Driveshaft

Good afternoon fellow Tundra owners.I own an 08 SR5 DC.Dropped my driveshaft to replace my carrier bearing and universal joints, carrier bearing was almost completely shot, figured I would do the uv joints at the same time. Procured all my parts including a new output shaft seal.I have the 4.0v6 so it's a little easier,only 2wd,it's a 2 piece shaft.Vice and a 3lb hammer with the assistance of a socket,wouldn't budge.I started with the joint closest to the diff.Busted out the electric torque wrench with a universal joint press,I was 4 hours deep.Middle joint fell apart in 20 minutes,but also broke an ear off the sleeve yoke that connects the big aluminum shaft to the smaller black shaft,but figured I would just buy a new piece from Toyota today.Then I approach the last but first one,the tranny yoke output shaft.That joint I invested about 2 hours.Not a single one came out effortlessly as seen on youtube and other videos.371000C14000,is the driveshaft part number.I was blown away when I found out I couldn't buy just the yoke.30mm socket,I separated it and took it in with me.Im wondering why 1)were the uv joints so complicated to remove at 180k miles 2)is there a reason why they don't make replacement parts for the shaft, because I couldn't get an explanation from anyone there,I was so angry I was asked to leave and 3)could it have anything to do with the "bump" issue everyone had with 07 to 09 tundras?I purchased the truck new,I ordered it from the Texas plant,it was delivered to West Colonial Toyota where I accepted the truck.Its had the notorious 'bump' since day one,but only an occasional "bump" so I never let it bother me.I was forced to replace the whole shaft,it will be ready for pickup in the morning.Im an industrial mechanical/technician in the air conditioning and refrigeration field,the whole job was very easy and light,had everything I needed to do the job properly,but for the sake of no truck for a whole day,not sure it was worth the experience.If I did something wrong,please let me have it

 

If you can't just buy the yoke, it's likely that Toyota is buying them as assemblies themselves so they would have to pull a driveline apart to just sell you that piece.

Sometimes when stuff like this gets stuck it's best to bust out some serious heat to force them out.

 

Evening Audio,it seemed like such an easy job, driveshaft fell into my hands so to speak,had it removed in just under 20 minutes.I thought about heat,but first thing I thought of was possible throwing something out of balance.Toyota recommended replacing those components at 75 to 100k miles.To make it worse,every single u joint was in good condition, carrier bearing was shot.It didn't make sense

 

When in doubt I would just torch them out. You could probably get what you need from a yard if you wanted to buy just the yoke.

 

Your rite,I found several,but with time invested and I need the truck back on the road asap,buying the driveshaft does several things for me,hardware is already installed and no more time waisted.I believe some of those videos are edited to look easy,they cut out mistakes etc.Im speculating of course,but it just makes sense and I did everything by the book and it went terribly wrong.

 

I just did my the drive shaft on my Tundra and it was a pain in the ass. I tried using a big metal C clamp like I have done on my chevy truck, and they didn't move. I then threw them in this big old vise that I would use to pop them on the chevy, and nothing. I ended up having beat them out with a mini sledge to get them out. Now my truck had 198,000 miles on it, but still I have never had to beat on u joints so bad to remove them.

 

U-joints are almost never fun. GM used some sort of glue that they would fill a groove in the cap and yoke. Lots of heat and a good hydraulic press was the only way you would get them apart. After doing my share without a good press all I can say is never again. C clamps, hammers, and vices just don't cut it. I bet Harbor Freight sells a ton of those 20 ton presses to guys who got in a little too deep into replacing a U-joint and couldn't get it apart.

 

The ball joint press at Harbor Freight also works really well for pressing out U-joints.

I did mine recently and I didn't bother using my 20 ton press.