Front Driveshaft U-Joint replacement

I developed a bad vibration at 40 mph recently. The last few days there was an awful knocking under my feet. I pulled the front DS and the vibes and noise wet away. I bought new u-joints, but don't know how to go about replacing them. Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Dan
Tryig to remove the u-joint:

Dent from a rock:

Danny if I were you I would take the drive shaft to a drive line shop or a mechanic shop and have them rebuld the CV and press in a new joint. It will save time and it shouldn't cost more than 100 bucks. You might find someone with a press or that is willing to help but sometimes its nice to let someone else do the dirty work

here you go I love this site tons of info
http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/driveshaft/driveshaft-2.htm

I dropped it off at A1 driveline this morning. they said it has to be re-tubed....all cause of that 1 little dent. If I'm gonna have it retubed I want it to be because of something cool like it sheares in half like Matt's did.
Oh well....
He also said the pin on the transfer case side is likely bad. He's gonna press in the new u-joints for me as well. There was a dark mark where the D/S has been contacting the transfer case skid.... I might have to do some cutting there.

Rich - they had a german shepherd guard dog there at the shop.....He could use a few pointers from Skylar!

Good choice in sending it to the shop. I will only change my own if it is a trail repair now. The fact that the shaft had a dent could mean the vibration was from a bent shaft and replacing the u joints may not have cured the problem. The u joint replacement can be a headache if not done right.

since they are retubing it, make sure they increase the wall thickness of tube.

Not eveyone can be like me danny jk. It was a good idea getting that retubed cause that dent makes the driveshaft very weak.

Hey Danny...

Just curious... was that the source of your "sherman tank" noise squeaking down the trails?

mrjeepy wrote:

Hey Danny...

Just curious... was that the source of your "sherman tank" noise squeaking down the trails?

It must have been something stuck up in the drums. I pressure washed them out real good and the squeaks went away. Freezingaxle syndrome went away too!

The wobbly front ds wreaked havoc on my front pinion seal and its leaking (4 inch round puddle after being parked 9hrs) Thanks to Kat (and Von via phone) I know how to fix that.

I may take your tip on skylar. Also good choice with the DS. For my part i would have gotten rid of the CV(double kardan joint) altogether on it. An ran a standeard drivshaft. I never understood jeep on this one. But it is defienetly not needed on the front. Oh well my .02

I picked up the rebuild this morning. Its nice and shiney now... I guess it will just rust like the stock one. If I tried to paint it or put some kind of coating that would throw it out of balance again, right?

I don't think so. The shop down by me puts a fresh coat on everything they do.

Danny - call me before you change that seal. I found out something we didn't do that we should have done last time.

definately paint er up. won't affect anything except rust prevention!

ya danny paint her up

connordanny wrote:

I picked up the rebuild this morning. Its nice and shiney now... I guess it will just rust like the stock one. If I tried to paint it or put some kind of coating that would throw it out of balance again, right?

I know I am reviving an old post but when I broke my pinion strap bolt I may have banged up the drive shaft. I am having it checked in the morning. My question is how much did this run you to retube it and where you satisfied with A1? I was going wheel'n this weekend so I would like to have this done ASAFP and I looked at new ones and almost crapped myself on the prices. is there a source to find what other years match? I would like to get the one off the 90 XJ 4 door automatic that I got the pinion yoke from if it will match even if it is for a spare.

And does anyone have the #

Retube and Balance normally cost anywhere from 150-200. Thats at my local shop.

That price is about right, but they also pressed in 3 new u-joints and reconditioned the ball on the transfer case end of the driveshaft.
It only took one day.

Thanks for the # and address, Danny. I called them and if I drop it off Friday Morning they will have it back to me in a couple of hours. Looks like I will make it to Rausch this week after all.