1996 Dodge 4x4 front axle u-joint replace

BarryfromIA

Well-known Member
Any body have experience changing them. They seem to have a cap that has to be pushed out the way they were pushed in or the reverse of assembly. This is a v10 8800 payload like a diesel.
 
They have internal snap rings so you have to
remove them then I stick the yoke in the vice loose
then smack it right behind the caps you don?t want
to hit the driveline and pop the caps out of the yoke
that way I guess that?s what you?re asking
 
I have not found an internal snap ring. Only caps on the outside. What looks like a snap ring is continuous.
 
I'm sure they have snap rings on the inside. There is a groove on the inner edge of each cap. I've done 2nd and 3rd gen 2500's and both had them. They are usually hidden in rust. They may have the caps plastic sealed in the yoke as well, not sure about a 96. Heat the yoke until the plastic bubbles out then the caps push out easier. If you are using a press, be careful, its easy to bend the yoke if its all rusted up. If you can get in there with a zip wheel or angle grinder/cut off wheel I'd just cut the spider out and then push the caps out one at a time.
 
Here?s what your ujoint should look like
cvphoto30242.png

Sometimes they get so much grease and dried dirt
Packed around the snap rings you can?t see the
ends
Ujoint
 
I cut the cross out then push the
caps out. While you are at it replace
both sides, the axle shafts run
constantly. I would replace the
joints with greasable ones and give
them a pump or two at every oil
change
 
I had to cut one out on the 56 hay rake the other
day I didn?t want to remove the shaft from the rake
so I couldn?t get quite enough force on it to get the
one cap out so I chopped it off and drove it through
the other way . I suppose the previous owner could
have used loctite to retain the caps on your axle
shafts another option someone could have
replaced the original shafts with the new style that
you have to heat and melt the retainer out the yokes
have a small hole where the factory inserts the
retaining compound and now amount of cutting and
pressing will get them out without heating it up but I
have never seen that type available for these trucks
.
 
I had a ?96 Diesel, and it only had the snap rings; on the
inside. Just a plain u-joint. No plastic. Changed them myself.
 
I got one completely apart this afternoon and measured. Parts ordered. They have snap rings. But they are badly rusted and I used cutoff wheel to cut apart the center cross then what's left can be removed.
 
Be careful not to drop a bearing in the cap. Also, I lube the axle shaft with grease and install it like sliding a pool cue stick over my knuckle. Hate to see it drip diff. fluid.
 
Here's a story on a dropped roller in a bearing cap. It was night shift in a hydraulic's plant and dinner break the self professed "smartest guy in the plant" was replacing a u joint in a ford front drive shaft using the hammer method and must have had a roller fall over. No amount of his hammering was putting back together and nobody wanted to suggest he was wrong. It was entertaining for the rest of us.
 
I do almost all Of mine by driving them out and in
with a ball pien hammer but you have to be careful
no matter how you do it that a needle doesn?t fall
over a little extra grease helps but you have to be
able to take the grease zerk out so the grease can
expand or you can?t get em together
 
All disassembly done parts ordered and shipped. I had a why do I smell smoke everywhere I go moment and got that put out. Swept the floor and cleaned up.
 
I use a press. Support the outside of one yoke and then push down on the end of the other yoke.
Make sure you have removed any and all snap rings. If you end up with the plastic held in ones it will snap them out of there as you press. I like to install them horizontally in a vice. carefully squeeze the caps in from the outside. No pounding needed helps to keep the rollers where they belong.
 
Pictures can be hard difficult miserable impossible
sometimes to get to post . Did you get the grease-
able type ujoints
cvphoto31246.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 05:29:11 07/28/19) Pictures can be hard difficult miserable impossible
sometimes to get to post . Did you get the grease-
able type ujoints
<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto31246.jpg">


What's the weight of that trailer and what is it?

-Dave
 
570 bushel grain cart for picking up grain from
combines in the field . It weighs about 10,000
pounds is my guess
 
If anyone has a Dodge 4x4 with with the same style of axle as the 96's have and it does not steer right you need to take a serious look at the u joints. Anyway mine drives much better now.
 

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