tourrunner

I removed my rear drive shaft yesterday and tried to get the u-joint out with a hammer and socket. Unsuccessful. One of the caps was broken, so I'm sure getting a new one will at least make a difference with my bad vibrations at high speeds. But, because it was broken I wasn't able to drive it through with a hammer.

So, I'm going to pick up a shop press and am wondering if this little 1 ton will do the trick: http://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-a...ress-3552.html

Thanks for the feedback guys!

SCToy

The 12 ton hydraulic press will be a lot more functional for future projects because it can be adjusted to suite large items, long objects etc. That's what I've got, its a little bulky, but worth having.

aztoyman

You can use a vise and sockets to get your u-joints out too. Small socket to push on the cap and larger one that it will go through. Easier than a hammer.

I bought the HF 20 ton press for about $80 on sale. Used it to rebuild my trans and diffs pluss other stuff. Sometimes I max it out to get a bearing to break loose so go bigger if you can.

aztoyman

I tore my trans and t-case apart because of horrible noises. I had new u-joints and my drive line angles were good, even after lifting it. Found nothing wrong. Thats a lot of work.

Ended up being me needing a CV joint put in rear drive shaft after the lift. My trans went from sounding like it was going to come apart to nice and smooth.

bruno4turbo

if you can get the double cardigan (cv u-joint) for your drive lines its better because worrying about your angles it greatly diminished, my buddy did a monster truck lift on his heep wrangler, 66" tires all that stuff. and just did the cv u-joints, didn't have to do a transmission/engine drop to keep his angles.

tourrunner

Figured I wouldn't be able to get away with using the 1 ton press, and didn't want to get a 12 or 20 ton (or higher) because I'm moving in a month and got enough to pack up and transport already.

So, I just brought the drive shaft and half-removed U joint to a local mechanic to press it out and install the new one. Wasn't my first choice, obviously, but considering I'm trying to make it to the job in my 4Runner in a couple hours, probably my best move. $35 for the work...

I'll look into CV joints and potentially using a clamp, but hopefully a press, next time.

We'll see if I'm rolling smoothly here shortly.

tourrunner

Got the drive shaft back in and took 'er for a test drive... LIKE BUTTER! Thanks for all the info/advice guys. It was a simple fix, but empowering nonetheless. Gives me a bit more confidence approaching the tranny when the time comes. Probably sooner than later!