Having just done this job, I wanted to call attention to the tip about removing the zerk on the slip joint yoke to eliminate the suction that otherwise holds it in place. Awesome tip. I am sure I would have been stumped trying to figure out how to get the yoke out of the driveshaft given how powerful this suction force was in my case. I would have been hunting for a hidden bolt somewhere. I was able to simply use a fine pick to depress the bearing in the zerk and that allowed enough air flow to remove the yoke. Reinstalling after doing the u-joint replacement it was also key to depress the zerk bearing so I could slide the yoke back into the drive-shaft.
Spent the day replacing the same u-joint on my truck. Your video was a big help. It was very satisfying getting rid of that annoying squealing, and the horrifying clunking noise, and it stopped the vibrating that my truck was doing. When I dismantled my U-joint I found that the bearings on the pinion side yoke, were pulverized, which led to a lot of slop and rattling. Anyway, I had to replace the yoke as well, and the tolerances on the new bearing seats were much tighter then the old yoke, so I ended up freezing the bearings and then they went in without any fuss. Fun times. 😏
Hopefully this is helpful for other viewers: I was unable to get the bearing press from my local auto parts store and also couldn't get my hands on a two-jaw puller. I was able to tap out the bearing caps of the u-joint with a hammer and two sockets. I large socket on the backside to hold the yoke flange and support all around the bearing being pushed out, and a smaller socket on the side where I was hammering to push the bearing into the yoke and through. I used a 21mm socket on the side I was hammering and I believe something like 1 1/8" bearing on the opposite side to support around the bearing being pushed out. A bit awkward to hold it all together while hammering, but totally doable, even on a 20 year old part with plenty of resistence holding the bearings in place. Hope this is helpful for anyone needing to do this job.
Thanks for the great video; you guys work with a surgeon-like care and pious respect for the job. I'm thinking my 20+y/o Tacoma (with original UNIs) is due, and these tips are going to be valuable--subscribed. Knowing how seriously you take the work, and in the spirit of community, I just wanted to pass along some advice that someone gave me years ago: Don't tighten or loosen bolt/nut fasteners from the bolt side. I was taught to hold the bolt and turn the nut--less opportunity for trouble to kick you while you're under a car and on your back--like buggering your threads. For tight spaces (like between the shaft flange and pumpkin), use a wrench or crow foot (the flare nut type is the safest bet) on the nut, and hold the bolt with a stationary wrench. To accurately torque, turn the crow foot 90°, so the orientation is at 3:00 or 9:00. As others've said, it'd be great to see the double C joint juggling job. :)
You're welcome and we appreciate the compliment. Thanks for sharing the tips. That's interesting you say you get a more accurate torque value using a crossfoot with it at a right angle to the torque wrench. When I've used them with a torque wrench, I had the crowsfoot in line with the shaft of the wrench. I wasn't sure how that would affect the torque value but that orientation seemed to make the most sense to me.
Timmy The Toolman Yep, with the CF at 90°, the "fulcrum length" stays the same. If the CF is in line with the wrench, the overall length is increased, and therefore, so is the applied torque...it wouldn't be a foot-pound anymore, it'd be like a 14"-pound.
I am getting ready to do this on my wife's 2002 SR5 Sport front driveshaft and came here to just get a better feeling of what to do and as always your videos are super helpful Timmy, Sean and Jordan. I would like to share an experience I had with my old 2000 F-150 pickup universal joints. The process to replace them was similar but when I installed the new joints and pressed them in using my bench vise it put pressure on the yoke arms as well which in turn changed the angle of the bearing cups making the newly installed joint somewhat stiff. What I did was to take a brass punch and with the shaft in the vise I hit the inside of the yoke arms towards the outside on both sides which seemed to have gotten the arms back parallel with each other and relieved the pressure on the joint allowing it to freely move as designed. Thanks again for another super helpful video.
Thank you Tim....I'm in the process of replacing my U joint....I called it a night out of frustration....... I have a two jaw puller....just didn't think of using it.. definitely going to try it tomorrow... thanks again.....
Yeah, it was a frustrating experience for Jordan and I too until we figured out the 2-Jaw Puller technique. Hope it goes smooth for you on your second attempt.
@@TimmyTheToolman Ohhhh no Timmy I think I just messed up...ughh. Everything was going is smooth slowly pressing in the two cups in the vice. Both sides in about halfway on the wide part actually making contact. Had good alignment with yoke having full travel in either direction back and forth til all in. Was favoring One side a tad and I allowed that side to bottom out fully. Some of the needle bearings must have fallen then because now the yoke stops 3/16" short of going all in like the other side does. :( Holy crap man any ideas how I can get just that side back out to realign the needles? Hopefully without damage? All I can come up with now is keep going, but into a socket, in attempt to drive it back out the appox 3/16" it's in so far. Won't that ruin the needles on that side though with flat spots?
@@MrCobra762 Not sure what advice I could give you without seeing what you're dealing with. If you could, shoot me a pic. Here's my email address: mtbtim@sbcglobal.net
A word of warning when greasing the slip yoke not to pump too much grease in as it pushes the yoke outward putting pressure on the UJs (spider, trunion etc. etc) and can cause premature wear. I did this on mine one service and it set up a vibration when driving and I had to remove the grease nipple to relieve the pressure. I learnt this from a very good Australian video on Toyotas. Excellent video and I now know why the UJs were a bit tight when I changed them on my MGB.
Yeah and lots of guys over-grease them. I think the best way is to take the slip yoke off and manually grease it. The zerk fitting dumps the grease at the back of the yoke. How's that going to effectively grease the male and female splines of the yoke? The answer is it's not.
I greased till all the old grease came out the splines and the new grease was seen, took about 20 minutes because I went slowly, the old grease was hard and the previous owner may never have done it or insufficiently on 12 4R. Not sure about this overgreasing concern but if it helps I drove it on small platforms keeping the weight on and the driveshaft compressed in the yoke. Either way, fresh grease needs to come out or the job isn't done. Imo. There was some shaking in real cold weather (-20 C) and afterwards it was and is perfect.
When are we going to get a small tour video of your garage? It's great how you lay everything out in the videos, tools used etc... But a video with your top tools, what you think about certain tools i.e. dewalt impact wrench etc... would be cool. If it fits the plan for your channel. You guys are the best...
You know, you're not the first to mention this and I think we will make this video one day. My tool arsenal isn't as impressive as some but I've gained quite a few tools over the last few years doing this UA-cam gig and it would be cool to share some of my favorite tools and give suggestions to people on what tools are the best investment for a DIYer.
This video helped me do my u joints on my 2002 4runner. Ive never worked on u joints before but this video helped me successfully replace mine for under 50 bucks!!!
@@TimmyTheToolman love u guys respond to almost every comment and question. Even one that could only be defined as literal word salad where my response wouldve been equal. “Huh?” . 😁. Subscribed👍👍
@@pitchforkpeasant6219 Thanks for noticing that about us. We try our best to answer every question and acknowledge every comment. Welcome to the channel!
Tim! Just wanna thank you for the recommendation for the Tom Woods driveshaft. Arrived in a couple of days after I ordered it and it bolted right in real easy. The vibration my 4runner had at 60mph is gone. Running like a champ.
Interesting that u had a vibration at that speed. My wheel bearings seemed fine so thought might be tires. Nope. Crawled underneath one day and shook driveshaft at carrier bearing. Yup. Loose and floppy
Hey Erik, we have a video that covers the greasing of the driveshaft zerk fittings. There are no other zerk fittings like for balljoints or control arms you can grease, at least on a 3rd Gen 4runner. I don't know what vehicle you have. Check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/a81i1Cayf_I/v-deo.html and go to play time 38 minutes and 50 seconds.
Glad the timing of our video worked out for you. We would never charge people for access to our videos. We make some money off the advertisements Google places on our videos and that's enough for us. What I like about the advertisements is it generates a little income for us but doesn't cost the viewer anything other than a few second of their time. Good luck with the job. Happy Wrenching!
I’m having some confusion with the part number you have listed in the description. I’m finding two other part number saying they are the rear U joint. Any insight?
Instead of doing that grinding for the flat section, do you think you could instead cut the top off of the bearing cup with an angle grinder, which would expose the tip of the trunnion, allowing you to drive the other bearing cup out using the jaw puller? then after just press out the cut bearing cup once the trunnion is out. Only issue I'm not sure of is if you will have enough space to pull the trunnion out with both cups still in (although pressed almost all the way out).
Just replaced mine in a 2002 tacoma V6 ext cab 4x4. Just to note, if you have some trouble getting the initial bolts off due to some rust causing the bolts to seize a little, then you might run into what I did. I had trouble getting my original trunion out of the jaws of the yoke. The puller I bought did not work out at all. Absolutely zero amount of hammering or pulling with the puller would make the bearing cups budge. And yes I had the c clasps removed. What I had to do was take it to my metal shop and plasma cut out the center of the trunion and dunk it in water to keep it from overheating. I was careful to turn it so as to not get any slag or the cutting plasma onto any parts I'm reusing. I was then able to separate the four bearing caps from each other and pound them out with a hammer and socket very easily after cutting the center out. I found that the bearing cups had become fairly rusted on the outside (which is why they seized) and that two of them had really rusted needle bearings. Where there is a will there is a way and batta bing, batta boom, I replaced my u joint for under $30. So I'm happy.
Timmah! does the Gen3 T4R have a center support (aka carrier) bearing such as the Gen1 Tacoma has (non-single-cab)? i was looking for tutorial on what is involved in replacing that on my truck to cure some odd vibing under acceleration load
@Timmy The Toolman The u-joints ending in 60 with the deeper cup are for the double cardan joints. The u-joints ending in 70 is for the yoke. I just disassembled my driveshaft completely and i found the difference.
@@TimmyTheToolman Yes, i wanted to see for myself. And when comparing the 2 joints i refered back to your video because i couldn't remember if you filmed that. There's some more differences between the 2, superceded part numbers is my guess. Is there a way i can send you pictures and more info of my findings?
You guys make it look so easy. I'm in TN and I was getting a vibration between 65-75mph. I wanted to isolate the vibration so I removed the drive shaft & tested it in 4 wheel drive. (probably not too many front wheel drive 4runners out there! Lol ) Vibration was gone. Upon inspection, I found the rear u-joint had a seized up cup / cups. Mine are seized up so it took a lot of work freeing and I only have a good old craftman puller, not near as nice as the puller you guys used. I got 2 out on the shaft side & have the other 2 that are seized to tackle tomorrow.
Good luck with the rest of the u-joint replacement. This was Jordan's and my 2nd time replacing one. We did one before and learned some techniques and then filmed the second one. You'll get it.
Not sure. The front u-joint that connects to the differential might be the same as the one we used in this video. The u-joints in that make up the double cardan joint are different.
I confirmed through O'Reilly auto parts that it is the same part number for the gx470. However a recommendation for your viewers : i would not recommend any greasable aftermarket u-joint. Either buy oem greasable or if you're on a tight budget and have to go after market, go with the non-greasable. I ended buying two new oem drive shafts.
