So nothing has gone right with my front driveshaft rebuild. First the nuts holding the shaft in were rounded. And now I've really done it. I've spent the past 4 hours disassembling and re-assembling the shaft. I finally hit my stride, got the double cardon together. Got the last cap with the zerk fitting in. I went to screw in the zerk and it felt like it was cross-threading so I pulled it out and cleaned the grease from the hole and what do I find? A needle bearing laying flat in the cap. It's also the middle u-joint which is the hardest to work on.

I'm pretty disgusted. I packed it up in a trash bag to take to the driveline shop tomorrow, but my stepfather convinced me to just sleep it off, go buy another joint tomorrow, and give it another go.

Sorry for the rant, just needed to get it off my chest and maybe some similar stories could help haha. Also any quick solutions besides complete disassembly would be helpful

 

Lol!!

Dude, you're doing just fine! I've done that so many times. I get sooooo pissed and frustrated that I swear I'm never doing anything again. Then after a few beers and staring at the mess I've made I clean up my workbench, clean off the tools and lay everything out for tackling it again in the morning.

You'll be laughing about it in no time. The trials and tribulations if the do it yourself-er make you stronger and a better person. Builds character.

Good job, don't quit, and good luck tomorrow!

 

Too funny, been there done that.... You just learned the first lesson about these piles... some things just need to be done by others... For about $145.00 let a shop do it. They can balance it ...you cant... I took the entire engine out of my truck..... block and all .....without a engine lift .....in my driveway....would i do it again....F$ck no...

Go to the liquor store...You will feel better..

 

Keep working at it. I think everyone Runs in to some sort of problem rebuilding these things. The issue I had was that I could not seat the centering ball so the last joint in the cardan would not align. I wrestled it into place and got everything together. It will be a proud moment for you when you finally tackle it. Good luck.

 

Did you also remember to replace the centering ball as well as all 4 u-joint? If you haven't been greasing them at every oil change the other 2 joints are probably shot also.

 

Just think of it this way, putting it back together will take less time now because you know how to do it . We have all done boneheaded things while working on our rigs and I can tell you now that I'd be lying if I hadn't thought at least once it would just be easier to set the thing on fire.

 

Sure did. PITA to get it out, but went back in fairly easily.