Front axle U-Joints

[88Wrangles]

It's an '88 Wrangler, and I was wondering how to get his u-joints (on the front axle) off. There isn't a little clip on the end, or anything, like the ones on the drive-shaft. Do I need to take off the rotors and everything, or am I over-looking something? Any help would be very helpful-I'm tempted to just cut them out!!!

 

[avyoung]

I have never replaced them so I do not know how to get the shafts out, but I found a really good tool to press out the U-joint. Harbor freight has a Ball Joint press thing that you can also use to remove U-joints. It works great. It is like a giant c clamp. I think is was like $40 and I have used it for many other things.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

You have to pull the caliper and rotor to get the axleshaft out. Don't take the large axle nut off, but remove the three 13mm 12pt. bolts behind the steering knuckle that hold the hub to the steering knuckle. You'll have to loosen these bolts 1/8" at a time and tap the bolt heads to get the hub off, being careful not to damage the bolt head.

Once you get the axleshafts out, there should be internal c-clips holding the ujoints in, just inside of the yoke ears.

Post up here if you run into any problems or questions, we'll walk you through it.

 

[Snitty]

yeah.. the clips are there... but not easily visible... they are just c-clips that can often be a pain to get out.. once the hub is off, the axle slides right out... i did both sides in about 2 hours

 

[88Wrangles]

Switching from manual to power steering

alright, thanks for the help! I will hopefully get a chance to do them this next week, and I will let you all know if I need any more help.