I had one of my rear u-joints go bad on my truck so I decided to replace both u-joints on the rear driveshaft while I was at it. Guess these are the orignal ones (90,000) miles because the caps will not budge!!! Changed plenty of u-joints before so I know what Im doing.. Removed the clips and all.. I have even heated the shaft up and beat on the caps with hammer and a big punch.. They won't budge.. Only thing I have not tried to do is heat em up and use some type of press to press them out.. ANY IDEAS???

 

Thats the next step. I usually use a ball joint press. Make sure you are using enough heat. The yoke on the shaft will need to glow red to be hot enough to make much of a difference. A hardware store propane torch isn't going to cut the mustard.

 

I've put in many [ never counted , maybe over 1,000 ] , never used heat & never will , getting hot enough to glow , is going beyond , doing the wrong thing .
Being an 04 , is that got an aluminum shaft / yoke ?
For many yrs I used a large vice 6" on a strudding bench & a 3-5 lb hammer .
Then went to a mobile service , switched to a u-joint press [ many because sometimes the customer was watching ] , now I would not do any other way - with a u-joint press , few issues .
As with any press , put some pressure on , a medium hit with hammer [ especially with the joints that have plastic instead of clips - breaks it free ] , on other stuff that is very tight , keep turning press screw , then hit , turn , hit , till it starts moving with just a turn .
The point being , the more energy you put into your work , the more likely your going to damage something , heat being the most , hitting hard with a big hammer next .

 

i have never used a press i always just cut them out with a tourch and i have never had a problem

 

are you saying cast iron goes bad when it gets red hot?

 

I've changed out 2 of mine so far. I soaked the crap out of them whit PB-Blaster for two days before the change. They still put up one hell of a fight, but I won eventually using an old socket and a BFH. I don't like to use a press in fear of bending the yoke. I'd sooner cut them out with a torch, but you still have to beat the caps out. Hope you have better luck finding u-joints that I did. None of the parts stores had the right ones. Had to go to Dodge for 'em @ 100 bucks a piece.

 

napa sells them now. I will post the part number when I go to the shop.

 

I just went through this the other day. Those Napa joints are cheap Chinese junk! I have mine in the boxes yet ready to be returned to them. Here is a thread I started on swapping in Spicer joints. I was highly disappointed in the Napa joints because they usually have quality parts.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=187759

 

Check out http://www.rockauto.com
They are a sponsor of another Dodge Diesel forum I frequent. They sell most anything you need at a fraction of the parts stores. All name-brand parts. I just ordered all 3 rear drive shaft u-joints plus all 3 front drive shaft u-joints (no, they aren't all bad, but the factory joints can't be greased) plus the pinion seal for the front diff. All Federal Mogal GREASABLE u-joints. $170.00 and change total charge, delivered to my door!!!

 

Just goes to show you everyone has different ways of getting something done. Certianly if the shaft is aluminum I would not recommend heat, but was unaware of this. As far as never, I have bent yokes and seen alot bent ones from presses. Yes red hot is exsessive, but so is 20 tons, if your careful there is always more than one way to skin the perverbial cat. Good luck!