Half Shaft U-joints

[32valvesftw]

I am in the process of replacing the u-joints on my half shafts, one of them developed a little growl and clunk, that progressed to a ting ting, then both. I thought some folks may benefit from my learnings throughout the process. This is really not a difficult job. Oh, based on the way mine looked (91 with 52K miles) I would think most of our cars need this. I would hate to see the damage that results if one of the u-joints breaks in service.
Diagnosis:
You can feel and hear the play and the joint moving, but what surprised me was the amount of play in the rear wheel when the wheel is lifted off the ground. Grab the tire and move it up and down, side to side and at angles if you feel a good deal of play that is probably the u-joint. I had about 1/2" of play. The other wheel has no noticeable play. Now I have an aftermarket 5 link rear so I don't have to worry about bushing so much. If you have a stock rear suspension be careful to check bushings as well. But normally you won't get the higher pitched ting sound if its a bushing, its just a thunk.

So I did some reading here and elsewhere to see what was involved in removing the half shafts and replacing the u-joints. I have replaced a bunch of u-joints in my day, so really my focus was on getting the shaft out of the car. There were a few things that I figured out that I thought I would pass on.

First get both rear wheels securely off the ground via the method of your choice. I did the one jack and 5 jack stands method, the fifth is in case I ned to reposition one of the main jack stands. You need to be able to rotate the rear shafts.

Remove wheels, at least one at first. I like to keep one attached in case.

Spray the U-jpoint retaining bolts and camber rod bolt with penetrating oil

The camber rod will have to be removed at least on the wheel end.

The long extensions mentioned in many of the writes ups should, not in my opinion, be used to break the u-joint retaining bolts free, get under the car and use a 8mm or 5/16" combination wrench and rotate the wheels to bring the u-joint retaining bolts to you. The box end of the wrench helps prevent damaging the bolt head. I would not want to break one, it would complicate the day, and a bunch of extensions on a ratchet is harder to handle and more likely to slip. Use it at will once the bolts are broken free.

Now that all the bolts are removed we just have to remove the half shaft. That takes a bit of messing around, basically I broke it free at the top with a screw driver, then moved it up towards the differential but it will not come out unless the flange on the diff is horizontal and the camber rod is removed.

I used two sockets wit a 1 1/4" and a 7/8" or 13/16" socket and a bench vice to remove the u-joints. They actually came out pretty easily compared to some others. I think thats because of a small rear end leak that helped keep them wet.

Putting the shaft and u-joints back in, one thing to consider, the space is tight where the shaft has to go and it is easy to knock a cap off the u-joint and that is a hassle, so I would use a piece of tape to hole the joint together and remove the tape once its in place.

I am using coated u-joints but the more I think of it its probably not necessary if you use a bit of anti seize on the straps and cups of an un-coated joint. Now the issue of Spicer vs Moog or Lakewood, or whatever. I bought spiders from Dynamites recommended source Denny's driveshafts. Fast and easy, but the impatient New Yorker in me was very close to buying a locally sourced inferior u-joint. If I was pushing stock HP I probably would have done that, also I drive spiritedly at times. If you are not hard on the car the other brands are probably fine.

Tighten the retaining bolt with the little 8mm combo wrench and you have little chance of over torquing.

Re-attach the camber rod and you are good to go.