I'm about to start tearing apart my trans, torque tube and rear this winter. No matter how many times I look at the diagrams I couldn't wrap my head around what all was in the job. I understood in principle but just couldn't envision how it went together. Your pics of the u-joint ball alone earned you a bookmark on my browser.
Thank you. That little sucker was a little more work than I thought. Main reason why...is that new cork seal made it tight to slide back on drive shaft. I recommend marking driveshaft where that threaded collar rests, cause with new cork seal...it's tough to move back and forth on shaft (even before it's threaded on the u-joint ball) and be sure not to slide it on too far. Then just slide on threaded collar by itself just past your mark. Then what I did is slide the u-joint ball onto driveshaft with the collar that bolts to rear of trans, slapped gaskets and some gasket goop on trans, then slide over the splines. Smeared some graphite grease on ball and attached the top two bolts to trans then got it in place over trans mount and attached the lower bolts. Don't forget the cork gasket that goes around the ball. Finally, I coaxed the threaded collar onto the back of the u-joint ball. Tighten down tight but leave yourself a half turn or more...in case it leaks down the road, then all you have to do is crank it down that half turn or so and that should stop the leak. Also, the gasket kit comes with 4 gaskets that can be used as shims for the rear of the trans. I used all 4. I test fit those gaskets and u-joint ball dry before installing. If you need help with that just ask. That can be for another post.
Hope that doesn't confuse ya cause it's a bit wordy.
