I finally traced down a rattle in my rear end and figured out that it is a bad u-joint. I was thinking about changing it my self. I do my own oil, put on a SLP ram air kit, and did my own stereo. I do not own a torque wrench, so would I need to borrow one to do this job? It seems pretty straighforward, all I do is unbolt the driveshaft, and get it out of the rearend. Bolt the new one back in, and bolt back in the driveshaft, then I'm done.

So are there any tips you guys have, any pitfalls I need to avoid? It is a simple job isn't it?

 

There's more to it than unbolting the old one. you need a press, or a good vice (and a socket for the cap to get pressed into) to press it out, and then press in the new one. And as is the case with many newer driveshafts, they have nylon injected around where the u joint goes into the shaft, which acts like a lockring when it hardens.

 

You can heat the ujoint to melt out the nylon. Then just use hand tools to punch out the ujoint with hand tools. It's not rocket science.