John, when I replaced the u-joint on my 52 a couple of years ago,
If I remember right I had to loosen the trany support, and GENTLY jack up the trany. I found to much lift was as bad as to little. Then loosen the ball collar nut, and expose the u-joint. Split the u-joint and the torque tube should fall down out of the way. If you do this from underneath the truck you may want to support the torque tube. You can then pull the rear 1/2 of the u-joint out of the torque tube. The loose torque tube is supriseingly heavy. This also exposes the bolt that attaches the front 1/2 of the u-joint to the transmission. The ball collar nut had rope packing in it rather than a gasket, I don't know if that is the correct seal as it may have been something the previous owner did.
