Posted as an FYI & as something worth taking a closer look at when doing normal mtce routines on your car to make sure all is good.... A copy of the MOP I used is also attached for those who may need to do the same job one day.

This past weekend, I replaced a half-shaft U-joint for the 2nd time in my 98's 162,000 mile life. Both have been outer joints & both failed the same way - grease passages became blocked by hardened grease leading to the affected trunnions going dry & burning the bearings. Both times, the joints were taking grease, so I had no reason to suspect a problem until an inspection showed untoward wheel movement when the rear wheels were raised. In the latest case, the symptoms that drove the inspection was a "clunk" when reversing that sounding like the parking brake shoes releasing.

The photo shows that the u-joint was toast with 2 trunnions in the same plane both shot. One was so bad the needle bearings had pretty much disappeared. I'm amazed that the symptoms were as mild as they were as you would have thought that the state of the bearings would have produced vibration or other drivability symptoms.

The good news is outer joints are an easy replacement & the bearings are common with a lot of vehicles, so easy to get at your local parts store - seems like a lot of pickups & other light trucks are cross referenced to the same u-joint p/n. Start to finish the job took about 2 hours of driveway time with the only special tools needed being a hub puller & press. I used a loaner set from a local shop (Canadian Tire for other Canada based members - they have a free tool loan program).

The hub puller was for FWD cars and just fit over the wheel studs (I have stock 16" wheels). Removal was easy with the hub pulling off with minimal force required.

For the U-joint, the press I used was a ball joint press with a large socket sized to fit inside the trunnion used to press the bearing out. I thought I would be able to do the job with a 10" C-clamp I have, but it wasn't able to deliver enough force without flexing, so I had to borrow the more robust ball joint press to get enough force.