johny75

I need to remove it to replace the bearing on one side as the rubber boot is torn and the joint is running dry. Front shaft is between the transmission and the transfer case and the ends look like in the pic I have attached. As you can see the domed metal piece in the middle on each end sits inside a concaved mating surface. Removing the bolts looks straight forward, along with few brackets that hang above it but how do I gain space to then slide it out. Hard transfer case is on one side and tranny on the other side, and I don't think they will move for the shaft to slide out. If the end pieces were flat it will just slide out but those small domes worry me. I wonder if anyone has done it to give me some tips before attempting to do it myself. My electronic manual is down at the moment...Thanks!

johny75

Ok, guys here is some info for you on these shafts, I have been researching it. Our shafts use what is called Rezeppa or also called terra flex type joints (the one in the pic). Mercedes and all shops tell you that once a joint is messed up, you have to change the entire shaft, but this is wrong. Guys that lift jeeps, etc, change those joints on their OEM shafts all the time to achieve higher angles, so the joint is meant to be replaced, not too hard of a job, but it hard to find the part. However, an ebay seller has them for 35$, you just have to do a search on ebay under the shaft part number , then sort by least expensive and you will see the parts listed.

Another discovery: looking at my torn rubber boot on the joint, I can tell that it has been many years since it tore up, as matter of a fact nothing is left of it and I can see the ball bearings inside all slightly rusted. So my first thought was , wow!?.. these are built pretty good to have a ball bearing run dry with rust for 4+ years and I just now started to hear a significant noise. However, examining the design of this Rezeppa joint, I found out that the ball bearing inside don’t really roll around in 360 degrees as the shaft is spinning, and that is why they last that long even without grease. The ball barings are simply used to create the angle of the shaft but once the angel is achieved they don’t roll around.

So while waiting for my part to arrive, I used a grease gun, removed the nipple fitting at the end and connected a thin hose instead. I then used it to jam in some grease in the joint. I put some duct tape to temporary create a boot to give me some time to change the entire joint later. I no longer hear the rolling clanking noise during low RPMs (see my other post when I thought it was the trany), and it has eliminated one other noise that I thought was normal, which is: from a dead stop when pushing on the gas I could hear s small click in the fist 1sec. All of that is gone now! Now waiting for my part to arrive, then I have to find time to remove the shaft and replace the joint.

TX07GL450

Good info. While most of us might not get to that point, thanks for the research and posting it. I am sure it will be helpful to others.
Hopefully repair will go well and issue will be resolved.