How can we tell if the outer ujoints of a Dana 44 are wore out?? My buddy has a '95 F-150 which I believe has a 44 front. The drivers side is making some clunking noises only when the hubs are locked in and in 4-wheel drive. Could it be the hub or is the u-joint toast? What does it take to pull the shafts and replace the u-joints?? Any help or info is appreciated.

Thanks

yep, D44.

Are they auto or manual hubs?

Its possible, but highly unlikely its a U-joint on a truck that new.

Auto hubs generally are crap.

To get the shaft out (driverside), you need to remove the bolts on the hub body. There will be a hard-to-see snap-ring inside the circumference of the end of the vehicle hub. This can be a pain to pop out. A couple small jewelers screwdrivers usually work good. Remove the clip on the end of the shaft, then pull out the hub guts. then you need a special four-prong socket to undo the wheelbearing nuts. Remove the hub/rotor, then the 6 bolts securing the spindle. The spindle can be rusted on sometimes. Some blows with a RUBBER or RAWHIDE hammer will coax it off. Don't use a metal hammer, you'll ruin it. Then pull the shaft out.

Taking out the passengerside inner small shaft requires pulling the pig off the axlebeam. It held in the diff with a clip.

This procedure is for manual hubs, although I don't recall a major difference with the autos.

Make sure to align the locking pin on the inner locknut with a hole on the lockwasher. I've seen these crushed from not doing this. Then the wheel could fall off!:eek:

Hope that helps

Hmm, a clunking noise on the driver's side is kinda vague. Jack up the driver's front, push pull tug, look for play in the wheel bearings. Stick a big screwdrivers in the u-joint, can you move anything there much (spindle bearing?). How 'bout radius arm bushings, pivot bushings?