I need to swap out the U joint in my right side front driveshaft in the next week or so.
Any forseeable problems? I just had the brake rotors replaced, so the hubs should still be "fairly" easily removable...
Is it simply a matter of removing wheel, caliper, anvil, rotor/hub assembly, drive axle, then replacing the U joint? I did my rear driveshaft U joints last week with no problems other than finding the correct ones....(Napa, Crappy Tire, & PartSource all showed them having 3 different U joints...they were all the same)
Pretty much... need a big socket for the axle nut (1-11/16 maybe?). Loosen this with the wheel on the ground (pop the hubcap off, remove the cotter pin, then loosen nut). Raise the wheel, remove it, remove the brake caliper (two 3/8" allen bolts - don't let caliper hang by the brake hose - tie it up to the coil spring with a bungee cord), loosen the four hub bolts on the back side (14mm 12-point socket) a little bit, and tap them with a hammer to "press" the hub off of the knuckle. If they were just done, it should be pretty easy to take off.
Slide the hub/rotor assembly off the knuckle, and off of the axle shaft. If the axle shaft wants to come out with it, so be it - you can just pull/tap it out of the hub once it's removed from the axle housing.
The axle u-joints use external snap rings, as opposed to the internal style you saw on your driveshaft U-joints. They clip around the U-joint cups on the inboard side of the yoke ears. Tap them out with a small, sharp cold chisel or similar. The rest of the procedure is identical to your driveshaft joints.
For re-assembly, torque the four 12-point hub bolts to 125ft.lbs., and the axle nut to 175 ft.lbs.
I did the u-joints on my 99'ram 1500 4x4 not to long ago. One thing I learned is it is not nessary to take the hub apart. You can slide the axle shafts out from the knuckles,axle without the extra uneeded work of taking the hub apart.
The only bolts you need to remove after you take the brake caliper and rotor off are 3 14mm 12pt. bolts on the back of the steering knuckle(they are at 125lb-ft, so they will be tuff to remove. Then you have to work the outer hub bearing race out from the knuckle. I did this to my 99' ram with a dana 44 front axle, yours may be different? I/m not sure.
Yeah - that's what holds the hub to the knuckle. I'm confused by your statement, "it's not necessary to take the hub apart". The hub is a sealed unit - it can't (or at least isn't supposed to) come apart, but it does need to be removed from the knuckle. It was never stated to disassemble the hub - only to remove it from the steering knuckle.
Your right. Someone earlier in the post was talking about removing the
1-11/16" axle nut to take off the hub-bearing assemble from the axle shaft. That is what I was saying doesn't need to be removed, if your just going to replace the u-joint. Sorry if I've been giving you info you already know.
Go to PAVEMENTSUCKS.COM Click on the TECH section near top of page. Then scroll down to DRIVTRAIN section and click on HUB AND AXLE JOINT REPLACEMENT. It has pictures and good step by step how to's.
Okay - now I see. So, you left the hub attached to your stub axle while you changed the U-joint? I guess you could do that... kind of a pain to work with, but it could be done.
Unfortunately, on a 2500/3500 truck, the hub is also pressed into the rotor - so now you have a much bigger hub/rotor assembly hanging on the stub axle, and getting in the way. The axle really should be removed from the hub.
After you remove the brake caliper the rotor should just pull off. At least that is how it is on my truck. Again your right the hub is kinda in the way, it makes cahnging the u-joint a little more difficult.
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