C6H12O6
SILVER Star
So I pulled the rear driveline this afternoon to lube the splines and grease the u-joints. I got the splines cleaned off nicely and re-lubed, but the u-joints didn't seem like they would take any grease ~ nothing swells, nothing oozes, it just won't go in.
One of the joints has what feels like a little flat spot when hand turning it. They don't really have much give, but the one has that feeling like it's rubbing inside the spider bearing. There also appears to be a little rust-colored grease around the spot where the spider and bearing cap come together.
I've read most of the archived posts and FAQs about this, but I find differing info. Some say it is just as easy as pulling the old one and slapping the new one in, and some get all techy, talking about color-coded snap rings and centering the joint in the shaft. Am I ok to just pull the old one and pop in the new one with the supplied clips?
I'm almost considering just throwing the whole thing back together, after I replace the stripped bolt attaching the shaft to the rear diff
. I don't have any vibrations yet. I do have a pretty nasty clunk when I put it in gear... Probably should just replace them both while I have the shaft out.
FWIW, I also noticed that I had virtually dry splines ~ hard white grease dried up at the end under the zirc fitting and a little bit of black grease around the inside of the dust cover, but no grease packed in like I was worried about. Instead, it looks as though this truck has gone 176K miles with no grease.
One of the joints has what feels like a little flat spot when hand turning it. They don't really have much give, but the one has that feeling like it's rubbing inside the spider bearing. There also appears to be a little rust-colored grease around the spot where the spider and bearing cap come together.
I've read most of the archived posts and FAQs about this, but I find differing info. Some say it is just as easy as pulling the old one and slapping the new one in, and some get all techy, talking about color-coded snap rings and centering the joint in the shaft. Am I ok to just pull the old one and pop in the new one with the supplied clips?
I'm almost considering just throwing the whole thing back together, after I replace the stripped bolt attaching the shaft to the rear diff


FWIW, I also noticed that I had virtually dry splines ~ hard white grease dried up at the end under the zirc fitting and a little bit of black grease around the inside of the dust cover, but no grease packed in like I was worried about. Instead, it looks as though this truck has gone 176K miles with no grease.
