Half-shaft installation.

[femurphy77]

I hope everybody is enjoying their first Monday of the New Year!! Personally it is the last day of a four day weekend for me so what better way to spend it than playing with the toys. I am in the process of reinstalling the halfshafts in my '92 while I wait for my new heads to arrive. Just looking under the car it appears that I am going to have to release one end of the "spindle support rod" the one that goes between the diff and the bottom of the knuckle or is there a better/more appropriate way of doing this. FM, Indy

 

[Ken]

According to the manual for my '87, the tie-rod ends must be disconnected, as well as the support rods.

I cannot remember at the moment how I went about it when I had mine out, but then, I attacked it with the idea that everything was coming out anyway.

 

[Rufus1050]

I hope everybody is enjoying their first Monday of the New Year!! Personally it is the last day of a four day weekend for me so what better way to spend it than playing with the toys. I am in the process of reinstalling the halfshafts in my '92 while I wait for my new heads to arrive. Just looking under the car it appears that I am going to have to release one end of the "spindle support rod" the one that goes between the diff and the bottom of the knuckle or is there a better/more appropriate way of doing this. FM, Indy

FM, I replaced mine earlier last year (mine's an 85) and it wasn't too bad. You'll have to separate the tie rod ends and one end of the support rod...make sure you mark that baby so you don't mess up your alignment. Keep a jack under the spring with the weight off...helps manueuvering the shaft as you undo the bolts. You need a really long extension for this job if you don't want to do everything the manual says to remove them. Good luck with the project! Oh, don't forget to have the zerts on the u-joints point towards you so that you can grease them on schedule. If you have a shop do them make it a point to mention this to them and inspect them before you leave...trust me on this, I had to make a return trip to get mine right.

 

[femurphy77]

Thanks guys, I tried just removing one end of the support rod but of course that didn't do any good. I'll crawl back under it this evening and finish it off. I'm finding that this car isn't near as difficult to work on as I figured it would be at first glance. I had to pull the heads due to a bad head gasket and found it easier to work on than my 1/2 ton truck and definitely easier than the dually. Frank, Indy

 

[89z51l98]

I hope they saved a lot of money by not putting zerks on the driveline of these cars... The front joint was pretty dry on mine... the rest won't last a lot longer... Rrrrrrrrr

Oh, don't forget to have the zerts on the u-joints point towards you so that you can grease them on schedule.

 

[Ken]

I prefer to use permanently lubed u-joints (those without the Zerk fittings). It's said that they're a little stronger for harsh environments, such as the drag strip.

It makes sense to me that if there's less metal removed the remainder should be stronger.

 

[89z51l98]

Good point...

I prefer to use permanently lubed u-joints (those without the Zerk fittings). It's said that they're a little stronger for harsh environments, such as the drag strip.

It makes sense to me that if there's less metal removed the remainder should be stronger.

 

[jsinga]

Do a search on u-joint replacement, someone has posted pictures and a good how-to.
If the u-joints have zerks you won't be able to get to them when they are in the car with any grease gun I know of. I think that is a major reason the factory used solid u-joints.
Get good quality solid u-joints and pack them full with synthetic grease when you put them in.
How old are the rear wheel bearings? Loose wheel bearings will contribute to the car wandering especially on rutted roads.
Check the endplay with a dial indicator and see how they are. The shake test isn't good enough to make the call since those bearings aren't cheap!
They are easier to replace when the shafts are out.
Half-shaft u-joints will cure most high speed vibration that you still have after good tires are balanced.
Unless the car is run hard I wouldn't worry about the driveshaft u-joints on automatic cars. Mine were like new when I pulled them out at 200k miles!
The drive shaft is a pain to get out. I had the exhaust off and I had to force it out between the body and C-beam. The manual said to loosen the C-beam.

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