- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 3,931
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- 1,859
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- 113
- Location
- Macon/Fort Valley, GA
- Vehicle Year
- 1999
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Type
- V8
- Transmission
- Automatic
- 2WD / 4WD
- 4WD
LOL! Just went through this myself. Twice. On the same dreiveshaft.I found the cause of the clicking/grinding noise….. CB boot has left the chat. About 3 millimeters of up and down play in the joint now. Any suggestions for brand of joint? I know dorman makes one but I haven’t had the best luck with them lately.View attachment 108810
Did some studying prior to purchasing the first joint. It doesn't seem to matter what brand you use, they are all basically the same joint in a different package. Consenses seems to be that Dorman is the "best" but not so much better to demand twice the price of the off brands sold througheBay and Amazon.
First time around I was replacing because the driveshaft was out for engine swap and it had a torn boot. Only way I found to get a replacement boot for these was to order a complete joint. Ordered that one off eBay, was delivered and everything appeared to be good quality. In about 200 miles of driving the joint was toast, but I'd have to say it wasn;t the joint's fault. It appeared that the bolts weren;t tight enough to keep the joint sealed, as the grease got hot it slung all of it out between the boot and the joint body. No joint is going to last long when it runs dry at 70 miles per hour.
Second one I bought was from Amazon. Just cleaned the old-new grease off the bottom of the truck yesterday, reinstalled the shaft, it and drove it a bit to hopefully get it to settle in more. Will retorque the bolts tomorrow and hopefully be good to go.
Lessons I can pass on...
1) Make sure you get your bolts installed tight when reinstalling the driveshaft. Also recheck them after driving a bit.
2) Make sure the boot is resting in the groove on the driveshaft. Dad installed the second joint on the shaft and had the boot pulled all the way up to the shoulder, looked right, but would have torn it in short order.
3) Align the boot with the joint before you tighten down the clamp. That's how I've heard about several people tearing the boots during instrallation.