I asked in another thread about a squeaking noise that was coming from under the car.

After (hi-jacking the thread) and getting a few answers - I crawled under the Rover to check a few more things.

I looked around the transmission and noticed a 'wear pattern' on one of the spinning pieces and realized the transmission heat sheild broke off and was hanging JUST ENOUGH to rub on the axle. So, I wiggled the shield a little bit and it fell right off...

Problem fixed?? I don't think so - or not yet at least.

While looking at the shafts - I noticed one of the U Joints was F'ed UP!!!!



SOOOO - I replaced the U Joint (I looked at the other ones and they looked pretty good - but reality is - I do not have the time at this moment to swap them all out.)

After getting the shaft put back together - here is where the problem starts - the above U Joint came from the REAR of the FRONT shaft - so instead of unbolting both sides of the axle - I unbolted the back by the gear box and slid the front out of the front axle.

I cannot slide the front part back into place!



Now - I know I can take the front part off with the U Joint - but is there any one who was able to just 'slide it back in'?

Thanks!

 

You should be replacing both u joints and the centering ball in the double cardan, but it's your truck and your money. If the one u joint looked like that then the other cannot be far behind. You need to mate the two ends of the shaft before you can slide the shaft back in, or take everything off and do it on the ground and then bolt the shaft back on.

 

As was said above if it's not sliding in the slip joint freely and easily it's not right. Hopefully you haven't messed up any of the teflon like coating on the splines. I know all the splines look identical but they're not and there's only one way it'll go back together correctly. My .02 is pull it off replace the other joints and get it mated up correctly.

 

I was thinking of keeping it up on the stands until the weekend when I can go back and replace them.

Actually - I should make it a point to replace ALL the U Joints seeing once you replace one -the others fall right behind.

Like I metioned - timing is the enemy here - and I was hoping to have it up and running by today cause 'I got places to go!!!'

Thanks for the input!

 

x2 keep it on stands and replace all the joints at the same time.

 

x3 lock the CDL and rebuild all the u joints in the mean time and put a new centering ball kit in.

 

Welp - took your advice and CAREFULLY lined up the shaft and it slid right in!!
I will have to order the parts and do a complete rebuild on BOTH of the shafts just to play it safe - besides the bad U Joint - the shafts look pretty decent.

Thanks again for the help!!

 

You dodged a $7000 bullet right there.

 

Amen to that!

 

For the ujoints your gonna need 4 Neapco1-0005 (Advance Auto Parts). Or you can order them from rockauto.com. 4 joints will cover both drive shafts (3 for the front, 1 for the rear).

You can order the ball joint over at rockauto.com as well. Do a part number search of "617", then select PRECISION from the dropdown list. Will return "PRECISION Part # 617 Replacement Ball Kit; Includes Ball, Cup Seal, and Spring
Category: Universal Joint Ball Kit".

You can also get the center ball joint from Advance Auto, they might have it in stock if your lucky.

80 bucks total give or take for the 5 parts.

The center ball joint will be the pita. Rest should be easy for ya, you seem to be somewhat mechanically inclined.