U-Joint Replacement Question:

[RBBailey]

OK, the vibes I've been feeling in the driveline on the '89 got noticably worse this week, so I decided that I would have to do something about it. The front U-joint is flopping like a John Kerry campaign promise.

I might be able to get a used one from the locals, however, I have a good one that I pulled from the LWB because the B/W on it is froze up. Now, I understand that there are some balance issues with these drive lines, so if I put the front line from the LWB (if it's even the right length) onto the SWB, will I just be inviting more vibes and more issues shortly? Or would it just be better to just drive the SWB in rear wheel drive 40+ miles per day?

Personally, I'm thinking I might drive it with no front drive shaft till I find a good used one to put on. But I would still have the question of how to deal with balancing the shaft?

 

[mikemeyer0]

OK, the vibes I've been feeling in the driveline on the '89 got noticably worse this week, so I decided that I would have to do something about it. The front U-joint is flopping like a John Kerry campaign promise.

I might be able to get a used one from the locals, however, I have a good one that I pulled from the LWB because the B/W on it is froze up. Now, I understand that there are some balance issues with these drive lines, so if I put the front line from the LWB (if it's even the right length) onto the SWB, will I just be inviting more vibes and more issues shortly? Or would it just be better to just drive the SWB in rear wheel drive 40+ miles per day?

Personally, I'm thinking I might drive it with no front drive shaft till I find a good used one to put on. But I would still have the question of how to deal with balancing the shaft?

why don't you just change the U-Joints...?

 

[RBBailey]

Well, I guess I can. I just didn't list that, but I was thinking it. I've got it in the back of the truck now and I'm going to drive down to the shop to see if they want to trade down, or if they have a u-joint I could stick on the end.

 

[byronAU]

Well, I guess I can. I just didn't list that, but I was thinking it. I've got it in the back of the truck now and I'm going to drive down to the shop to see if they want to trade down, or if they have a u-joint I could stick on the end.

Just change the uni-joints both ends - easy peasy as.......

 

[az_max]

Damn RB, when it rains it pours. I'd throw new u joints on the ends and install it. If you think it's out of balance a machine shop or driveline shop can check it.

 

[azarmadillo]

New Spicer u joints are cheap. Get some new ones.

 

[RBBailey]

Oh, and in the process of pulling the front drive shaft of the SWB, it appears that the BW is frozen up on that one also...

So ya, when it rains it pours.

 

[sven]

Well, the VC should be hard to turn.. It should get harder to turn, the harder you try. So maybe your 89 is fine.

 

[Nomar]

Yeah, you cant really tell if a B/W is "frozen" just by hand...you need two people with bars on each side to check...

And your LWB front shaft is the same as any B/W front shaft.

 

[stevo]

well, don't blame me if you screw up a floor jack doing this, but my easy trick to checking a B/W was to jack up the driver's side front wheel with a decent floor jack with wheels pointed in the direction of the truck. Set the rear parking brake and see if the front wheel trys to turn at idle in gear. If it turns very slowly without the back wheels moving, then its not seized. If it doesn't turn then its probably seized, if it spins freely, then it might be not be working at all - to test take the parking brake off and see if the truck will try to lurch forward with a touch of the throttle, if it does then the VC is still working.

 

[RBBailey]

Well, I didn't notice it on the SWB till I jacked up the front tire to see if I could get movement on the u-joint, to see which one was bad.

On the LWB it was evident while driving, it rumbled on every turn, and even squeaked a tire once or twice in the rain while on corners.

So, I need to test the SWB, but it was hard to tell what was going on with that u-joint so loose anyway.

 

[az_max]

I started my catalytic converter replacement today, and I found this nice tidbit when I crawled under there. Guess I should do more routine maintenace on this thing....

 

[RBBailey]

Wow, I'm surprised you didn't feel it.

I've felt mine going for some time, but it was pretty consistent -- vibes on acceration or at any speed between 30-35 then from 50-65 or so. This last week it was getting pretty bad, and yesterday I actually heard it popping around corners and squeaking on deceleration -- but always the vibes! Very loud and annoying.

Now at least I can drive this truck in comfort till the LWB gets out of surgery. And, it turns out this really is a nice riding truck -- for whomever might be interested in buying it in the next month or so.