Unbolting front driveshaft

[m1dn]

Hey folks,

Coming back with another dumb question, but figured i'd better ask before taking it apart.

Yukon 08 Denali, AWD.
I need to detach front driveshaft from engine side of ujoint ( 4 small bolts ) to move it a little and reach out to exhaust/pipe bolt.
I remember on 09 F-150 the rear shaft was spinning freely in Neutral and i could rotate and ubolt it easily.

However on this truck the shaft doesn't seem to spin in Neutral, so i'm little hesistant taking these 4 bolts off thinking it might be hard to put it back in place.

Do i need to get rear wheels off the ground, put in Neutral and then remove the bolts or just leave in Park, take the bolts off and it should go back together without issues?

P.S The car is on the ramps and i simply need to remove the front shaft bolts to move it a little bit to the side, don't need to take it out completely.
Would love to leave it on the ramps while doing that, so my fat ass can reach under the truck more easily

 

[Joseph Garcia]

The important thing is to mark both sides, so that when you put them back together, you put them back together with the marks aligning again.

 

[tungsten]

I removed mine to attach the drivers rear exhaust clamp.When I put it back it didn't line up,I had to roll the truck forward a hair.
Why it moved I had no idea,truck was on a jack stand.

 

[Geotrash]

Hey folks,

Coming back with another dumb question, but figured i'd better ask before taking it apart.

Yukon 08 Denali, AWD.
I need to detach front driveshaft from engine side of ujoint ( 4 small bolts ) to move it a little and reach out to exhaust/pipe bolt.
I remember on 09 F-150 the rear shaft was spinning freely in Neutral and i could rotate and ubolt it easily.

However on this truck the shaft doesn't seem to spin in Neutral, so i'm little hesistant taking these 4 bolts off thinking it might be hard to put it back in place.

Do i need to get rear wheels off the ground, put in Neutral and then remove the bolts or just leave in Park, take the bolts off and it should go back together without issues?

P.S The car is on the ramps and i simply need to remove the front shaft bolts to move it a little bit to the side, don't need to take it out completely.
Would love to leave it on the ramps while doing that, so my fat ass can reach under the truck more easily

It's AWD so either the front or rear wheels will need to be off the ground for that shaft to rotate freely. As long as the vehicle doesn't move on the ramps, you shouldn't have any trouble getting it back together. But if it does, raising the rear wheels with a jack will allow you to move it again.

 

[m1dn]

It's AWD so either the front or rear wheels will need to be off the ground for that shaft to rotate freely. As long as the vehicle doesn't move on the ramps, you shouldn't have any trouble getting it back together. But if it does, raising the rear wheels with a jack will allow you to move it again.

Thank you, i'll go ahead ramp it, chuck it, mark everything and take it off then

 

[m1dn]

Get it marked and bolts out, but holy shit was it stuck here on there lol.
Couldn't get it out and didn't want to bother further.
Ended up putting exhaust clamp from top with sweat and pain after 1000th try instead of trying to reach from the bottom and get the exhaust/pipe out.

 

[Geotrash]

Get it marked and bolts out, but holy shit was it stuck here on there lol.
Couldn't get it out and didn't want to bother further.
Ended up putting exhaust clamp from top with sweat and pain after 1000th try instead of trying to reach from the bottom and get the exhaust/pipe out.

Nice work! Now, at least you know that it’s secure and isn’t going to come flapping out of there. Lol

 

[Dustin Jackson]

The important thing is to mark both sides, so that when you put them back together, you put them back together with the marks aligning again.

@Joseph Garcia If you don't do this what will happen? When I dropped my front diff my marks were worn off and so I had no point of reference when I put it back together.

 

[B-train]

Nothing major. It's just in case there is build-up from rust that will prevent it from sitting in the saddle properly. If it's rusty, you'll know where IT WAS by the silhouette of the yoke.

If you have heavy rust or buildup and smash it back together you will probably end up with a vibration that will drive you nuts.....

 

[Geotrash]

It’s just always good practice to assemble driveline components in the same way that they were disassembled. Keep in mind that the forces trying to tear a driveshaft apart above 120 miles an hour or so can be catastrophic. And the tiniest little bit of imbalance will be magnified hundreds of times over.