Hey guys! and Gal's, just recently became a member of the site and just wanna say thanks for all the help and knowledge you guys give. Here is what I have going on, 4 months ago, I hooked my Cummins to a hemi (guy bet me 100$ cash it would "yank my B1tch truck backwards) so I did in 4wd, after some much needed celebration I got into my truck and attempted a burnout, I was still in 4wd.... being stupid hurts real bad sometimes. so after doing that I gave up and upon putting my truck into reverse all I heard was grinding, turns out my truck was stuck in-between 4wd and 2wd, so we beat the linkage back into place, now I get home after all this and blew my transmission lines after driving for 250 miles with my 7k pound 32 foot camper on the back,

^THE STORY^ v THE PROBLEM v

got home and heard it click in 4wd, typical 3/4 ton, ok easy enough U joints? not so easy, as I did my u joints I found an odd joint (new to the dodge truck line) you may no what I'm speaking of but I think Its called a flange yoke assembly,
(http://www.quad4x4.com/qu40803.html ) there's a pic for ya, my friend said to simply pack it with grease and it will be fine, I plow commercially and need my 4wd to not clank, now when I stick my truck in 4wd it will clink and clink, So I went to a dodge dealer, Napa and advanced and I got the same answer, I have to buy a whole new front shaft if in fact that bearing is the issue, I would prefer to not buy a whole new shaft because even at my cost they are over 350,i can buy the rebuild kit but that is still very expensive so here is my question A) is that bearing my issue B) can I just cut the long piece of metal that goes into the slot and not worry about it, is that even needed???
C) do you think its something else making the noise? im new to all of this and need someone's advice and experience, snow storms are on the way!!! thank you for all the help and advice, if you have made it to this point, you have clearly noticed my lack of skill in typing, forgive me