Clinking driveshaft- HOW DO I CHANGE THE UJOINTS IN THE KNUCKLE??

Yeah.
My poor little truck has picked up a handful of problems all at once.

Got the crash damage fixed
Replaced the carrier bearing. Was all distorted but didnt fix any symptoms.

About to replace the rear axle bearings (again) did it 4 years ago. Not thrilled about aftermarket parts anymore.
The wop wop noise is definitely the right axle bearing. Got a new set of oem in the kitchen was going to do it this weekend but things are getting busy. Will see.

Now im getting telltale sounds from the driveshaft. The sharp clink when changing direction or downshift a touch rough into first.
I checked yesterday. Threw it in neutral chocked tires and rocked on the shaft and joints. It all felt tight. I was getting a slight squish sound coming out of the hole at the center of the yoke and a touch of movement at the rear slip joint at the diff where it engages the rear shaft section.

Tried to grease it
Mostly appeared from inside the open hole in the yoke..... is it supposed to be open?? I feel like it wasnt previously. No grease came out around the spline tube from the shaft like i think it did previously

I was spooling up to change ujoints but im starting to suspect thats yet more recreational maintenance albeit a good idea. I found oem slip yokes for about 100

Im curious if changing it will fix anything if i dont also replace the rear driveshaft section that it splines into?

Thanks for anything as always

 

Check the splines on the trans output shaft they might be dry.

 

This confuses me.
To the best of my knowledge the bolt flange that protrudes from the trans isnt splined... is it??

Now i Know i have motion in the spline at the back. Probably enough to make said noise.
Biggest question is whether replacing it alone and not the driveshaft section will fix anything....

 

I misspoke, thinking about a different vehicle.

 

Have you checked the ‘lash’ in the rear end..?

 

No.
How might i do this?

When i was feeling up the driveshaft i did notice a fair amount of rotation at the diff input. Dont know what is normal.

 

that wop wop noise maybe coming from the pinion bearing. Lift the truck, take the driveshaft off and spin rear pinion and see how it feels. Wheel bearing can possibly also be shot but that pinion bearing may also be shot. Clicking noise maybe the u joints. Check them with the driveshaft off. Hard to see if they are bad on the truck. Good luck

 

Lol the pinion bearing was my first suspicion as it was very warm when i investigated.

The consensus was no.

When i open the left window i can barely hear the wop
Open the right and its loud. Got wifey to hang her head out and confirmed that its the rear and its loud.

Cant hear or feel anything when i jack it and turn it over by hand. In the beginning of this i put it on jacks and spun it with the motor. No noise. Only under weight.

 

have you inspected the gear oil on the diff?

 

You can ‘ball park’ it… put it in gear, engine off, lift the rear end just ‘til the tires clear the ground, rotate/rock one rear wheel back and forth, manually. This should allow you to ‘feel’ how much ‘play’ is in the rear end and also get a sense of where it might be in the drive train. Some thin index marks, before you lift it, with a paint marker at all the drive train ‘unions’ might also help you find any slop.

Be careful and use cribbing blocks or jack stands under the rear axle, front wheel chocks and leave the jack under the pumpkin… if you’re gonna crawl around under the truck whilst lifted.

ETA: stick a magnet on the rear fender and hang a plumb line through the center of the rear hub, mark its position on the hub edge. I don’t know the factory spec, but I’d say between the axle splines and the planetary gears anything more than less than 1 degree of slop either way would be a sign.

 

So i crawled back under for further investigation
This time I left it in gear

When twisting back and forth on the driveshaft I'm hearing the clank.... from the clutch?!

Clutch operates flawlessly
Replaced it just after buying the truck about 4 years ago.
Dont know if its always made the sound and im just more aware of it recently (dont think so).

My best guess is the damping springs in the clutch disk are weak or broken... have not had any grinding or dragging clutch sensations due to debris though

Makes more sense suddenly. Under more scrutiny I was hearing the noise not when changing direction but when I made a slightly rough downshift. Especially into 1st gear when at a slow roll approaching a stop light and traffic starts going again.
The noise would strike when it bucks a bit (where the damping springs come into play) and puts reverse load on the clutch...

so. Do I worry about it or Suck it Up Buttercup?

Thanks

 

So the crunching noise.
I never did 100% locate it even when i parked the truck between a power pole and our other car and had wifey rock it fwd and reverse. Largely because she couldnt find that sweet spot in the clutch to load the shaft firmly enough.
I had done this in a parkinglot and was able to decide it was the ujoints tho... crunched a second time as i loaded more torque into the shaft.

Fyi all rumbling and wop noises stopped after changing axle bearings (and ruined left axle) looks like its not leaking this time either... thanks to a proper seal driver mostly.

Now.
I have a stack of 4 oem ujoints
Bought a vise
Tried to press the joints with the vise and some sockets like i got pretty good at on a 63 Ford.
Found that all locations that use the hidden clip have sloped castings that will not permit this tactic for disassembly.

Found the circlips inside. Knocked em out and proceeded to knock the rear slip yoke apart but with major struggle induced by 23 years of rust in the press fit.
The zerk knocked a notch in the edge of one of the holes in the yoke. Should be able to clean it up with a dremel.

But the DIABOLICAL KNUCKLE... what on gods green earth is this thing?

The external circlips with the tiny holes rather than oldskool ford style.... are all rusted in place. The holes are all intact but likely not for long. The circlip pliers are probably going to break.
Ive tried "freeze off" oil and butane torch with no benefit.

Once i do get the wretched clips out (hopefully) i dunno how im gonna take the ujoints out of the knuckle. Is there any chance of sliding them back and forth far enough to knock the caps off or does the articulated joint prohibit all of this?

Im suspecting i may need to drill and tap the caps and yank them out with a bolt on a slide hammer.
But is this steel tempered so hard that i wont be able to drill or tap it?

What am i missing here?
Whats yall's secret trick besides eliminating all of this in favor of a one-piece shaft?
Thanks