Planning to drop my driveshaft at the transfer case today to check the locknut on the output shaft. After removing the bolts on the flange there seems to be a lot of pressure on the driveshaft. I've taken driveshafts off other vehicles to have u-joints replaced and none of them seemed to be under this much pressure. I'm no great mechanic so my question is..is this normal? Are there any special precautions I should take other than making sure it goes back on in the same position? I need to use the truck this afternoon and just want to make sure I'm not getting in to something I can't get back together. Hope someone can help a rookie out. Thanks.

 

Let us know what type of rig you have. On my 93 4Runner 4WD - After you remove the bolts from the flanges the DS should slide out. You might have to push back on the flange that connects the DS to the Transfter case to push the front of the DS back into the sliding spline. If I'm not right - someone let me know

 

Out of curiosity why are you checking the lock nut? Are you thinking it may be loose?

Reason I'm asking is because I'm having a vibration in my 4Runner I'm thinking it may have to do with the driveshaft, so I'm wondering if this is something I should check too??

 

Sorry..it's a '94 runner. I have a vibration I can't seem to chase down. Really feel it around the shifter (automatic tranny) accelerating or decelerating around 35 to 45 mph. Driving me crazy. Not a tire issue and the u-joints seem to be in good shape. Not really much play anywhere I can find. Read several posts on here that said that locknut (even though it's staked) can back off and cause that problem. I got the flange to seperate OK but it seemed really hard to push back and get it to come off and it rotated a bit. Got it all lined back up but I wasn't sure if there were any extra precautions you should take with this particular vehicle before I went any further. Should you just wedge a chisel or screwdriver between the flanges to push the shaft back enough to drop it, or is that a bad idea? Just didn't want to call a tow truck to pick up my kid this afternoon. haha!

 

It shouldn't be that hard to remove the shaft . Just play around with it and see if you can get it to work its way out. If you can't get it out, bolt it back up and wait for the weekend

 

Thanks..that seems like the best plan of attack. Probably not that difficult, I'll play with it some more when I have more time (and room for error).Thanks for the input.

 

u joints might be seized up a little

 

Its a compression fit flange. Hit with a mini sledge and it should pop right off.

 

You may have too much grease pumped into the splines. Try relieving some of the grease pressure by pushing in the ball on the grease zert.

 

sounds like the same vibration I have.....I have found that my vibration I can feel it through my automatic shifter and it is really bad when the O.D. button is in the off position and it is not quite as bad when the O.D. button is on.I have some slack in my tranny that I can feel when putting in gear and have come to the conclusion that my O.D. planetary gear is going bad or something in the hydraulic t-case.....you can read some of my other post about my issues and maybe it will be of some help

 

thanks for the info about the drive shaft being out of PHASE that should always be checked....as for my grinding/vibration it's coming from my tranny and I'm just babying her until she can't go any longer then I'll get a used one to put in....but just to ask a question I lubed the zerk on the slip yoke and the lube went in to the fitting but it was like filling a bottomless pit I kept pumping lube in there and it didn't back out of any place that I could see and used a whole tube of that stuff just on that zurk alone....any suggestions on where the lube is going?

 

It's going into the space that is suppost to be there to allow slip in the slip yoke. By pumping too much grease in there your slip joint doesn't slip as good as it should and it puts a lot of pressure on the drive shaft. If the grease is fresh enough it can work its way out though the splines, but not before your drive shaft has been hit with a lot of extra stress. I'd remove the zerk and compress the driveshaft to force some out. EDIT: If you really pumped a whole tube of grease in there you might want to remove the slip joint and clean it out. The Taco guys have been known to blow out a plug in the end of the slip yoke (kind of a pressure relief plug), but I've never heard of it happening with the older trucks, maybe the plugs are tighter.

That gets us back to the original question by the OP, the force of that grease hydraulic pressure in the slip yoke makes it hard to remove the drive shaft. The time it happened to me (after 13 years of frequent lubing) I used a come-along to compress the slip yoke enough to get the shaft off.