Seems the leak is mainly at the knurled collar. Its not a big job to fix it but hate the idea of doing it lying on my back. The other question is will I have to dismantle the u-joint to get the shaft out?
Yes - unless you want to:
- lift the rear of truck a little bit off the ground and put jack stands under the rear frame
- support the rear end under the "pumpkin" with a floor jack
- disconnect the rear end from the springs
- lower the rend end so the wheels are on the ground
- roll the torque-tube assembly backwards (supporting the torque-tube so it does not drop down when it clears the joint yoke and bell/cover)
This is not a joke, I have done it, after reading the procedure in an old shop manual.
