Some of you may have seen my post from the other day about a Vibration/Shudder in the front end. I couldnt pin point it so off to the dealer it went...They just called a few minutes ago and said they went over the front end and everthing was within tolerance except for the front drivers side u-joint. They said it had play and it was the only thing they could see that was causing the vibration. He said it would be $390 + tax installed.

My question is, has anyone replaced these themselves? Im pretty decent with a wrench, but I dont want to tear the front end apart and realize I cant fix it and pay a tow bill to get it back to the dealer.

Are they hard to change? Any special tools required or will a well equipped shop be sufficient?

Need to know something as quick as possible as they are waiting for an answer from me.

Thanks Guys

 

a table vice would be good. also worse case is you pull the drive shaft off and take it somewhere. the truck is still drivable. and along those lines, you could probably take it off and have another shop do it for around $100??? just a though

brett

edit...is this a drive shaft u-joint or in the front axle? the latter might be more difficult

 

The driver side, axle u-joint.

 

3/36,000 warranty, maybe your over the miles?

 

IM at 40K right now, but a u-joint isnt something that is good one day and bad the next. Its because of Dodges A-HOLE design of sealed u-joint that cause the joint to go bad. Not to mention the fact that the joint probably started to go bad before warranty was out.

 

Do a search for front hub removal. That can be a pain, but if you use the power steering method it is a piece of cake! Just all depends on your mechanical ability. I can do one in less than an hour. Give or take 15 minutes.