That was a flex head ratchet from Gear Wrench. It sounds really smooth due to the amount of engagement points it has. 120 engagement points. This make it great for tight situations. You only have to turn the ratchet 3 degrees to get to the next engagement point. The flex head capability is also super helpful when you can't get a straight shot at the fastener. All the tools we use in our videos are linked in the video description. You just have to click on "Show More" and the video description will expand out. Happy Wrenching!
It would be a sound that would increase of decrease based off the speed you're traveling, so a rotational sound. I can't remember if Jordan heard a noise or just found the play in the u-joint during a drivetrain inspection. Bad u-joints can make various sounds. It could be a womp-womp, but that might be a bad wheel bearing too.
Great vid . Wish I new about the 2 jaw puller method when I replaced all mine . Would love to see the double cardinal joint done there isn't much complete info out there. 👍
Hey Dean, John Lehman just commented about the same thing. I just might give it a shot if somebody hits me up for the job. It would be a significant savings over buying a new driveshaft.
I just did mine today, *NOT* worth it!! See my posted comment above for a qrd. A driveline shop will make you a custom driveshraft that will fit your vehicle/build perfectly for maybe $350-450, AND will be stronger than OEM - trust me and just go that route when the time comes! The front yokes on the cardan are halfway recessed which makes it next to impossible to get anything nice and seated on there to press them out, and once the caps are out it's almost as if the yokes flare out without any pressure keeping them down, so when you try and put in a new joint/cap, it won't go down square for shit! That was the most frustrating 7 hours of my life, hands down dude
I'm not sure what you're asking. The Toyota u-joints are quality parts. The difficulties are mainly due to how the yoke is shaped which makes pressing the u-joints out with a standard c-press more difficult. I've heard some people use a cutting disk to cut out the center part of the u-joint so then the pressing of the cups is easy. I've never tried that technique though.
@@TimmyTheToolman I am looking to replace all 6bu joints and am hearing that the ones directly behind the slip yoke are impossible to change. I'm talking about that double knuckle thing. I'm curious as to why it isn't recommended to change them
@@tonyrowe1455 The double cardan joint is a pain in the ass to do. Toyota doesn't sell u-joints for it so you have to source aftermarket ones. The joint also involves a center ball that is tricky to deal with. Most people just scrap the driveshaft if the u-joints in the double cardan go bad. A nice replacement is a custom driveshaft from Tom Woods which builds it with easy to source u-joints and it's also easier to work on. I have heard there are shops that will rebuild the double cardan joint though.
Did you find that the new caps seemed a tad smaller when you compared them to the old caps? I was gonna swap out my 3rd member you joint today but after comparing the cap sizes (just back to back in the yoke/flange) the new caps seem smaller than the old ones. I had the dealership cross reference the upping with my vin number but just seems odd to have the cap not fit tight in the hole from the top.....not used to changing inside keeper ring u-joints.
Timmy The Toolman - Yes. Didn’t press the old cap out yet as was holding off as it seemed the new cap was smaller in diameter compared to the newer when comparing them back to back in the yoke/cap seat. I ordered the 70 per the dealership and my vin.
@@micahc.8444 Since you don't have the old caps out yet, maybe what you're detecting is a slight relief at the end of the yoke and not the fact that the cap of your new u-joint is actually smaller. I think the entry hole for the cap on each end of the yoke needs a slight relief so you can have an easier time getting the bearing cap started into the yoke. Without that relief, it would be tight right upon entry and be hard to get the caps driven in straight.
Not sure because we've never tried it with a shop press. Another option that's totally different is taking a cut-off disk and cutting the center of the u-joint body out and then easily pressing the 4 cups with the needle bearings out.
Off topic question but have you done a video on replacing the vacuum lines? I'm looking to replacing mine since they're pretty old but I'm not sure which of the hoses to replace and what type of hose material to use
Hey Daniel, we have not done a video on replacing the vacuum lines. There are guys who have done it though. Maybe a Google search will bring you to a forum post that will give you some ideas of how to do it. For me personally, I've only replaced one line and that was for the PCV valve because the hose was cracked.
I have this weird clunk noise when im driving on high way it happens when I let off the gas fast there's a cluck noise and a slight jerking feeling do u think it could be my u joints?
Yes, you could get away with that. If you analyze your driveshaft, all the zerk fittings front to back are all facing the same direction. Toyota balanced the driveshafts in this fashion. When you slide the new slip yoke on, line up the zerk fitting with the front ones and it should be balanced.
I don’t know If you happened to mention it but is it possible using the Pitman jaw, to extract the two conjoined U joints? The ones on the rear drive shaft near the Transfer case?
Hey Daniel, servicing the double cardan joint on the rear driveshaft is a whole other ballgame. Toyota doesn't sell replacement u-joints for this application nor do they sell a replacement for the center ball that also makes up that joint. There are supposedly replacements you can find but the quality is suspect. The owner of a driveline shop near me said he doesn't rebuild them because there's only inferior replacement parts available for them. You might be better off finding a used driveshaft in good condition or get a custom driveshaft made for you. If you're u-joints are still good and just wondering about the ability to replace them, don't mess with them. Just keep them greased and they'll most likely last a very long time.
I think Toyota sells the whole shaft as one unit but I could be wrong. I don't know the part number. If you want a complete driveshsft, I would suggest getting one from Tom Woods. It would be more affordable and great quality.
@@TimmyTheToolman Im gonna take your advice and go with the Tom Woods Driveshaft. Are these made to order? They don't have a stock replacement DS? Also they ask to measure the bolts and the bolt pattern. Those aren't standard. Aren't they 14MM front and back?
@@hylndrfan Give them a call and tell them you need a driveshaft for a 3rd Gen 4runner 4x4. I know lots of guys have ordered from them so they must have the measurements on file so you don't have to deal with it.
No, the transmission doesn't need to be in park. You're not able to get it disconnected from the 3rd member, transfer case or both? If you're using a plastic mallet, try to give more persuasion with a brass hammer. If you don't have a brass hammer, maybe use a steel hammer and just be careful to not mash things up too much.
Look through our video library for some ideas. One that comes to mind that is easy is the Spiker Engineering Hood Strut mod. This video is for a 01 - 04 Tacoma but they do make a hood strut lift kit for the earlier models as well. ua-cam.com/video/2fp5r8N9Hzg/v-deo.html
Any tips for internal c clips that keep spinning when attempting to remove? I’ve done 10/12 perfectly fine with this method and the last two won’t budge they just spin. I’m using the hammer and screwdriver method shown in the video.
Maybe an extra hand would help. One person holding pressure on one side of the c-clip with a screwdriver while you whack the other side of the c-clip with a hammer and another screwdriver. Or, if you possess the required dexterity, hold both screwdrivers with one hand, and hit just one of them to get the c-clip driving out of it's groove.
@@TimmyTheToolman I'm going the Tom Wood route, lol. I'll keep the spare installed with the factory front in the meantime and tuck them between the storage box and rear seat when the new ones come in. I tried the hammer/vice method (via ThePracticalMechanic: ua-cam.com/video/9P7wkkdcFos/v-deo.html ), but I had already pushed the opposite cap out with the press before realizing what I did wrong. Managed to get one set out but couldn't get the leverage/stability to hammer the other (or get it to stay lined up) and called it a day. I had to use a good bit of muscle with the hammer, too, which decimated the metal around the yoke, so I don't think it's worth it to keep going if there's a potential to throw the whole shaft out of balance. I'd rather have the piece of mind, you know? lol You're videos have been helping me with the millions of other projects on this thing, so thanks for all of the info, Timmy!!!
@@CB-gi2rx Yeah, Tom Woods is a good choice. Sometimes following a tutorial works out and sometimes it doesn't. I like to think the information we provide is really good but people still fail using our tutorials due to one reason or another. There are variables out of our control like someone dealing with serious corrosion. Great to hear our videos are helping you out. You're very welcome!
Thanks Tim and Jordan, some great tips. I made the same mistake popping it all the way thru. I did this job on my 98 Tacoma with a vice, bearing press and BFH. Another thought I had watching you guys, do you think an oscillating tool, or Sawzall with steel cutting blades would work?
@@TimmyTheToolman yes, once it pops thru one direction the cap is exposed but as we know it won't come out. At that point "I think" the trunnion could be cut right below the cap with a Sawzall or oscillating tool. Might be worth a try when you have another one to do? I've been wrenching on Toyota's since 1979, and done just about everything except transmission rebuild and the cardan joint:) never had one fail. Oh, and I just replaced my first Ever on any Toyota "brake booster" on my 98' Taco. They are actually fairly easy with a helper. I have some tips for that job if needed and I have a chart I found with master cylinder and brake booster specs which I think you might like. My email address is Ricohdale@gmail.com, if you have an email address I will send you some pictures and/or videos that I have done that you can share with whoever. Thanks Tim.
@@dsimp765 Using the reciprocating saw might just work. I wonder how hard the steel is for that trunnion though. It might end up being a pain in the butt. Here's my email address: mtbtim@sbcglobal.net. That would be great if you can send me all that info. Thanks! Are you a paid mechanic or have you been an avid DIYer for all these years working on Toyota rigs?
Once again thank you and Jordan for taking the time and making all these detailed videos. I hope you never.. ever buy a new car... unless its a 3rd .... 3rd gen 4runner ... ;)
Hey Timmy. What are the signs that the U-joint is going bad? I started having a condition with my truck. When turning, it will go stiff, back to normal, stiff again, and then back to normal once the turn is done. At first, I was thinking my PS pump but it makes no noises, doesn't leak, and isn't constantly stiff as I've read would happen if the pump goes bad. After further investigation. People have said that the same condition was produced by a bad U-joint. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance and thanks again for all of your videos. I just replaced my front 02 sensor. 👍
so there's a front and rear U-joint? The u-joint should have no play? got yah. I'll have to do that this weekend early in the morning before it reaches 110. lol
Great video. Considering the double cardan, I’m probably just going to order a new driveshaft from Tom woods. Their price seems reasonable and there is always wear in those splines.
Yeah, people have reported getting the double cardan joints rebuilt but the available parts have suspect quality so you're making the smart choice by replacing the whole driveshaft. Tom Woods makes quality driveshafts so you'll be happy with the swap.
