U joint replacement

I have a 08 Tacoma double cab V6. Purchased used from my local Toyota dealer. Thus past weekend I Bagan hearing a squeak coming from under the truck when in reverse. Have checked everything out and it appears my front u joint may be going out. Very slight play in that joint and a line of grease on floor pan above that location. Has anyone here replaced the u joints in their own garage? If so what is the difficulty level? What brand of u joints would be best to buy in the mid level price range? What tools besides a good bench vise and wrenches do I need? Average time to replace one u joint?

 

Hi I replaced all three ujoints in my garage with just a vise a bfh and some assorted sockets. I used moog ujoints, You need some penetrating oil and some sand paper or emery cloth. It took approx. 90 minutes to replace all three. Mark the shaft so you can put it back in the same position. I would tell you the best thing to do is bring the shaft to a automotive machine shop and let them press the new ujoints in for you . Its not that difficult but its a lot easier to have the shop do it...................good luck let us know how you did....

 

@topcathr what size vise did you use? I have one but not sure jaw opening is big enough.

 

So I stopped by Advance auto and picked up a moog u joint, part 354. Then dropped by harbor freight and picked up a ball joint service kit, BAH, a new set of wrenches, and some needle nose pliers. Hopefully I have everything to do this repair tomorrow

 

If your going to drop the driveshaft you may as well do all three u joints... no reason not too, I bought my u joints at oreilly for like 11$ each, they are greasable so I figure as long as i grease them regularly they should last a long time.

As someone mentioned just make sure to mark the driveshaft and yokes at all of the parts that will be separated, after that it is as easy as removing the bolts and dropping the shaft, and popping out old u joints for replacement. I didn't use a vice, just one big socket on the ground, with u joint rested on top and a smaller socket to pound the u joint caps out through the big one. Worked great, took about two hours as it was my first time, could do it again probably in 45 minutes.

 

Oh, and also check your center carrier bearing for excessive play, if it is due for replacement now is a good time.

Also pick up some shop rags as it gets messy, some sort of lubricating oil helps clean things and adds to ease of installation of new u joints.

 

Replace all of it. Do it once

 

Thanks for all the input guys. I would like to replace all of the u joints at once but I have limited free time to do this right now. Also considering this is my first time doing this I wasn't sure how long it would take. Once I get done and see how long it takes me I will plan a day to do the rest. I will already have all the tools needed so I will just need to buy two more u joints

 

change all 3 now...............you will be doing the job again if you don't. If you don't have the time get them press at the machine shop. I give you credit for doing it yourself, but it maybe easier to get them pressed in a 6 inch vise is plenty. Get ujoints you can grease

 

OP. How many miles on the U-joints you are replacing?

 

Well got the front u joint replaced. Basically fell apart in my hand when I took old one out. Took me most of the day as this was my first time doing this. Ran into a small issue when reassembling tge joint. I could not get one of the cups on the new u joint to seat properly. Took it back out and found that there was an extra needle bearing in the bottom of the cup. I took this out and checked to see if it had just fallen away from is original location but all of them were there. After this the cup went on just fine. Test drive around the block. No issues with vibration or noise but still when I back up there is a squeak squeak sound.

 

U joints don't come with extra needle bearings. One fell out and it needs to be in place. Did you grease the others while you were at it? My guess is one of the others is starting to fail too.

 

Either one of the other u joints or your carrier bearing