬🇧

nice vid on changing u joints and ck rear end . but you forgot the other end. the splined tube in the trans. i have had several with the same noise and r & r 'd the drive line to find joints ok but the splines on the output shaft ( in trans) and input to drive shaft worn . the slop in the spline going from one side to the other makes the noise. just like in a 2 piece drive line. just the fact you removed and reinstalled ( maybe same spot maybe not ) reset the wear spot so is quiet for now.

I just learned an easy way to change u-joints, and I always mark the position of my driveshaft it just saves me from doing it twice 😊

You need to use a round wire brush on the inside of those u-joint cup mounting holes.

Ken, you saw the brinelling on one spider, there's your dinner. OK? Someone let one of'em run dry. Maybe it was dry from mfr, and the installer didn't grease it. You said they had been replaced, so a previous owner had a dry bearing, and it probably squeaked so somebody greased it, but the damage was already done. ben/ michigan

Someone at the factory put marbles in the drive shaft.

My 04 ram had the recall performed. I need to do u-joints on it as well. I had a issue of my truck not reving over 2500rpm at on time too haha

I use the ball joint press to do u-joints too. Way easier than beating them out on the vise. Still gotta tap them back to get the caps loose and moving freely.

Nice video you said the joints were dry and you greased them it may have caused an issue with the needles becoming out of round or wearing into the cups and the witness marks on the bearing surface so whilst it looked good to the naked eye you would probably have to degrease the whole thing and re assemble them to feel any difference by hand . Also with the reverse issue with fluid leaking down you waited for it to pump up but it’s possible the previous owner didn’t and just shifted into reverse and maybe increased rpm until it clunked into reverse when the pressure built up causing the witness marks on the surface

Hi the grease type u/joints are good especialy when you need to grease them up sir more power nice videos stay safe keep wrenching.....

u-joints if never been greased before you got the truck they could have been already flat spotted seizing up. then you put grease into them looks good. nice video .

After seeing the cups and joint Kenny I was betting against it being a u joint you proved me wrong. I always learn something from watching your videos keep up the great job you do.

I use a chisel to Knick surfaces for permanent identification,with the drive train it’s called phasing.

The Air compressor did not matter.. ** Wow never thought about using the ball joint press. Great Idea you made it look easy. I've used the 20 ton press for years. Keep up the great work.

You are right about the trans filter there are 2 one looks like a oil filter. My 05 ram slt did the same thing. Had to let it idle befor you could move the truck

Brake pads also do that click also

Hi Kenny. Dave from down under. If you look at the centrepiece of the uni mainly where the needle rollers bearings run if you run your finger nail around the bearing face you will feel and see the damage. I hope this may be a help. Cheers Wally. Looking forward to a reply.

Your camera work is exceptional ie. super close up shots... thank you for that... I'm old and the eyes need all the help they can get .... I do love learning stuff and seeing it up close and personal really helps.......... ps. .... take that white marker (paint) and put a tiny dab on your phone adjacent to your camera lens on one of the ends of your phone of course and it will give you something to look at when talking to the camera which in turn will make it to where you are looking at us or you if you're watching you during editing......... hope this helps with your sub count Kenny..... I've done the same thing on my phone which by the way is a fantastic camera... I do music video's and.... well ... here's a link to one where I play along with Rush .... have a good one sir ... kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a9h0d5aVyrKwmmw.html

I love the guys that have never done one and one needle bearing pops out and ruined the new u-joint.

It's hard to believe that new u-joints fixed it. And if the u-joint is not centered there will be a vibration.

No need to do a U turn on those U joints! Great video!

i have had a few cars with similar sound it was brake pads against calipers i shimmed the play out and the clicking stopped

There are 2 different types of u joints for these 3rd gen rams fyi everyone!!!

Nice easy fix , they did have a tad of wear. If it comes back , try lube on the slip yoke splines ..

If you have Mrs. Kenny drive the truck when you're underneath it make sure you don't have any life insurance, just sayin'. I think it was a good idea to change those u-joints after I saw the marks on the cross piece. Keep the good stuff coming buddy.

Sometimes them needles can become flat.

Cool use of the ball joint tool. Out of curiosity, non-greaseable vs greaseable joints?

I've found brake pads or shoes do that snapping noise

Possibly snapping the actual needle bearing. With all the grease and grime I doubt you would see any one of them broken.

I broke a yoke using a Hammer and socket thanks for sharing this. I'm from upstate New York. I would like to know where you are from. And what Christler dealer ship you worked at I'm a mopar guy I have been for ever.

Now I can. Probably user error on my part

Can the snap in the rear brakes shoe's

got a super dumb question for ya: got oil filter shipped to me and one of the crown/crimp/roundy points around the top was slightly dented so that it goes inward instead of round/outward, and paint was slightly dulled there as if rubbing on packaging, as is slight paint /lettering off on top as if rubbing/vibration in shipping or whatnot. I could see the paint was cracked at that dent so i picked at it by finger nail and chipped some paint off, but see no crack. But filter mfr's strongly urge ppl to toss any dented filters and i wonder if u agree, i assume u do? Back in the day i wouldnt have worried much about this, but now that cars are hard to come by, i am not wanting to make catastrophic mistakes w/ my car engine! But anyway this filter is kinda small seemingly, for a 3.5l honda engine, and bcuz those grip/crown points are round and thus a strong shape, the fact that it was dented enough to make it go 'round' the other way, the wrong direction, means it really flexed, and that maybe is a lot of stress, so i will not use it, unless u say otherwise. Filter mfr's say that the problem w/ dents is that it's hard to estimate when they might fail due to the normal pulsating aspect of the flowing oil, which pulsates due to theh oil pump pulsing factor/nature/system. It was a very beefy top dog model filter by Purolator, so i thought maybe i could get away w/ the tiny dent which i barely saw at first, even thought maybe it was intentionally designed that way but of course not.

Put Mo in the back of the bed while you shift and accelerate so you can pin down the source. Safer first try.

Stuck caliper opening up?

I heard the snap. Something is loose. Could it be happening when going from reverse to drive, or vice-versa?

How long have you been wrenching?

W|hat do you mean it is what it is? All that is needed is one tap or two with a hammer and socket to even out the clips nice and flat. Your dead blow hammer trick is interesting though.

"This Thing has a recall"? You did mention it is a Dodge Ram. Would you please share what year "this thing " is? Most people who do videos explain at the start make, model, year and milage. You do not need to do that but it would be nice to know what you are working on.

If you would of wiped the grease off of the joints they were worse than you thought it don't take much wear to make that noise !

Who else was cringing wondering if that garage door was open enough.....

🧑‍🔧Love how messy that workbench is and how dusty all the junk🪚is scattered all over it like it's been that way for years.🤔Any flat surface in the shop is just a nice parking spot for random whatsits, rendering valuable work space unusable.🤦It will just continue to grow like a mountain.⛰️ 👀 You should take an apprentice under your wing🪽and give em a broom🧹they could even help you with recording.🧑‍🏫👍

Most of Mechanic, will not spending time and theorial like you, they will replace the whole shafts with U joins and yoke either with rebuild or OEM then charged the customer. Most US repair franchise does not equipped with tools or skills to do the jobs correctly and accuracy except the service advisor who make money with cheap parts with no quality from China!

2500 RPM! You think you're a race car driver or something?!

Drive shaft does not need to go back thd same way and you have not seen an unbalance happen because if this - it was something else (if it really happened). You guys are always marking stuff that doesn't need to be marked.

How come I can’t thumbs up the video?

very bad sound

Moog or precision are the only u-joint. Tie rod or balljoint cheap china junk doesn't last and are dangerous