Hey Timmy and Shawn (I suppose the celebrity couple name is ; T~Shawn?) You guys are hitting home runs as always. I have a 2-whl drive 3rd Gen (solid axle with simple u-joints on either end). Yeah I know....(2) whl drive 'boooo'! Your video helped tremendously. I will say that when it came time to torque the (4) bolts I had complications. I couldn't get a socket to seat squarely on the head of the hex bolt. A shorty socket didn't fit properly, a deep socket didn't fit properly. And when I look at time stamp 39:31 I see your socket is canted at an angle as well. So, I happend upon a guy with a slick work around. He held the head of the hex bolt with a long 14mm box wrench. He then attached a 3/8 drive, 14mm Flarenut Crowsfoot wrench (it is really a 'head' or it could be called an 'adapter') to his torque wrench. And he was able to access the hex nut and apply torque. So he torqued the hex nut on the back side and not the head of the hex bolt. The Flarenut aspect of the tool ensured he was grasping all (6) sides of the hex nut. Search; Sunex 971014 on Mr. Beeso's sight and you will see it. As always, mad respect for you and the team.
great comment! thanks for the helpful tips with your tool setup. we hope this helps future people looking through the comments. we don't have a couple name yet, but maybe we will stick with our full names. haha. sicmods!
tim I need help with a coolant smell in the rear passenger seat of a gen3 4 runner 01 I cant find anything on the forums its only there after the car has been driven for a while the carpet is not wet and I haven't seen any coolant missing either. thank in advance
Hey Brandon, sounds like the coolant lines running to your rear heater might have sprung a leak. Have you been losing coolant? If you look under the rig on the passenger side, you'll see to silver lines running parallel to each other towards the rear of the vehicle from the engine compartment firewall. Then those lines turn up toward the area between the front and rear seats. Those are the coolant lines for the rear heater. Take a look and see if you see any coolant leaking down from that area. Also, see if you can figure out how to remove the center console trim around that heater so you can take a look from the inside of the passenger compartment. I've never removed it but I bet you can figure it out.
Both my manual transmission and transfer case are in Neutral, yet my rear drive shaft did not spin to be able to get each bolt easier. The rear wheels were off the ground with jack stands on the rear diff. Any help??
Timmy The Toolman ya first it wasn’t. I’m actually doing this on a 2nd gen, so I have the old school push button and turn parking brake. I released that and still had no luck. Is there anything different from doing this on a 2nd gen?? Thanks for you quick reply Timmy!
@@Yurrweoutside You should be able to turn the driveshaft unless your rear brakes are dragging a bit. Try grabbing one of your rear wheels and turning it. If you can turn it, the driveshaft will turn too.
Timmy The Toolman Thanks for the tip! I’ll try again tomorrow and try rotating the rear wheels while they’re in the air. Thanks again for your endless wisdom!
Great video, I just subscribed to your chanel! Reasons why is because you take the time to teach well and explain everything, also the video editing its magnificent! Your my new favorite technician
Thanks for the nice compliment Jesse. When Sean and I decided to make videos, we knew we wanted to make very detailed tutorials for people to follow so even a total beginner could complete the job if they were up to the challenge. Empowering people to handle their own automotive is our main goal. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Happy Wrenching Jesse!
Hey Timmy, always love your videos, they have been incredibly helpful and have given me the extra information needed to tackle repairs that I never would have attempted in the past. Thanks! Here comes a longish question: Should the zerk fittings on teh drive shaft always be in the same line? Here's my scenario: Mine are not all in the same line at the moment, doesn't seem like I am getting drive shaft vibration, but I am about to replace the rear u-joint, and I could easily realign them all when I put the yoke back into the drive shaft. My options seem to be 1. reassemble as it currently is and figure if it ain't broke don't fix it. 2. Reassemble with all zerks in the same line, drive it, if I get a vibration, go back to the current alignment. The reason I am considering option 2 is that when I did the leaf spring replacement a year ago, I remember my yoke sliding way out of the drive shaft as I lowered the diff and axle to get the leaf springs in. What I don't remember is if it came all the way out. If it did, I easily might have reinserted it a a couple degrees off. I definitely didn't make any alignment marks and knew nothing about keeping a drive shaft aligned and balanced at that time. So perhaps this driveshaft was in its current alignment when I bought the truck, perhaps it was aligned with all zerks in a straight row... curious which approach you would take here.
From what I have seen, the factory had all the zerk fittings facing the same way when the driveshaft was balanced. The slip yoke and main driveshaft are balanced as a unit. With your zerk fittings not lining up, it did get out of whack at some point. But, it seems it maybe wasn't enough to throw off the balance to cause issue. I would put them back in alignment if it were me.
@@TimmyTheToolman Thanks so much Timmy. That is what all of my research shows as well. I will reassemble with zerks aligned, do some test driving to check for vibrations, and post a follow-up! Thanks again for all of your great videos, it's so fun to take my mechanic skills to a higher level thanks to UA-cam and thorough videos like yours.
@@TimmyTheToolman Okay, here's the update for anyone this might help: As I got ready to remove the slip-joint end of the drive shaft (rear driveshaft needing a new rear u-joint) I noticed a couple more details. 1. All of the yokes on the entire driveshaft from front to back were properly aligned. 2. There were some match-marks underneath the dirt and grime caked onto the shaft that were matched in the current alignment. Looking at a schematic that someone sent me from the Tacomaworld forum, confirmed what I was seeing. It looks like the deal is that with the double cardan joint, the zerks have to be a turned slightly to the side in order to be able to get a grease gun past the the flanges of the joint. So I thought I was seeing zerks out of alignment down the length of my driveshaft, and actually, everything was aligned as it should be to allow zerk access. Made new matchmarks so I could see them clearly, disassembled, installed new u-joint, reassembled, test drive confirms that not only was the u-joint the source of the noise I had been hearing while driving, alignment was correct with the truck perfectly smooth at all speeds, no driveshaft vibrations at all. Stoked to have done a job I have never done on a vehicle before and stoked to have eliminated a noise that sounded like it might need an expensive repair when in fact a simple bearing and a little work did the trick!
Great Video and thanks for taking the time to edit and post. I have tried to follow your method, I didn't find it until it was too late. With a two jaw puller and basic socket wrench my u-joints are not going in very easy at all. In fact, I had a partially inserted a c ring and after reducing tension it popped back out. Does this mean a bearing has fallen down some where? If not any suggestions or just keep wrenching?
It's hard to say what's going on with your u-joint install. I'd have to see pictures to understand the issues you're having. If you want, you can email me pictures. mtbtim@sbcglobal.net
I supported the yoke between two pieces of 2x4 with a gap in the middle such that the longer piece was freely suspended and the shorter piece beared across the gap. Using a hammer on the longer piece I was able to pop the upward facing cap out completely. I then flipped it so the other cap faced upward and continued to pound until the other popped out, freeing the longer piece from the smaller. For the small piece I used the same 2x4 gap trick letting just the very edge of the small piece keep the cap suspended. I beat on the cap facing upward with a 19mm socket until the bottom piece popped out slightly. Next, I used an angle grinder to cut off both sides of the joint inside the smaller piece. Finally, with the structure of the joint gone inside the smaller piece, I was able to use the 19mm socket to pound the caps all the way in through the center.
Good job getting it done. Did you take any pictures of how you did it? A write-up showing your technique could help out others. You could post it on T4R.org.
@@TimmyTheToolman I wish I had captured some pictures of the process. The technique I used ended up being very similar to this video: ua-cam.com/video/9P7wkkdcFos/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ThePracticalMechanic Except I used soft lumber to support the yoke as I beat on it. Also, the caps in the longer piece would not come out with just the hammer, so that's why I resorted to using the angle grinder.
@@AustinWilhite I had watched this video before watching Tim's long version. Big F-ing Hammer method definitely wins. Tim should really be warning people about the truck lurching when you disconnect the driveshaft from the differential.
Well I wish I would've watched this earlier! I was curious why it was so damn hard!! Just tried to do all 3 today thinking it would take maybe an hour, and it ended up taking maybe 7 or 8! For some reason I couldn't get the U joints to go in the cardan without galling the metal, and how they're halfway recessed makes it HORRIBLE to deal with. I even blew out the cup on a NAPA joint with my press when trying to squeeze it in, it was THAT tight - shattered hardened steel. About halfway through I was wishing I just had a custom one made for maybe $400, but was in too deep to stop! Ended up having to sand down the holes in the cardan until the fit snug and could be tapped in, otherwise they kept binding on the walls halfway down the socket. Rear wasn't much different either! To boot, I knocked over the driveshaft at one point and the needle bearings from that center ball came out! Had to scrounge them up and clean them, only got about 3/4 of them but everything's installed now, there's no squeak or shudder and it's smoother than it was before!!
From an OTC puller kit. Here's a link: amzn.to/2LuisQc Check the video description for more tool links. For all our videos, we provide links to all the tools we use either in the video description or a pinned comment. A pinned comment will be the first comments seen.
No, they are not. I'm pretty sure the rear most u-joint for the rear driveshaft that attaches to the rear differential and the front most u-joint on the front driveshaft that attaches to the front differential are the same. But, the ones in the double cardan joints are a different u-joint and Toyota does not sell them.
Timmy The Toolman how could you find the ones that Toyota doesn’t sell if they are needed? And do those usually go bad or is it the ones to that front and rear diff more common o go bad? Nevermind just heard you say it in the video watching it the second time
@@palaciosivan100 Yeah, people have rebuilt the double cardan joints but the u-joints available are not the greatest. I had a driveshaft shop rebuild a driveshaft for me recently and I asked the owner who's been in the business for 30 years if he rebuilds Toyota double cardan joints and his answer was NO, because Toyota doesn't sell replacement u-joints for it and the u-joints that are available are garbage. The best thing you can do is keep your u-joints greased and they will last you a long time.
I'm confused on what U joint I need for my 1999 4runner limited 2wd. The 04371-60070 is showing not compatible and I can't find where to look on the dealer sites. Vin is JT3GN87R7X0099367.Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
You could simply visit your local Toyota dealer parts department and they can help you out. Sorry, but I'm not going to start doing online parts searches for you using your VIN number. You'll pay more by buying directly from your local dealer, but you'll at least get the right u-joint for your driveshaft. Good luck!
Thanks. I'll give them a call and hope they can give me the right info. Have had bad experiences in the past with them and it seems like it's getting more difficult these days to find anyone working that has confident knowledge outside of what I can usually find out. A lot of fake it til you make it guys out there too which adds to the excitement. That's why I like forums but, I guess I need to have so many introductory posts before asking questions on the one I tried signing up with. Maybe I was misunderstanding the rules. Will update for posterity. Parts dept unavailable atm. Guess I'll try later.@heToolman
@@s2k350 Well, if a dealer parts department person can't find you the correct u-joint with the VIN number, I don't know what to say. Even a beginner parts department person should be able to handle this. I wouldn't do this over the phone. I would go there in person.
Guess I should have but it's a 30 minute drive with good traffic. I called, waited 15 minutes, hung up , called back and got someone. They found the part , wouldn't tell me the part #. $225 without tax for the pair. Asked why most u joints are $60 ish and he said because he had to look up the part, that's retail. What a joke. I asked why the website couldn't show it but he said that's why they make the big buck marking stuff up in so many words.... I did manage to get him to verify the 04371-60070 wasn't the part # he was looking at for mine. Weird bc some dealer sites say it is, some say it isn't... Who knows..maybe I shouldn't have said "04371"dash"..60070 ..Tbh, if this was the Chevy/GMC GMT400 forum I'm a member of , I'd have this in 5 seconds with guys nearby offering to help me put them in...lol ..Love my Toyotas but this experience is on my nerves. I'm not paying $250 for 2 u joints and I don't want to put the Moogs on from the parts store since they only lasted 2 years. Still open for help here if anyone visiting can solve this riddle for me. I'll keep looking and update.. Thanks for all you do with your videos. It's life changing to have people like you helping so many.@heToolman
@@s2k350 Try posting this question on T4R.org. Maybe someone will have the answer you're looking for. There's also 3rd Gen 4runner Facebook pages you can join and ask this question.
