I would have put the truck in low range and rocked it back and forth till the thing fell off.

 

Now I've really done it. The original problem still exists, and now I've damaged a piece of the part that connects to the differential because I added some grease to the u-joint during assembly. I guess that u-joint is so well sealed that it grew in length and when I "tapped" it in with one clip installed on the other side the rim that holds the clip failed. Photo attached. (so much for the bigger hammer )

Also a photo of the whole shaft. Can anybody tell who the manufacturer of the shaft is so I can get a new piece (so I don't have to buy a whole shaft.)

Thanks,

 

No way to really tell. You can go to the boneyard and get you an original one maybe and add the ujoints to it.

 

Youy'll never rebuild that cardan insitu on the truck and align the centering bearing. It needs to be bench assembled so you seriously need the remove that flange from the transfer box. Do you have one of these?, a bolster chisel https://www.google.fr/search?q=bolst...m=122&ie=UTF-8 try hammering it between the two flanges at worst you can only damage the tranfer box flange which in any case you will need to remove at some stage to do the seal or the bearing or both. When you finally get them apart and fit a new shaft ensure you assemble the flanges with a light smear of copper grease for the future.

 

Ok, now that the cardan was removed I went back out and used my frustration with breaking the other part to really lay into it. With the cardan removed there was a new surface to hammer on and after literally hundreds of blows, full swing, the thing broke off (note that I'm working on the ground so full-swing isn't exactly what it would be if I had a lift.)

Now at least I can start piecing together a new shaft. Headed to a driveshaft specialist here in Denver tomorrow in a naive hope that I can find that piece. Otherwise it may be a whole new shaft.

To make matters worse... street sweeping is on tuesday so if I don't get a shaft in it we'll be pushing it around the block to avoid a ticket

 

so you can't fit a clip in there anymore? is that what your saying? or you just chipped a little off. If broken you COULD go thise route:


Custom Flanges


You'll need to get it rebalanced if you do.

 

Those guys sell quality parts. I just ordered the flanges, slip yoke, and weld on yoke, all guaranteed not to break for my custom long travel rear shaft I'm making.

 

Dane, That's an excellent link. I'll be giving them a call first thing in the morning.

I was using a hammer to set the u-joint, instead of walking back to my shed to use my vise (lesson learned.) The way that it cracked, the u-joint retainer clip will no longer set properly. I can get it to sit in there, but I'm afraid it will fail.

The engineer in me says buy a new flange and don't risk blowing a shaft. I've already had enough headache with this shaft, I won't be cheaping out on a part I screwed up.

Thanks Dane

 

When I got my truck it had an aftermarket shaft that was seriously stuck on the transfer case flange. I had to beat the **** out of it with a large hammer to get it off.

Honestly, if I were you I'd just buy a new aftermarket shaft and wash my hands of it. I wouldn't take any chances with the front drive shaft.

 

If he gets it balanced he should be fine, imo.