I had a bad u-joint in my front axle driveshaft. When i took the CV apart, i noticed the little ball that goes between the 2 u-joints was really dry, as in without grease. Well i went to my local Car Quest to get a u-joint and that ball thing. Turns out car quest doesn't have it, and they called dodge to get one and dodge will only sell the whole front driveshaft to get it. Doesn't that sound crazy? I'd put the old one back in, but when i seperated it, half the needle bearings went everywhere, mostly into the dirt. The guy at car quest said they didn't carry it probably because my truck is too new. It's 3 years old! There are alot newer trucks than that! Anyway, does anybody have a source for these since i seem to have hit a dead end here. Surely they have to be available somewhere. I'm also running without the front driveshaft for now. Will this cause me any problems?

I'm not alone anymore.

http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62873

I'm just going to get rid of the headache alltogether and get a high angle driveshaft to replace it.

I ran front-driveshaftless about a year ago chasing down a vibration, did it for about a week with no problems.
Have had mine off now for a couple days and about 400 miles, no problems.

From everything I've read, replacement stock driveshaft and it's parts are a Dodge only item.


phox

Dodge is really starting to anger me. They won't sell me just the little part, they'll only sell me the entire driveshaft. Another thing, I had to replace a carrier bearing in a 00 V-10 a month ago, and i had to buy it from them because DC hadn't realeased it to the aftermarket yet. $168.00. I'm going back tomorrow to Car Quest. These guys have lots of souces, i was there late today, so all the east-coast places were closed. Maybe they'll have some good news for me tomorrow.

You might be dealing with the 2002 confusion.

2002 1500's are the 3rd gen body style with the American Axles.

2002 2500's and 3500's are the 2nd gen body style with the Dana axles.

Might want to tell them it's a 2001, just to avoid problems.

I'm guessing your's, like mine, is a late model 2002, without the axle disconnect, so the driveshaft turns all the time, leading to more wear and tear on the Ujoints and CV joint.
Don't know if Dodge went to a different design for the front driveshaft when they got rid of the CAD? or if this is the root of the problem, part time driveshaft suddenly becoming full time when not designed for it.


phox

Yeah it's a late 02. I seriously thought about telling them it was an 01, but like you, i'm not sure if they changed the design. I may tell them to look for an 01 and see what they come up with. I know the u-joints didn't change from 00-02 because I looked it up in their book. I just can't belive that DC won't sell driveshaft parts seperately instead of as the whole unit.

The front shaft CV parts are not DC only items.........they are factory Spicer parts that can be obtained from any Dana/Spicer dealer or reputable driveline shop.

My carquest guy got a part # from somebody, probably spicer. Not sure if it's right or not, it won't be here till Monday. DC was definately no help. Woudn't even give the part # for the part.

I ended up going to a CV rear driveshaft to eliminate a driveline vibration, went through 2 stock u-joints in 10k miles after the lift. Not DC fault, but for $600 complete I shouldn't have to deal with this again! I went with www.highangledriveline.com they're fairly close and good rep with 4x4 and crawlers.
**NO AFFILIATIONS, JUST SATISFIED**

The parts are replaceable, I just called the Dana shop in spokane for Phox, the parts are replaceable, real spicer parts are less then $70 for the flange and carrier, P# 211913X. I am not sure if the 01' differs from the rest but that is my replacement (90% sure)

Originally posted by high country
I am not sure if the 01' differs from the rest but that is my replacement (90% sure)

I'd bet money they are the same, and therein lies the problem.
They weren't made to be turning all the time, as they do in the 2002.5's.

Probably something like 30% duty life, average joe user putting it in 4x4 a couple times a winter,
not hard core offroader like some of us.


phox

Well I can tell you that it's the same part for all '02s. I asked him to check if there were more than one part # for the 02, and he said there was only 1 number. My guy found a part # for the actual bearing/sphere thing that goes in the CV joint. Said it would be around $30. I really really hope it's the right one.

It's a shame the manual hub conversion costs more than an axle. That would be the way to go if it was a few hundred dollars.

once you get it replaced, GREASE IT! there is a drive zerk fitting in there you can grease to save the 2 bearings.

Got the part today and it was correct. Car Quest part # 7-0081NG