Hey Tim, loving your channel, great work. Okay so I have 99 with 360 on it, we have had it since 85 k, I love the truck and it’s still in great shape. Recently developed slight shaking/vibration in drive line at about 20 mph, u joints seem perfect but wondering if they could still be suspect
How do you know it's coming from the driveline?How are you checking the u-joints? You should push and pull on the driveshaft pretty hard at different angles trying to determine if there's any play. Have you regularly serviced the u-joints by greasing the zerk fittings. For the rear driveshaft, it has a double cardan joint which is the dual joint that attaches to the transfer case. There's actually 3 zerk fittings, one for each u-joint and one for the center ball? Have you greased all 3? The driveshaft is balanced with tac welded on weights? Have you checked to see if the weight(s) are still affixed to the driveshaft? Have you checked for play at the rear 3rd member pinion bearing? Have you checked for bearing play at the transfer case rear companion flange?
@@TimmyTheToolman when I drive down the road at about 20-30 I can shift into neutral and it stops, seems to improve with higher highway speeds. I have pushed and pulled on the driveshaft and can’t discern any play.
@@TimmyTheToolman sorry didn’t see full response at first glance. We have had the truck since 80k and it is in great shape, but I can’t say that I have ever greased the driveshaft. I did grease all fittings last weekend when the problem started. FWIW the vibration seems to have gotten better since then, don’t know if it is related or not. The weights are still in driveshaft and driveshaft looks perfect. We don’t off-road it, abd southern vehicle. I have not checked for play at rear third member and can’t say that I know how. Not sure about the companion flange either. Transmission mounts I did check and they seem perfect
@@mattdewitt3985 Just push and pull on the flanges to see if there's detectable play. If you have a long straight road in your area, you could remover the rear driveshaft, throw it in the back, put it in 4wheel drive and drive down the road and see if the vibration problem goes away. If it did, you now know it was the rear driveshaft. If the problem is still there, well, the search continues. You just don't want to make any tight turns on pavement while in 4wheel drive because you can break the CV axles and/or damage the front differential.
I can attest that lining up the splines 100% to a T isn't horribly crucial as it is to have all yokes parallel as possibly. You can pretty easily spot if it's off, even by a tooth, it's really overblown
We try to give the best information possibly to those who are attempting this repair. Having it lined up as best you can is always better to ensure you don't run into issues.
Hey Matt, glad you like the video. That part number is for the rear u-joint on the rear driveshaft. The u-joints for the double cardan joint on the rear driveshaft are hard to source because Toyota doesn't sell replacements. As for the front driveshaft u-joint that connects to the front differential, I don't know if that is the same part number as the rear.
Another great video! This is going to be done this weekend! You guys are why #lastchanceBetty (1999 246,000 miles Taco) is going to be on the road for MANY years to come
@@CantSitStillforREAL Sure. We have a tip jar link on our home page if you'd like to treat us to some beers. The link is right under the picture of me near the TEQ TIM logo. Thanks!
Sounds like you're trying to rebuild the double cardan joint? Sourcing the u-joints and center ball for the double cardan joint is difficult from what I've heard. What brand u-joints did your buy from Rock Auto and what's the part numbers?
@@TimmyTheToolman Part number: MO 287 i bought this u joint to replace the one near the rear diff and tought while beaing there why not change the other two but after seeing your video i will only be changing the one near the diff. By the way great channel and video help me on my repair cheers
Did you get dizzy? There's medication for that. The transitions make the cuts smoother. Without them, the video would look very jarring and jumpy. Trust me, it's better with the transitions. The only way to make the video smoother is if I could 100% always say everything perfectly and we do everything perfectly on the first take. As you can understand, that's not possible. If we didn't clean up the video by making cuts, the video would be much longer and probably confuse people.
I wish it was as easy as you say but we learned from our first attempt and came up with what we shared in the video as the best option we could come up with. If you knock that first bearing cup in too far to where it drives fully out of the yoke, it's a bitch to get it lined back up to come out. If you could drive that first bearing cup in with reckless abandon and have no consequences, then it would be as easy as you say. But, ti's not from what we learned the hard way.
Wow this guy is wearing a Toyota mechanic shirt calls himself Toyota chimney represents South Park he should be Timmy in the wheelchair use a freaking angle grinder cut the u-joint out at all four corners and tap them inward you should be able to remove these in 10 minutes I would fire my mechanics if they didn't do it tap your new ones in easy peasy
You should make videos and share your knowledge. I have never represented myself as a Toyota Certified Mechanic. I bought the shirts Sean and I where from an Automotive Workwear web site so we'd have some type of uniform with our name on it. It's pretty consistent. The guys with the most attitude towards DIYers like myself are always the "Paid" guys. You won't make videos to help others out because you want people to come to shops to get bent over on high hourly labor rates. And, you "Paid" guys screw up all the time. Good luck with your high and mighty trolling attitude.
*PLEASE READ THE VIDEO DESCRIPTION FOR HELPFUL INFORMATION*
Having just done this job, I wanted to call attention to the tip about removing the zerk on the slip joint yoke to eliminate the suction that otherwise holds it in place. Awesome tip. I am sure I would have been stumped trying to figure out how to get the yoke out of the driveshaft given how powerful this suction force was in my case. I would have been hunting for a hidden bolt somewhere. I was able to simply use a fine pick to depress the bearing in the zerk and that allowed enough air flow to remove the yoke. Reinstalling after doing the u-joint replacement it was also key to depress the zerk bearing so I could slide the yoke back into the drive-shaft.
Glad our tip helped you out.
Spent the day replacing the same u-joint on my truck. Your video was a big help.
It was very satisfying getting rid of that annoying squealing, and the horrifying clunking noise, and it stopped the vibrating that my truck was doing. When I dismantled my U-joint I found that the bearings on the pinion side yoke, were pulverized, which led to a lot of slop and rattling. Anyway, I had to replace the yoke as well, and the tolerances on the new bearing seats were much tighter then the old yoke, so I ended up freezing the bearings and then they went in without any fuss.
Fun times. 😏
Good job getting it done. I'm glad our video helped you out.
Hopefully this is helpful for other viewers: I was unable to get the bearing press from my local auto parts store and also couldn't get my hands on a two-jaw puller. I was able to tap out the bearing caps of the u-joint with a hammer and two sockets. I large socket on the backside to hold the yoke flange and support all around the bearing being pushed out, and a smaller socket on the side where I was hammering to push the bearing into the yoke and through. I used a 21mm socket on the side I was hammering and I believe something like 1 1/8" bearing on the opposite side to support around the bearing being pushed out. A bit awkward to hold it all together while hammering, but totally doable, even on a 20 year old part with plenty of resistence holding the bearings in place. Hope this is helpful for anyone needing to do this job.
Thanks for sharing your technique. Good to hear you got the job done. Happy Wrenching!
Would u say the socket on the backside is completely necessary? I don’t have any sockets quite big enough.
Thank you both for the thorough tutorial. I just completed this job over Labor Day weekend. This would have taken me twice as long without your help.
That’s awesome Ben! Thanks for coming back to the video with a comment and sharing your success with us.
Thanks for the great video; you guys work with a surgeon-like care and pious respect for the job. I'm thinking my 20+y/o Tacoma (with original UNIs) is due, and these tips are going to be valuable--subscribed.
Knowing how seriously you take the work, and in the spirit of community, I just wanted to pass along some advice that someone gave me years ago: Don't tighten or loosen bolt/nut fasteners from the bolt side. I was taught to hold the bolt and turn the nut--less opportunity for trouble to kick you while you're under a car and on your back--like buggering your threads. For tight spaces (like between the shaft flange and pumpkin), use a wrench or crow foot (the flare nut type is the safest bet) on the nut, and hold the bolt with a stationary wrench. To accurately torque, turn the crow foot 90°, so the orientation is at 3:00 or 9:00.
As others've said, it'd be great to see the double C joint juggling job. :)
You're welcome and we appreciate the compliment. Thanks for sharing the tips. That's interesting you say you get a more accurate torque value using a crossfoot with it at a right angle to the torque wrench. When I've used them with a torque wrench, I had the crowsfoot in line with the shaft of the wrench. I wasn't sure how that would affect the torque value but that orientation seemed to make the most sense to me.
Timmy The Toolman
Yep, with the CF at 90°, the "fulcrum length" stays the same. If the CF is in line with the wrench, the overall length is increased, and therefore, so is the applied torque...it wouldn't be a foot-pound anymore, it'd be like a 14"-pound.
Ok, good to know.
I am getting ready to do this on my wife's 2002 SR5 Sport front driveshaft and came here to just get a better feeling of what to do and as always your videos are super helpful Timmy, Sean and Jordan. I would like to share an experience I had with my old 2000 F-150 pickup universal joints. The process to replace them was similar but when I installed the new joints and pressed them in using my bench vise it put pressure on the yoke arms as well which in turn changed the angle of the bearing cups making the newly installed joint somewhat stiff. What I did was to take a brass punch and with the shaft in the vise I hit the inside of the yoke arms towards the outside on both sides which seemed to have gotten the arms back parallel with each other and relieved the pressure on the joint allowing it to freely move as designed. Thanks again for another super helpful video.
Good luck with the job. I hope it goes smoothly for you.
Thank you Tim....I'm in the process of replacing my U joint....I called it a night out of frustration....... I have a two jaw puller....just didn't think of using it.. definitely going to try it tomorrow... thanks again.....
Yeah, it was a frustrating experience for Jordan and I too until we figured out the 2-Jaw Puller technique. Hope it goes smooth for you on your second attempt.
@@TimmyTheToolman Man I have one of those too. Was about to give up on that angled front spider and rent/buy a ball joint kit. THANK YOU.
@@MrCobra762 You're welcome. Let us know if the technique we shared in this video worked for you. Happy Wrenching!
@@TimmyTheToolman Ohhhh no Timmy I think I just messed up...ughh. Everything was going is smooth slowly pressing in the two cups in the vice. Both sides in about halfway on the wide part actually making contact. Had good alignment with yoke having full travel in either direction back and forth til all in. Was favoring One side a tad and I allowed that side to bottom out fully. Some of the needle bearings must have fallen then because now the yoke stops 3/16" short of going all in like the other side does. :( Holy crap man any ideas how I can get just that side back out to realign the needles? Hopefully without damage? All I can come up with now is keep going, but into a socket, in attempt to drive it back out the appox 3/16" it's in so far. Won't that ruin the needles on that side though with flat spots?
@@MrCobra762 Not sure what advice I could give you without seeing what you're dealing with. If you could, shoot me a pic. Here's my email address: mtbtim@sbcglobal.net
A word of warning when greasing the slip yoke not to pump too much grease in as it pushes the yoke outward putting pressure on the UJs (spider, trunion etc. etc) and can cause premature wear. I did this on mine one service and it set up a vibration when driving and I had to remove the grease nipple to relieve the pressure. I learnt this from a very good Australian video on Toyotas. Excellent video and I now know why the UJs were a bit tight when I changed them on my MGB.
