hi all...

i have an ed fairmont and the rear uni joint is starting to clunk.
is there much drama taking the uni joint off the tail shaft?
do you need any special tools?

cheers.

Take it to a shop will cost you $50 including parts, they either come out or are plain stuck hard, let someone else have the problem.

not hard to do at all. special tools? not really. it took two of us half an hour to change both front and rears roadside in the middle of Hobart at 1am in the ol' xc ute!

Mr sperm nice one but it would have made it home unless they were that bad the shaft dropped out or you just let it go for so long!

Anyway to change a UJ isnt all that hard, all you need is a marking texta, 15mm and 18mm ring spanner, some sockets (1 smaller and one larger than the UJ bearing) vice grips, mallet and pointy nose pliers.

Step 1. Copy the yellow dot from rear of shaft onto diff flange.

Step 2. With spanners undo shaft flange from diff then remove shaft but making sure the front yellow dot is copied onto trans output shaft once removed (or have yellow dot on shaft facing down then place in park, then remove)

Step 3. With shaft out mark position of slip flange and rear flange so when refitted they are in original position. Then use pointy nose pliers to remove snap rings from outer of bearings (if tigh use a large punch and knock bearings in to loosen rings)

Step 4. Place sockets on both ends of the bearings and sit in vice , whilst tightening vice the smaller socket will push bearing and the other bearing will slide into the larger socket. With vice grips clamp the bearing and tap it out with hammer.
repeat step 4 to remove all bearings and UJ crosses.

Step 5. Push an old bearing though all holes on shaft to remove any burs.

Step 6. Fit New UJ assembly by placing UJ cross into component or shaft yoke, then place bearing in and press in with vice and smaller socket enough to fit snap ring (do not hammer as bearing will collapse) once bearing is in and cross is aligned in bearing repeat on other side.
Repeat step 6 until all UJ's are fitted. (Ensure components line up in original position)

Step 7. Once all UJ's are fitted use a mallet and strike each bearing on the outer to seat them until they move freely.
Step 8. Refit shaft making sure all marks line up as doing this will ensure the system balance balance is kept from factory.