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How can I check if my carrier bearing or u joints are bad?

57K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  jmadigan 
#1 ·
I did the regrease of the rear driveshaft to get rid of the clunk and now I have a bad vibration at all speeds above 40. I screwed up and didn't mark the shaft so I will be spinning it 180 degress to see if that's it. While I'm under there how do I test if the joints or the carrier bearing is bad? When I pulled the shaft I had to really hit it hard with a mini sledge the whole way to get it out and the same to put it back in. From what I've read this isn't normal and I'm worried that I damaged the carrier or the u joints. Is there an easy way to see if the carrier is shot? Thanks in advance Eric.
 
#2 ·
Pull the drive shaft. I've had four trucks where the u-joints were bad and you can really tell until you drop the shaft. One had about 75k on it and the other 3 around 200k. I went under all four and tried to shift it with my hands while in park and neutral, tapped it with a hammer and all felt solid. I had varying degrees of vibration between certain speeds but in different gears so I kept thinking it was either the output shaft of the trans, drive shaft, or rearend, u-joints everytime. The van I bought last June cam out of FLA, the dealer had it. They put in a new high pressure oil pump, pulled all injectors (replaced 3), all new rotors, went through the electrical system, two new tires and some other stuff trying to fix it. It shook so bad my teeth almost chipped at 55 mph! Got $2600 knocked of off the price. Stopped at the first nappa full service center I found on the way home and had the u-joints replace - drove all the way back to Wisconsin - road like a dream! The u-joints are not hard to replace using a vice and a socket, and even the best ones are a cheep.
 
#3 ·
Also, marking the shaft is a good idea, but the drive shaft is balanced out of the truck and it really shouldn't make a difference what position you put in back in at. My guess is that when you greased the bearings all the junk you pushed out now lets the u-joint warble around... I never had truck with the carrier bearing type shaft but I would replace that as well. depending on where you live (I live in the salt belt) I would spray the u-joints with PB blaster for a few days (even if your driving it) before trying to push them out. they can be a bugger if there's a lot of rust around them.
 
#4 ·
I just did all the u-joints on the rear shaft (two piece with a carrier bearing that was not replaced) after thinking it was my torque converter shuddering under load. Oh what a wonderful difference it made. If you want to have a pleasant experience changing them, use a u-clamp ball joint press. I was taught the 2.5lb hammer method so that's what I use because I'm too cheap to buy the ball joint press. I live in the salt belt as well and they were no match for the maul.
 
#5 ·
LOL - I feel your pain!!!
 
#6 ·
The last one I did myself I had a heck of a time getting the clips out - rusted in half. I then used a vice with a small enough socket to cover just the cap on one side and a larger socket on the other to cover the outside of the yolk, then reverse the process pushing the u-joint back and pushing the other cap off. The last one I had done at Napa, 70 bucks for the joints and 50 bucks to install - oh, and one newspaper that I read while waiting...
 
#7 ·
#8 ·
Hi guys thank you for the responses. I did the grease of the splines at the rear drive shaft and that got rid of the Ford clunk when you take off from a stop. Tonight as it turns out when I finished doing the hubs and the hub reseal I realized that the snap ring on the passenger side hub wasn't in the groove. This is what the vibration was. I guess it was just a huge coincidence that it came out when I did the spline grease. I'm new to this site and I'm super impressed with the how many of you guys are willing to help. I'm going to be on here a lot. Thanks again.
 
#9 ·
hi
i dont have a steady vibration, but you can be going straight and it will just pull to one direction or with a turn it will pull the other way with a vibration as well sometimes ,it does not happen all the time but you are never ready and can happen at any given time wondering if anyone has had these issues i have done all new brakes including brake lines new hubs,steering pump,steering box the front end is all new all new tires you name it ,it is all tight on front end my one thing are the u joints but they feel tight
any ideas suggestions would be appreciated
going a little nuts with this
 
#10 ·
A ford mechanic told me to drive above 50mph to listen for noise in the rear end, when not accelerating.

Jack up your truck and put the rear end on jack stands. Make sure the wheels are high enough above the ground.

Crawl under and wiggle the drive shaft. You can see the bad ujoint if you have one.

With help, have someone sit behind the wheel and start the truck with you standing at the rear. Put it in drive. Listen for any noise. Accelerate the speed and keep listening for noise.

I heard noise in mine with the truck running in drive. It was a growl.

After I replaced the pinion and carrier bearings, I found the rear ujoint was bad. I pulled the driveshaft and had all the ujoints replaced at a driveshaft place. They balanced it too.
 
#11 ·
I had the same problem when i greased my slip joint. It was a pain in the butt to get back on had to beat it on with a hammer. i believe i over greased it but its been fine so far i just noticed it shudders on a take off like i have a full locked rear end. Anybody know if this is normal?
 
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