Yeah and lots of guys over-grease them. I think the best way is to take the slip yoke off and manually grease it. The zerk fitting dumps the grease at the back of the yoke. How's that going to effectively grease the male and female splines of the yoke? The answer is it's not.
I greased till all the old grease came out the splines and the new grease was seen, took about 20 minutes because I went slowly, the old grease was hard and the previous owner may never have done it or insufficiently on 12 4R. Not sure about this overgreasing concern but if it helps I drove it on small platforms keeping the weight on and the driveshaft compressed in the yoke. Either way, fresh grease needs to come out or the job isn't done. Imo. There was some shaking in real cold weather (-20 C) and afterwards it was and is perfect.
When are we going to get a small tour video of your garage? It's great how you lay everything out in the videos, tools used etc... But a video with your top tools, what you think about certain tools i.e. dewalt impact wrench etc... would be cool. If it fits the plan for your channel. You guys are the best...
You know, you're not the first to mention this and I think we will make this video one day. My tool arsenal isn't as impressive as some but I've gained quite a few tools over the last few years doing this UA-cam gig and it would be cool to share some of my favorite tools and give suggestions to people on what tools are the best investment for a DIYer.
This video helped me do my u joints on my 2002 4runner. Ive never worked on u joints before but this video helped me successfully replace mine for under 50 bucks!!!
Great to hear David. Thanks for taking the time to comment and share your success story with us. Happy Wrenching!
Timmy, I went down your list until I saw something I've done before. Of course all I worked on were old Chevy's over 40yrs ago lol. Great video Timmy!
Welcome to our Channel Ray. Maybe we will work on some Old Cheveees one day.
Thank you for your videos and help. You are my go to guy when I'm working on my 3rd gen 4runner.
You're very welcome.
@@TimmyTheToolman love u guys respond to almost every comment and question. Even one that could only be defined as literal word salad where my response wouldve been equal. “Huh?” . 😁. Subscribed👍👍
@@pitchforkpeasant6219 Thanks for noticing that about us. We try our best to answer every question and acknowledge every comment. Welcome to the channel!
Tim! Just wanna thank you for the recommendation for the Tom Woods driveshaft. Arrived in a couple of days after I ordered it and it bolted right in real easy. The vibration my 4runner had at 60mph is gone. Running like a champ.
You're welcome. Tom Woods makes great driveshafts.
@@TimmyTheToolman Yup! Saved me a few hundred bucks off the OEM driveshaft.
@@hylndrfan Cool. That's good to hear.
Interesting that u had a vibration at that speed. My wheel bearings seemed fine so thought might be tires. Nope. Crawled underneath one day and shook driveshaft at carrier bearing. Yup. Loose and floppy
Thank you. Can you do a video on all the grease points and how to lubricate a chassis
Hey Erik, we have a video that covers the greasing of the driveshaft zerk fittings. There are no other zerk fittings like for balljoints or control arms you can grease, at least on a 3rd Gen 4runner. I don't know what vehicle you have. Check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/a81i1Cayf_I/v-deo.html and go to play time 38 minutes and 50 seconds.
@@TimmyTheToolman Thank you buddy. 99 sr5 here
@@erikthompson3608 You're welcome.
Perfect timing, was just thinking about doing this job this month. Appreciate y'all taking the time to film it. Ever consider setting up a patreon?
Glad the timing of our video worked out for you. We would never charge people for access to our videos. We make some money off the advertisements Google places on our videos and that's enough for us. What I like about the advertisements is it generates a little income for us but doesn't cost the viewer anything other than a few second of their time. Good luck with the job. Happy Wrenching!
It seems I'm always heading here first for the best info to start a project with our Toyotas. The info is great!
Good to hear we are your Toyota Go-To Source. Thanks for the nice compliment. We appreciate it very much. Happy Wrenching!
I’m having some confusion with the part number you have listed in the description. I’m finding two other part number saying they are the rear U joint. Any insight?
Nope. The part number we used is the only one I know. I guess you could double-check at a Toyota dealer.
I've got a Datsun 620 and your video was just what I needed to do the job. Thanks so much guys.
You're very welcome. You don't see many Datsuns on the road anymore. That's cool you've got one.
Hi Timmy
How often should I apply grease the driveshaft U-joints for 2016 Toyota LC200? Thanks
Every other oil change or every 10k miles is what I would suggest. I use to do it every oil change but that's excessive.
Instead of doing that grinding for the flat section, do you think you could instead cut the top off of the bearing cup with an angle grinder, which would expose the tip of the trunnion, allowing you to drive the other bearing cup out using the jaw puller? then after just press out the cut bearing cup once the trunnion is out. Only issue I'm not sure of is if you will have enough space to pull the trunnion out with both cups still in (although pressed almost all the way out).
I'm not sure if that would work or not. If you give it a try, let me know.
@@TimmyTheToolman Will do haha. Thanks for the videos!
Awesome production. This looks like same type of joint at the rear differential on first gen tundras. Am I correct?
U-joints in general are all the same in natural. Thanks for stopping by the comments. Don’t hesitate to comment again if you have any questions
Just replaced mine in a 2002 tacoma V6 ext cab 4x4.
Just to note, if you have some trouble getting the initial bolts off due to some rust causing the bolts to seize a little, then you might run into what I did.
I had trouble getting my original trunion out of the jaws of the yoke. The puller I bought did not work out at all. Absolutely zero amount of hammering or pulling with the puller would make the bearing cups budge. And yes I had the c clasps removed.
What I had to do was take it to my metal shop and plasma cut out the center of the trunion and dunk it in water to keep it from overheating. I was careful to turn it so as to not get any slag or the cutting plasma onto any parts I'm reusing.
I was then able to separate the four bearing caps from each other and pound them out with a hammer and socket very easily after cutting the center out. I found that the bearing cups had become fairly rusted on the outside (which is why they seized) and that two of them had really rusted needle bearings.
Where there is a will there is a way and batta bing, batta boom, I replaced my u joint for under $30.
So I'm happy.
Glad it worked out for you. The puller didn't work for you but you found a way to get it done. Good job!
@@TimmyTheToolman oh yeah, your video helped out a lot though. Thank you!
@@jimbosmith6327 You're very welcome.
Timmah! does the Gen3 T4R have a center support (aka carrier) bearing such as the Gen1 Tacoma has (non-single-cab)? i was looking for tutorial on what is involved in replacing that on my truck to cure some odd vibing under acceleration load
There is no carrier bearing for a 4runner.
@Timmy The Toolman
The u-joints ending in 60 with the deeper cup are for the double cardan joints. The u-joints ending in 70 is for the yoke. I just disassembled my driveshaft completely and i found the difference.
Good to know. You're actually rebuilding the double cardan?
@@TimmyTheToolman Yes, i wanted to see for myself. And when comparing the 2 joints i refered back to your video because i couldn't remember if you filmed that. There's some more differences between the 2, superceded part numbers is my guess.
Is there a way i can send you pictures and more info of my findings?
@@yesnothanksplease What I have is all shared in the video. I've never tried to rebuild a double cardin joint.
@@TimmyTheToolman ua-cam.com/video/w2cI42jRWU0/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ThePracticalMechanic
@@yesnothanksplease I think I might have watched this video before. Let me know how the double cardan rebuild goes for you. It doesn't look easy.
You guys make it look so easy. I'm in TN and I was getting a vibration between 65-75mph. I wanted to isolate the vibration so I removed the drive shaft & tested it in 4 wheel drive. (probably not too many front wheel drive 4runners out there! Lol ) Vibration was gone. Upon inspection, I found the rear u-joint had a seized up cup / cups. Mine are seized up so it took a lot of work freeing and I only have a good old craftman puller, not near as nice as the puller you guys used. I got 2 out on the shaft side & have the other 2 that are seized to tackle tomorrow.
Good luck with the rest of the u-joint replacement. This was Jordan's and my 2nd time replacing one. We did one before and learned some techniques and then filmed the second one. You'll get it.
@@TimmyTheToolman I'll do a short video. Mine has some rust and it's the seized side.
@@TimmyTheToolman ua-cam.com/video/SlsQVEoP-pA/v-deo.html
This u-joint will work for both front propeller shaft joints as well, correct?
Not sure. The front u-joint that connects to the differential might be the same as the one we used in this video. The u-joints in that make up the double cardan joint are different.
What kind of two jaw puller is that? It looks less wobbly than other two jaw pullers.
It's comes from this kit: *OTC 6295 Front End Service Kit amzn.to/2LuisQc
Thanks for a great video. Would you know if the 2005 Lexus GX470 uses the same u-joints?
Thanks. Unfortunately, I do not know if the GX470 uses the same u-joint for the slip yoke.
I confirmed through O'Reilly auto parts that it is the same part number for the gx470. However a recommendation for your viewers : i would not recommend any greasable aftermarket u-joint. Either buy oem greasable or if you're on a tight budget and have to go after market, go with the non-greasable. I ended buying two new oem drive shafts.
What ratchet was that when using the puller to drive in the caps? Its sound was so smoothing lol.
That was a flex head ratchet from Gear Wrench. It sounds really smooth due to the amount of engagement points it has. 120 engagement points. This make it great for tight situations. You only have to turn the ratchet 3 degrees to get to the next engagement point. The flex head capability is also super helpful when you can't get a straight shot at the fastener. All the tools we use in our videos are linked in the video description. You just have to click on "Show More" and the video description will expand out. Happy Wrenching!
Tim, what was the symptoms of this bad u-joint? Was it like a womp-womp sound during low speed acceleration?
It would be a sound that would increase of decrease based off the speed you're traveling, so a rotational sound. I can't remember if Jordan heard a noise or just found the play in the u-joint during a drivetrain inspection. Bad u-joints can make various sounds. It could be a womp-womp, but that might be a bad wheel bearing too.
@@TimmyTheToolman thank you!
@@diojo1336 You're welcome.
I never seen you do a maintenance video on a 5.7 toyota tundra. Does anybody drive tundras in California?
I'm willing to help someone with their 5.7L V8. Only one guy so far has hit me up for help.
Great vid . Wish I new about the 2 jaw puller method when I replaced all mine . Would love to see the double cardinal joint done there isn't much complete info out there. 👍
Hey Dean, John Lehman just commented about the same thing. I just might give it a shot if somebody hits me up for the job. It would be a significant savings over buying a new driveshaft.
I just did mine today, *NOT* worth it!! See my posted comment above for a qrd. A driveline shop will make you a custom driveshraft that will fit your vehicle/build perfectly for maybe $350-450, AND will be stronger than OEM - trust me and just go that route when the time comes!
The front yokes on the cardan are halfway recessed which makes it next to impossible to get anything nice and seated on there to press them out, and once the caps are out it's almost as if the yokes flare out without any pressure keeping them down, so when you try and put in a new joint/cap, it won't go down square for shit! That was the most frustrating 7 hours of my life, hands down dude
This Was Posted a month ago best video I've found so far. ua-cam.com/video/w2cI42jRWU0/v-deo.html. Thanks for all the info
What makes that knuckle so difficult? Wouldn't some quality u joints be ok in there?
