I would assume that you are correct.
What year truck did that come out of?
A 2000
Did you heat up the plastic inside or was there any?
Yes , was able to do it with a propane torch, plastic worms.Once I got the u-joint out ,cleaned up the passage way of any remaining plastic.
How much was your ball joint/u-joint tool?
The tool I purchased was Harbor freights 4 wheel drive service set and with the 20% off coupon was $55.45.That being said I would not attempt it without my 1/2" impact gun.
You should check to make sure the seals on the transfer case/transmission end of the driver shaft are still good.
Just those two bearing/caps where bad, was almost frozen(moved about a 1/4", not bouncing around so everything else was good,I pulled the caps off and bearings just fell out.Made a god aweful creaking noise when it moved,thankfully didnt come apart on me and wipe anything else out...
My u joint went and it wrecked my seal on my transfer case. There was slight play on the shaft just before it entered the transfer case so I opened it up and replaced the rear bushing and added a case saver while I was in there and replaced the transmission to transfer case adapter seal as well.
I had to have my joints heated up using acetylene/oxygen mix. Apparently propane plumbing nozzel does reach a hot enough temp. to melt out the factory plastic.
The propane nozzle I picked up (Harbor freight also $14.99) worked well for me in conjunction with the service tool and a 1/2" impact gun.
Took me about a solid hour total to remove and install both u-joints out of the truck.
I heated up the yokes until the plastic squirted out(maybe 5 minutes) didnt even use a whole bottle on the job(less than $2.00 worth), then got the ridge good and warm around the caps, squirted some PB blaster around the ridge/caps let that sit for a minute or two, screwed the tool on and started working the caps. They didnt fly off mind you ,took a few minutes as I only have a 20 gal tank on my compressor here at the house.
After about five minutes working the u-joint popped out, then I removed the cap and pushed it back threw the other side with the tool and removed that cap and so on...
Once I had the joint out I heated the groove with the torch and used a flat screw driver blade and removed the rest of the plastic/nylon stuff.Then I took a wire brush and cleaned everything up before pressing the new u-joint in. They did go right in after everything was cleaned up.Installed the clips, tapped the yokes to free up the joints and everything was nice and smooth.
I cleaned and re greased the yoke spline ,lined up my marks and slid everything back together.Bolted the front caps on and torqued to 19ftlbs , road tested, noise gone
Now to replace my fan belt,squeek driving me nuts.lol
