Dana 28/35 Hybrid pass. side ujoint replacement

[zapper2003]

Never done a ujoint in my life, and i've heard they can be a biatch. Regardless, this morning doing some light wheeling i heard a pop and low and behold one of the caps on the passengers side outer ujoint had grenaded, so now i've got an ugly ujoint that needs replacement. Are dana 28 and dana 35 ujoints the same? Which one will I need for this axle? Also, being as i've never done one, the way I understand is that I need to remove the nuts from both upper and lower balljoints and get teh entire spindle out of the way so that I can access the ujoint to change it. Is this correct? Do I HAVE to replace that rubber boot between the half-shaft and the stub shaft?

 

[4x4junkie]

The hybrid axle uses the same joints as a D35 or D44.

No, you don't have to remove the balljoints (knuckle), you only need to remove the wheel spindle that's bolted to the knuckle, then the shaft can come out of the hole in the knuckle.

The axle boot does not need replacement unless its cracked or torn.

If you have any future plans to upgrade your chunk to a real D35, I'd probably make the extra effort to get a Spicer 760X u-joint for it and do the full-circle clip mod (get that out of the way while you have the shaft out).

 

[zapper2003]

Is there a c-clip inside the differential on this front axle? Also, is the passengers side axle one-piece or two? I know there's that 'extra' ujoint near the middle of the axle on the passengers side, does the axle have a 'slip joint' right there inside of said boot? Do I have to take that boot apart to get the entire thing off the truck?

 

[4x4junkie]

It comes apart exactly the same as a real D35.

You have to remove the chunk to remove the inner shaft from the pig after you've separated the slip.
The circlip eliminator mod will work just the same on it as well.

 

[zapper2003]

Now that makes no sense to me, lol. All I have experience wise with axles are fluid changes and dis-assembly of the rear axle (more specifically the differential) on my 97 Firebird (GM 7.5) and That is a c-clip axle. Regardless.

To the best of my knowledge and this is me guessing how it works in this ranger front end, in order to get the axles out of the differential carrier, you'd have to remove the c-clips. But In order to remove the c-clips, i'd have to unbolt the entire pig since there isn't any kind of access cover. Am I correct thus far? If i'm not, please correct me. Also, to remove the entire passengers side shaft, It cannot be taken apart whole? You HAVE to take the rubber boot loose at one end and separate the 'slip' as you called it, and then remove both halves separately? How do you get the inner shaft out of the pig?

What I'm thinking is that if i'm having this thing apart, replace both u-joints. However, if its going to be rediculous to get the 'inner' half out, i'm not going to waste the time until it actually goes bad.

 

[4x4junkie]

You partially got it.

Only the inner passengerside shaft is held in the diff with a circlip (AKA E-clip), the rest of the shafts come right out.

Was there any rust inside the caps on the u-joint? If so, I would replace all 3 of them. It's usually only a short time before the next one starts freezing up from rust. Then you can do the circlip eliminator mod at the same time while it's apart, and not have to worry about that internal clip again in the future.

Another option might be to buy the C-frame balljoint/u-joint tool from Harbor Freight and try to get it around the middle joint while it's still on the truck and pop it out that way (I've heard a few people say this is possible to do).

 

[zapper2003]

Alright, that cleared a lot up then. So my front end will use the 276x ujoints? i will probably pick up one of each type (28/35) just because it'd be my luck to get it torn down and have the wrong part, thats usually how it goes for me. Friend of mine has the c-clamp looking balljoint tool, maybe I can get that cat off of him and see if i can fenangle my way into the truck and change that out. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[4x4junkie]

What year is your truck?
'93-'97 (inc. those with hybrid axles) ALL take the larger u-joint (Spicer 5-297X (obsolete) or 5-760X (current replacement part))
Only '83-'89 (and some '90) use the small 5-456X joint.

 

[zapper2003]

Okay, I was just double checking on the part numbers is all. I was way off on my number but it sounded right at the time, lol. My truck is a 95.

 

[zapper2003]

vatozone.com is listing the ujoints as being two different sizes, one being something like 1.188" bearing cap, or 1.063 bearing cap size. I suppose I'll buy one of each and retrurn the one I don't need?

 

[4x4junkie]

1.188"

 

[zapper2003]

Thank you for all of your help