I'm not sure what you're asking. The Toyota u-joints are quality parts. The difficulties are mainly due to how the yoke is shaped which makes pressing the u-joints out with a standard c-press more difficult. I've heard some people use a cutting disk to cut out the center part of the u-joint so then the pressing of the cups is easy. I've never tried that technique though.
@@TimmyTheToolman I am looking to replace all 6bu joints and am hearing that the ones directly behind the slip yoke are impossible to change. I'm talking about that double knuckle thing. I'm curious as to why it isn't recommended to change them
@@tonyrowe1455 The double cardan joint is a pain in the ass to do. Toyota doesn't sell u-joints for it so you have to source aftermarket ones. The joint also involves a center ball that is tricky to deal with.
Most people just scrap the driveshaft if the u-joints in the double cardan go bad. A nice replacement is a custom driveshaft from Tom Woods which builds it with easy to source u-joints and it's also easier to work on. I have heard there are shops that will rebuild the double cardan joint though.
@@TimmyTheToolman ah I see. Thanks again dude! You are my go to resource for my lil taco 🌮
@@tonyrowe1455 No problem Tony.
thanks Tim and Jordan! Time to do the u-joints on the Tundra, i think it’ll be easier than the 4Runner.
You're welcome, and good luck with the job.
Did you find that the new caps seemed a tad smaller when you compared them to the old caps? I was gonna swap out my 3rd member you joint today but after comparing the cap sizes (just back to back in the yoke/flange) the new caps seem smaller than the old ones. I had the dealership cross reference the upping with my vin number but just seems odd to have the cap not fit tight in the hole from the top.....not used to changing inside keeper ring u-joints.
The u-joint we got for this job was an identical fit to the old one. Did you use Part #04371-60070?
Timmy The Toolman - Yes. Didn’t press the old cap out yet as was holding off as it seemed the new cap was smaller in diameter compared to the newer when comparing them back to back in the yoke/cap seat. I ordered the 70 per the dealership and my vin.
@@micahc.8444 Since you don't have the old caps out yet, maybe what you're detecting is a slight relief at the end of the yoke and not the fact that the cap of your new u-joint is actually smaller. I think the entry hole for the cap on each end of the yoke needs a slight relief so you can have an easier time getting the bearing cap started into the yoke. Without that relief, it would be tight right upon entry and be hard to get the caps driven in straight.
I really needed to watch this video. Thank you.
You're welcome Rey. Good luck with the u-joint replacement.
front and rear u joints are the same part? About to do this on my 97 2wd
Thanks
Don't know if they are the same part number. I've never changed the front u-joint on a 2wd.
hey tim,
do you think you could remove the u joint needle bearings using a shop press?
Not sure because we've never tried it with a shop press. Another option that's totally different is taking a cut-off disk and cutting the center of the u-joint body out and then easily pressing the 4 cups with the needle bearings out.
Do I need to replace the slip yoke if I scored where the bearings seat with a press kit? Or just file it down and scuff with a pad?
Just smooth it out with a fine round file and emery cloth. As long as the bearing cap can still slide in and fits tight, you're ok.
Off topic question but have you done a video on replacing the vacuum lines? I'm looking to replacing mine since they're pretty old but I'm not sure which of the hoses to replace and what type of hose material to use
Hey Daniel, we have not done a video on replacing the vacuum lines. There are guys who have done it though. Maybe a Google search will bring you to a forum post that will give you some ideas of how to do it. For me personally, I've only replaced one line and that was for the PCV valve because the hose was cracked.
I have this weird clunk noise when im driving on high way it happens when I let off the gas fast there's a cluck noise and a slight jerking feeling do u think it could be my u joints?
@@Cmc-365 It's possible, but I'd check out your transmission and engine mounts.
Is it possible to just replace old slip yoke/ujoint with a new slip yoke/ujoint? Without having to get the driveshaft rebalanced
Yes, you could get away with that. If you analyze your driveshaft, all the zerk fittings front to back are all facing the same direction. Toyota balanced the driveshafts in this fashion. When you slide the new slip yoke on, line up the zerk fitting with the front ones and it should be balanced.
I don’t know If you happened to mention it but is it possible using the Pitman jaw, to extract the two conjoined U joints? The ones on the rear drive shaft near the Transfer case?
Hey Daniel, servicing the double cardan joint on the rear driveshaft is a whole other ballgame. Toyota doesn't sell replacement u-joints for this application nor do they sell a replacement for the center ball that also makes up that joint. There are supposedly replacements you can find but the quality is suspect. The owner of a driveline shop near me said he doesn't rebuild them because there's only inferior replacement parts available for them. You might be better off finding a used driveshaft in good condition or get a custom driveshaft made for you. If you're u-joints are still good and just wondering about the ability to replace them, don't mess with them. Just keep them greased and they'll most likely last a very long time.
I actually need to replace a whole driveshaft. Do you have a part number? 99 4runner 4wd 3.4 L 6 cyl. Can you buy the slip yoke as a separate part?
I think Toyota sells the whole shaft as one unit but I could be wrong. I don't know the part number. If you want a complete driveshsft, I would suggest getting one from Tom Woods. It would be more affordable and great quality.
@@TimmyTheToolman Im gonna take your advice and go with the Tom Woods Driveshaft. Are these made to order? They don't have a stock replacement DS? Also they ask to measure the bolts and the bolt pattern. Those aren't standard. Aren't they 14MM front and back?
@@hylndrfan Give them a call and tell them you need a driveshaft for a 3rd Gen 4runner 4x4. I know lots of guys have ordered from them so they must have the measurements on file so you don't have to deal with it.
@@TimmyTheToolman Thanks braddah! Keep the videos coming. You make it look so easy.
@@hylndrfan Replacing the u-joint was a bit of a struggle. We learned a lot on this one.
Should the truck be in park when taking the drive shaft down? I've been beating prying on this thing for 20 minutes... Not budging
No, the transmission doesn't need to be in park. You're not able to get it disconnected from the 3rd member, transfer case or both? If you're using a plastic mallet, try to give more persuasion with a brass hammer. If you don't have a brass hammer, maybe use a steel hammer and just be careful to not mash things up too much.
@@TimmyTheToolman my issue is with the third member. I'm currently using a heavy rubber mallet. I was weary to use the iron. But I'll try.
@@MRRAY84 Yeah, ditch the rubber mallet and get more persuasive with some steel persuasion. You'll get it.
@@TimmyTheToolman awesome, thanks for the reply!
@@TimmyTheToolman came right off with the hammer lol, thanks again!
Hey timmy i just got a 97 tacoma single cab 4wd was asking if you know any good simple mods to do on it!
Look through our video library for some ideas. One that comes to mind that is easy is the Spiker Engineering Hood Strut mod. This video is for a 01 - 04 Tacoma but they do make a hood strut lift kit for the earlier models as well. ua-cam.com/video/2fp5r8N9Hzg/v-deo.html
my slip yoke is missing the cap on the inside. any advice? hacks to fix this?
You could remove the u-joint and see if a driveline shop could weld in a new cap for you. They probably wouldn't charge you that much.
Do the u joints cause vibration in the vehicle when they go bad?
They can cause vibrations and noise.
Hey Timmy! Will this job be similar to the 1st generation tacomas? I have a '99 tacoma prerunner
Yes, the job will be the same.
Any tips for internal c clips that keep spinning when attempting to remove? I’ve done 10/12 perfectly fine with this method and the last two won’t budge they just spin. I’m using the hammer and screwdriver method shown in the video.
Maybe an extra hand would help. One person holding pressure on one side of the c-clip with a screwdriver while you whack the other side of the c-clip with a hammer and another screwdriver. Or, if you possess the required dexterity, hold both screwdrivers with one hand, and hit just one of them to get the c-clip driving out of it's groove.
Timmy The Toolman thanks man I’ll give it a try
@@andrewdesjardin4996 Let me know if it worked. Good Luck!
Glad I had a spare shaft! This is proving to be near impossible solo, so looks like I'll be buying new ones, lol
Well, put the spare in and then fix the other when when you can get someone to give you a hand. Happy Wrenching!
@@TimmyTheToolman I'm going the Tom Wood route, lol. I'll keep the spare installed with the factory front in the meantime and tuck them between the storage box and rear seat when the new ones come in.
I tried the hammer/vice method (via ThePracticalMechanic: ua-cam.com/video/9P7wkkdcFos/v-deo.html ), but I had already pushed the opposite cap out with the press before realizing what I did wrong. Managed to get one set out but couldn't get the leverage/stability to hammer the other (or get it to stay lined up) and called it a day. I had to use a good bit of muscle with the hammer, too, which decimated the metal around the yoke, so I don't think it's worth it to keep going if there's a potential to throw the whole shaft out of balance. I'd rather have the piece of mind, you know? lol
You're videos have been helping me with the millions of other projects on this thing, so thanks for all of the info, Timmy!!!
@@CB-gi2rx Yeah, Tom Woods is a good choice. Sometimes following a tutorial works out and sometimes it doesn't. I like to think the information we provide is really good but people still fail using our tutorials due to one reason or another. There are variables out of our control like someone dealing with serious corrosion. Great to hear our videos are helping you out. You're very welcome!
Are the front and rear u joint on a 2wd 2002 4runner the same size?
Don't know. Never worked on a 2wd driveshaft.
Thanks Tim and Jordan, some great tips. I made the same mistake popping it all the way thru. I did this job on my 98 Tacoma with a vice, bearing press and BFH. Another thought I had watching you guys, do you think an oscillating tool, or Sawzall with steel cutting blades would work?
How exactly would you use the Sawzall? Are you thinking if you did pop that first bearing cup all the way through, you could just cut it off?
@@TimmyTheToolman yes, once it pops thru one direction the cap is exposed but as we know it won't come out. At that point "I think" the trunnion could be cut right below the cap with a Sawzall or oscillating tool. Might be worth a try when you have another one to do? I've been wrenching on Toyota's since 1979, and done just about everything except transmission rebuild and the cardan joint:) never had one fail. Oh, and I just replaced my first Ever on any Toyota "brake booster" on my 98' Taco. They are actually fairly easy with a helper. I have some tips for that job if needed and I have a chart I found with master cylinder and brake booster specs which I think you might like. My email address is Ricohdale@gmail.com, if you have an email address I will send you some pictures and/or videos that I have done that you can share with whoever. Thanks Tim.
@@dsimp765 Using the reciprocating saw might just work. I wonder how hard the steel is for that trunnion though. It might end up being a pain in the butt. Here's my email address: mtbtim@sbcglobal.net. That would be great if you can send me all that info. Thanks! Are you a paid mechanic or have you been an avid DIYer for all these years working on Toyota rigs?
Where do you get your tools and what kind of impact sockets are those? Wobble extension?
Once again thank you and Jordan for taking the time and making all these detailed videos. I hope you never.. ever buy a new car... unless its a 3rd .... 3rd gen 4runner ... ;)
You're welcome Terry. Don't worry, I'm going to be owning and working on 3rd Gens for a very long time.
