U Joint(s)?

[militarydave]

so i finally replaced my fuel pump (took the bed off, got a good looksee at the bed.... i'm SO GLAD its a CA TRUCK! haha....

anywho, but the bed back on, but i noticed that maybe its time for the u-joints to be replaced.

now, when i'm shifting.... whether it be from first gear to second or third or whatever... i hear a loud CLANK noise when i shift.

its not the clutch or tranny.... sounds to me like the u-joints finally are giving out and every shift the loud "clank" or "bang" sound happens. i drove around at night with a buddy on the bed and said it sounds like the metal is hitting each other (u-joint against yoke?)

anyone else have this problem..... or similar?

i may just replace them for the hell of it

thanks,

-dave

 

[IMenriched]

so i finally replaced my fuel pump (took the bed off, got a good looksee at the bed.... i'm SO GLAD its a CA TRUCK! haha....

anywho, but the bed back on, but i noticed that maybe its time for the u-joints to be replaced.

now, when i'm shifting.... whether it be from first gear to second or third or whatever... i hear a loud CLANK noise when i shift.

its not the clutch or tranny.... sounds to me like the u-joints finally are giving out and every shift the loud "clank" or "bang" sound happens. i drove around at night with a buddy on the bed and said it sounds like the metal is hitting each other (u-joint against yoke?)

anyone else have this problem..... or similar?

i may just replace them for the hell of it

thanks,

-dave

dave

you should be able to leave it in park(engine off) and side under there and grab the drive shaft and give it atwist and get a clue as to what is making the clunking

 

[gw33gp]

I think it would be better to set the parking brake and leave it in neutral with the engine off. This would make sure the drive-shaft is not binded under load which could give a false diagnosis when checking for play in the u-joints.

 

[frankserrano]

DEFINITELY sounds like the universals are bad. i had the exact same problem about a month ago. does it rattle at all when you're crusing?

 

[BlackBII]

Just crawl under there and give the driveshaft a rigourous shake. If the u-joints move and rattle, they'll need replacing.

 

[militarydave]

yep.... rattle like crazy. i'll check them tonight with the shifter in neutral and parking brake on (engine off)...

now, which ones are better, the ones with the grease fittings on them that are re-greaseable - or the ones without it?

there's maybe $2 price difference.

 

[IMenriched]

yep.... rattle like crazy. i'll check them tonight with the shifter in neutral and parking brake on (engine off)...

now, which ones are better, the ones with the grease fittings on them that are re-greaseable - or the ones without it?

there's maybe $2 price difference.

My personal preference is the one that can be greased

 

[frankserrano]

when i did mine, just recently, i got the duralast gold one from autozone. it's got the grease fittings and a lifetime warranty, think i paid $15.

 

[AllanD]

Sounds more like a clanking slip joint to me, but MY method of identifying a questionable U-joint is to take a drive at highway speed and pull into a rest area then immediatly crawl under the truck to see of any one U-joint is warmer
than any of the others.

AD

 

[militarydave]

interesting.... so it would be warmer from the tips where the retainer clips are?