Hey Timmy. What are the signs that the U-joint is going bad? I started having a condition with my truck. When turning, it will go stiff, back to normal, stiff again, and then back to normal once the turn is done. At first, I was thinking my PS pump but it makes no noises, doesn't leak, and isn't constantly stiff as I've read would happen if the pump goes bad. After further investigation. People have said that the same condition was produced by a bad U-joint. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance and thanks again for all of your videos. I just replaced my front 02 sensor. 👍
Remove the one side of the drive shaft that you suspect has a U-joint problem & twist it to see if you can see if the u-joint has any play in it.
so there's a front and rear U-joint? The u-joint should have no play? got yah. I'll have to do that this weekend early in the morning before it reaches 110. lol
Great video. Considering the double cardan, I’m probably just going to order a new driveshaft from Tom woods. Their price seems reasonable and there is always wear in those splines.
Yeah, people have reported getting the double cardan joints rebuilt but the available parts have suspect quality so you're making the smart choice by replacing the whole driveshaft. Tom Woods makes quality driveshafts so you'll be happy with the swap.
Im about to do my 01 Tacoma, so this is pretty helpful. Also, I'm in the bay too! Thanks again for all the information!
@derekmoore1387 You're welcome, and good luck with the job.
Hey Timmy and Shawn (I suppose the celebrity couple name is ; T~Shawn?) You guys are hitting home runs as always. I have a 2-whl drive 3rd Gen (solid axle with simple u-joints on either end). Yeah I know....(2) whl drive 'boooo'! Your video helped tremendously. I will say that when it came time to torque the (4) bolts I had complications. I couldn't get a socket to seat squarely on the head of the hex bolt. A shorty socket didn't fit properly, a deep socket didn't fit properly. And when I look at time stamp 39:31 I see your socket is canted at an angle as well.
So, I happend upon a guy with a slick work around. He held the head of the hex bolt with a long 14mm box wrench. He then attached a 3/8 drive, 14mm Flarenut Crowsfoot wrench (it is really a 'head' or it could be called an 'adapter') to his torque wrench. And he was able to access the hex nut and apply torque. So he torqued the hex nut on the back side and not the head of the hex bolt. The Flarenut aspect of the tool ensured he was grasping all (6) sides of the hex nut. Search; Sunex 971014 on Mr. Beeso's sight and you will see it. As always, mad respect for you and the team.
great comment! thanks for the helpful tips with your tool setup. we hope this helps future people looking through the comments. we don't have a couple name yet, but maybe we will stick with our full names. haha. sicmods!
tim I need help with a coolant smell in the rear passenger seat of a gen3 4 runner 01 I cant find anything on the forums its only there after the car has been driven for a while the carpet is not wet and I haven't seen any coolant missing either. thank in advance
Hey Brandon, sounds like the coolant lines running to your rear heater might have sprung a leak. Have you been losing coolant? If you look under the rig on the passenger side, you'll see to silver lines running parallel to each other towards the rear of the vehicle from the engine compartment firewall. Then those lines turn up toward the area between the front and rear seats. Those are the coolant lines for the rear heater. Take a look and see if you see any coolant leaking down from that area. Also, see if you can figure out how to remove the center console trim around that heater so you can take a look from the inside of the passenger compartment. I've never removed it but I bet you can figure it out.
Timmy The Toolman thank you!!!!! Love the channel
@@steelydan8312 You're welcome Brandon. Thanks!
Both my manual transmission and transfer case are in Neutral, yet my rear drive shaft did not spin to be able to get each bolt easier. The rear wheels were off the ground with jack stands on the rear diff. Any help??
Is you parking brake off?
Timmy The Toolman ya first it wasn’t. I’m actually doing this on a 2nd gen, so I have the old school push button and turn parking brake. I released that and still had no luck. Is there anything different from doing this on a 2nd gen?? Thanks for you quick reply Timmy!
@@Yurrweoutside You should be able to turn the driveshaft unless your rear brakes are dragging a bit. Try grabbing one of your rear wheels and turning it. If you can turn it, the driveshaft will turn too.
Timmy The Toolman Thanks for the tip! I’ll try again tomorrow and try rotating the rear wheels while they’re in the air. Thanks again for your endless wisdom!
Very methodical and precious work great job
Great video, I just subscribed to your chanel! Reasons why is because you take the time to teach well and explain everything, also the video editing its magnificent! Your my new favorite technician
Thanks for the nice compliment Jesse. When Sean and I decided to make videos, we knew we wanted to make very detailed tutorials for people to follow so even a total beginner could complete the job if they were up to the challenge. Empowering people to handle their own automotive is our main goal. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Happy Wrenching Jesse!
Hey Timmy, always love your videos, they have been incredibly helpful and have given me the extra information needed to tackle repairs that I never would have attempted in the past. Thanks! Here comes a longish question: Should the zerk fittings on teh drive shaft always be in the same line? Here's my scenario: Mine are not all in the same line at the moment, doesn't seem like I am getting drive shaft vibration, but I am about to replace the rear u-joint, and I could easily realign them all when I put the yoke back into the drive shaft. My options seem to be 1. reassemble as it currently is and figure if it ain't broke don't fix it. 2. Reassemble with all zerks in the same line, drive it, if I get a vibration, go back to the current alignment. The reason I am considering option 2 is that when I did the leaf spring replacement a year ago, I remember my yoke sliding way out of the drive shaft as I lowered the diff and axle to get the leaf springs in. What I don't remember is if it came all the way out. If it did, I easily might have reinserted it a a couple degrees off. I definitely didn't make any alignment marks and knew nothing about keeping a drive shaft aligned and balanced at that time. So perhaps this driveshaft was in its current alignment when I bought the truck, perhaps it was aligned with all zerks in a straight row... curious which approach you would take here.
From what I have seen, the factory had all the zerk fittings facing the same way when the driveshaft was balanced. The slip yoke and main driveshaft are balanced as a unit. With your zerk fittings not lining up, it did get out of whack at some point. But, it seems it maybe wasn't enough to throw off the balance to cause issue. I would put them back in alignment if it were me.
@@TimmyTheToolman Thanks so much Timmy. That is what all of my research shows as well. I will reassemble with zerks aligned, do some test driving to check for vibrations, and post a follow-up! Thanks again for all of your great videos, it's so fun to take my mechanic skills to a higher level thanks to UA-cam and thorough videos like yours.
@@Aquilasven You're very welcome. It's our pleasure to help people out and inspire people to turn wrenches.
@@TimmyTheToolman Okay, here's the update for anyone this might help: As I got ready to remove the slip-joint end of the drive shaft (rear driveshaft needing a new rear u-joint) I noticed a couple more details. 1. All of the yokes on the entire driveshaft from front to back were properly aligned. 2. There were some match-marks underneath the dirt and grime caked onto the shaft that were matched in the current alignment. Looking at a schematic that someone sent me from the Tacomaworld forum, confirmed what I was seeing. It looks like the deal is that with the double cardan joint, the zerks have to be a turned slightly to the side in order to be able to get a grease gun past the the flanges of the joint. So I thought I was seeing zerks out of alignment down the length of my driveshaft, and actually, everything was aligned as it should be to allow zerk access. Made new matchmarks so I could see them clearly, disassembled, installed new u-joint, reassembled, test drive confirms that not only was the u-joint the source of the noise I had been hearing while driving, alignment was correct with the truck perfectly smooth at all speeds, no driveshaft vibrations at all. Stoked to have done a job I have never done on a vehicle before and stoked to have eliminated a noise that sounded like it might need an expensive repair when in fact a simple bearing and a little work did the trick!
@@Aquilasven Good to hear you verified everything was in proper alignment and you got the job done fixing your issue. Great job and Happy Wrenching!
Great Video and thanks for taking the time to edit and post.
I have tried to follow your method, I didn't find it until it was too late. With a two jaw puller and basic socket wrench my u-joints are not going in very easy at all. In fact, I had a partially inserted a c ring and after reducing tension it popped back out. Does this mean a bearing has fallen down some where? If not any suggestions or just keep wrenching?
It's hard to say what's going on with your u-joint install. I'd have to see pictures to understand the issues you're having. If you want, you can email me pictures. mtbtim@sbcglobal.net
I supported the yoke between two pieces of 2x4 with a gap in the middle such that the longer piece was freely suspended and the shorter piece beared across the gap. Using a hammer on the longer piece I was able to pop the upward facing cap out completely. I then flipped it so the other cap faced upward and continued to pound until the other popped out, freeing the longer piece from the smaller. For the small piece I used the same 2x4 gap trick letting just the very edge of the small piece keep the cap suspended. I beat on the cap facing upward with a 19mm socket until the bottom piece popped out slightly. Next, I used an angle grinder to cut off both sides of the joint inside the smaller piece. Finally, with the structure of the joint gone inside the smaller piece, I was able to use the 19mm socket to pound the caps all the way in through the center.
Good job getting it done. Did you take any pictures of how you did it? A write-up showing your technique could help out others. You could post it on T4R.org.
@@TimmyTheToolman I wish I had captured some pictures of the process. The technique I used ended up being very similar to this video: ua-cam.com/video/9P7wkkdcFos/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ThePracticalMechanic
Except I used soft lumber to support the yoke as I beat on it. Also, the caps in the longer piece would not come out with just the hammer, so that's why I resorted to using the angle grinder.
@@AustinWilhite This technique looked like it worked really well in the video. Thanks for sharing it.
@@AustinWilhite I had watched this video before watching Tim's long version. Big F-ing Hammer method definitely wins. Tim should really be warning people about the truck lurching when you disconnect the driveshaft from the differential.
Well I wish I would've watched this earlier! I was curious why it was so damn hard!!
Just tried to do all 3 today thinking it would take maybe an hour, and it ended up taking maybe 7 or 8! For some reason I couldn't get the U joints to go in the cardan without galling the metal, and how they're halfway recessed makes it HORRIBLE to deal with. I even blew out the cup on a NAPA joint with my press when trying to squeeze it in, it was THAT tight - shattered hardened steel. About halfway through I was wishing I just had a custom one made for maybe $400, but was in too deep to stop! Ended up having to sand down the holes in the cardan until the fit snug and could be tapped in, otherwise they kept binding on the walls halfway down the socket. Rear wasn't much different either!
To boot, I knocked over the driveshaft at one point and the needle bearings from that center ball came out! Had to scrounge them up and clean them, only got about 3/4 of them but everything's installed now, there's no squeak or shudder and it's smoother than it was before!!
Thanks for sharing.
Where did you get your 2 jaw puller?
From an OTC puller kit. Here's a link: amzn.to/2LuisQc Check the video description for more tool links. For all our videos, we provide links to all the tools we use either in the video description or a pinned comment. A pinned comment will be the first comments seen.
What 2-jaw puller is that?
Check the video description. It's part of an OTC kit.
Timmy The Toolman - Thank you Sir!! I ended up buying that kit from my local auto parts store.
Are all U joints the same size??
No, they are not. I'm pretty sure the rear most u-joint for the rear driveshaft that attaches to the rear differential and the front most u-joint on the front driveshaft that attaches to the front differential are the same. But, the ones in the double cardan joints are a different u-joint and Toyota does not sell them.
Timmy The Toolman how could you find the ones that Toyota doesn’t sell if they are needed? And do those usually go bad or is it the ones to that front and rear diff more common o go bad? Nevermind just heard you say it in the video watching it the second time
@@palaciosivan100 Yeah, people have rebuilt the double cardan joints but the u-joints available are not the greatest. I had a driveshaft shop rebuild a driveshaft for me recently and I asked the owner who's been in the business for 30 years if he rebuilds Toyota double cardan joints and his answer was NO, because Toyota doesn't sell replacement u-joints for it and the u-joints that are available are garbage.
The best thing you can do is keep your u-joints greased and they will last you a long time.
Timmy The Toolman so if that double cardan joint is bad what’s the way to fix it?
@@palaciosivan100 You get it rebuilt by a shop or try it yourself.
I'm confused on what U joint I need for my 1999 4runner limited 2wd. The 04371-60070 is showing not compatible and I can't find where to look on the dealer sites. Vin is JT3GN87R7X0099367.Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
You could simply visit your local Toyota dealer parts department and they can help you out. Sorry, but I'm not going to start doing online parts searches for you using your VIN number. You'll pay more by buying directly from your local dealer, but you'll at least get the right u-joint for your driveshaft. Good luck!
Thanks. I'll give them a call and hope they can give me the right info. Have had bad experiences in the past with them and it seems like it's getting more difficult these days to find anyone working that has confident knowledge outside of what I can usually find out. A lot of fake it til you make it guys out there too which adds to the excitement. That's why I like forums but, I guess I need to have so many introductory posts before asking questions on the one I tried signing up with. Maybe I was misunderstanding the rules.
Will update for posterity. Parts dept unavailable atm. Guess I'll try later.@heToolman
@@s2k350 Well, if a dealer parts department person can't find you the correct u-joint with the VIN number, I don't know what to say. Even a beginner parts department person should be able to handle this. I wouldn't do this over the phone. I would go there in person.
Guess I should have but it's a 30 minute drive with good traffic. I called, waited 15 minutes, hung up , called back and got someone. They found the part , wouldn't tell me the part #. $225 without tax for the pair. Asked why most u joints are $60 ish and he said because he had to look up the part, that's retail. What a joke. I asked why the website couldn't show it but he said that's why they make the big buck marking stuff up in so many words....
I did manage to get him to verify the 04371-60070 wasn't the part # he was looking at for mine. Weird bc some dealer sites say it is, some say it isn't... Who knows..maybe I shouldn't have said "04371"dash"..60070
..Tbh, if this was the Chevy/GMC GMT400 forum I'm a member of , I'd have this in 5 seconds with guys nearby offering to help me put them in...lol ..Love my Toyotas but this experience is on my nerves. I'm not paying $250 for 2 u joints and I don't want to put the Moogs on from the parts store since they only lasted 2 years. Still open for help here if anyone visiting can solve this riddle for me. I'll keep looking and update.. Thanks for all you do with your videos. It's life changing to have people like you helping so many.@heToolman
@@s2k350 Try posting this question on T4R.org. Maybe someone will have the answer you're looking for. There's also 3rd Gen 4runner Facebook pages you can join and ask this question.
Why didn’t he use the ford xg-8 grease, I’m definitely going to follow your advice on that and probably not fill the bottom
Jordan doesn't have the rear end clunking problem like I do.
This is the most helpful video I’ve found! Using this for my Tacoma, thank you again!
Good to hear you found our video helpful. Hope the job goes smooth for you.
Hey Tim, loving your channel, great work. Okay so I have 99 with 360 on it, we have had it since 85 k, I love the truck and it’s still in great shape. Recently developed slight shaking/vibration in drive line at about 20 mph, u joints seem perfect but wondering if they could still be suspect
How do you know it's coming from the driveline?How are you checking the u-joints? You should push and pull on the driveshaft pretty hard at different angles trying to determine if there's any play. Have you regularly serviced the u-joints by greasing the zerk fittings. For the rear driveshaft, it has a double cardan joint which is the dual joint that attaches to the transfer case. There's actually 3 zerk fittings, one for each u-joint and one for the center ball? Have you greased all 3? The driveshaft is balanced with tac welded on weights? Have you checked to see if the weight(s) are still affixed to the driveshaft? Have you checked for play at the rear 3rd member pinion bearing? Have you checked for bearing play at the transfer case rear companion flange?
@@TimmyTheToolman when I drive down the road at about 20-30 I can shift into neutral and it stops, seems to improve with higher highway speeds. I have pushed and pulled on the driveshaft and can’t discern any play.
@@TimmyTheToolman sorry didn’t see full response at first glance. We have had the truck since 80k and it is in great shape, but I can’t say that I have ever greased the driveshaft. I did grease all fittings last weekend when the problem started. FWIW the vibration seems to have gotten better since then, don’t know if it is related or not. The weights are still in driveshaft and driveshaft looks perfect. We don’t off-road it, abd southern vehicle. I have not checked for play at rear third member and can’t say that I know how. Not sure about the companion flange either. Transmission mounts I did check and they seem perfect
@@mattdewitt3985 Just push and pull on the flanges to see if there's detectable play.
If you have a long straight road in your area, you could remover the rear driveshaft, throw it in the back, put it in 4wheel drive and drive down the road and see if the vibration problem goes away. If it did, you now know it was the rear driveshaft. If the problem is still there, well, the search continues. You just don't want to make any tight turns on pavement while in 4wheel drive because you can break the CV axles and/or damage the front differential.
@@TimmyTheToolman thanks so much for your time… I will check these
I can attest that lining up the splines 100% to a T isn't horribly crucial as it is to have all yokes parallel as possibly. You can pretty easily spot if it's off, even by a tooth, it's really overblown
We try to give the best information possibly to those who are attempting this repair. Having it lined up as best you can is always better to ensure you don't run into issues.
I just subscribed! Excelling job
Welcome to the Timmy the Toolman club. Glad you like the video.
I cut the centre out on mine. It made pressing the ends out a breeze.
Not a bad idea. What did you make the cuts with?
@@TimmyTheToolman small grinder and a zip disc 👌
@@wanderer12 Roger that.
Great info and instructions.
Thanks for the compliment.
Great video guys
Thanks Antonio.
So how much for that slip yoke? Lol I need one
I can see if Andy wants to sell it. I'll get back to you.
Sounds good!
Once again a great video Tim!
Is 04371-60070 the same part number for both U-joints?
Hey Matt, glad you like the video. That part number is for the rear u-joint on the rear driveshaft. The u-joints for the double cardan joint on the rear driveshaft are hard to source because Toyota doesn't sell replacements. As for the front driveshaft u-joint that connects to the front differential, I don't know if that is the same part number as the rear.
Thanks @@TimmyTheToolman .
Another great video! This is going to be done this weekend! You guys are why #lastchanceBetty (1999 246,000 miles Taco) is going to be on the road for MANY years to come
Good luck with the job Todd. Hope it goes smooth for you.
@@TimmyTheToolman can I PayPal you a twelver??? I feel Iike I owe you a drink.
@@CantSitStillforREAL Sure. We have a tip jar link on our home page if you'd like to treat us to some beers. The link is right under the picture of me near the TEQ TIM logo. Thanks!
@@TimmyTheToolman done! 🤘🏼🤘🏼
@@CantSitStillforREAL Thanks Todd. We appreciate it!
Thank you 🤙
You're very welcome Jamie
Nice weather cold as shit up north east good idea with puller I just hammer it
Yeah, we are definitely spoiled in the California Bay Area. The 2 jaw puller works really well. Much better than when we used the balljoint c-press.
Thanks for the video
You're very welcome Victor.
You said to clean with alcohol
So i when and get me some jack Daniel😂😂😂
Good idea Juan. Why didn't we think of that. Some for the u-joint, some for us.
@@TimmyTheToolman i be back
Thanks Tim
Sicmods bro!!!!
- Sean
Excellent....Thanks a lot !!!!!!!!
You're welcome Alejandro. We're glad you like it.
what a pain in the ass it is for that vehicle! glad my tacoma is different
39:11 just the way she likes it
I can tell how old the videos are by the condition of that plastic mallet :D
Yep, I've used that mallet in a lot of videos. It's starting to look a little beat up.
Tell that big moose to come help me replace mine in my Tundra because I have been putting it off.
I take it you're calling Jordan the moose? Last time I checked Jordan doesn't have antlers but maybe my powers of observation are a little weak.
@@TimmyTheToolman I'm sure they are fine. I believe he was disbudded at a young age.
That noise at 10:35... lol
Lmfao
i just bought 3 u-joint on rock auto then i learn there a ball and some special u joint...
Sounds like you're trying to rebuild the double cardan joint? Sourcing the u-joints and center ball for the double cardan joint is difficult from what I've heard. What brand u-joints did your buy from Rock Auto and what's the part numbers?
@@TimmyTheToolman moog heavy duty non greasable u-joint
@@TimmyTheToolman i will put the part number when back home right now i am under the truck
@@TimmyTheToolman Part number: MO 287 i bought this u joint to replace the one near the rear diff and tought while beaing there why not change the other two but after seeing your video i will only be changing the one near the diff. By the way great channel and video help me on my repair cheers
@@relaxeful Good luck with the job. Hope the job goes smooth for you. Good to hear you like our channel. Happy Wrenching!
I just cut mine off with the grinder . Takes 10 minutes.
Good job.
Them u joints are a pain in the ass
They can be but I'm hoping our video will make it a less pain in the ass.
the transitioning animations are disorientating
Did you get dizzy? There's medication for that. The transitions make the cuts smoother. Without them, the video would look very jarring and jumpy. Trust me, it's better with the transitions. The only way to make the video smoother is if I could 100% always say everything perfectly and we do everything perfectly on the first take. As you can understand, that's not possible. If we didn't clean up the video by making cuts, the video would be much longer and probably confuse people.
Y'all make this so complicated lol. Use a damn hammer and you're good to go. Nice work though
I wish it was as easy as you say but we learned from our first attempt and came up with what we shared in the video as the best option we could come up with. If you knock that first bearing cup in too far to where it drives fully out of the yoke, it's a bitch to get it lined back up to come out. If you could drive that first bearing cup in with reckless abandon and have no consequences, then it would be as easy as you say. But, ti's not from what we learned the hard way.
Wow this guy is wearing a Toyota mechanic shirt calls himself Toyota chimney represents South Park he should be Timmy in the wheelchair use a freaking angle grinder cut the u-joint out at all four corners and tap them inward you should be able to remove these in 10 minutes I would fire my mechanics if they didn't do it tap your new ones in easy peasy
You should make videos and share your knowledge. I have never represented myself as a Toyota Certified Mechanic. I bought the shirts Sean and I where from an Automotive Workwear web site so we'd have some type of uniform with our name on it.
It's pretty consistent. The guys with the most attitude towards DIYers like myself are always the "Paid" guys. You won't make videos to help others out because you want people to come to shops to get bent over on high hourly labor rates. And, you "Paid" guys screw up all the time. Good luck with your high and mighty trolling attitude.