A few months ago I have posted about my rear diff "ticking" or doing some weird noises especially when warm and starting from stop and turning slightly. Well, after a while I am 99% sure I was wrong and wasn't the diff, I inspected it and looks pretty good to me, instead I have found that only when the car is warm(!!!) my rear axle can be hand twisted by a few mills and shaken. This makes me think that my U joints are bad !
Is there any brand to avoid or stick with as far as u joints go? do u also know which size I am mounting on a 92' limited?
Also I have noticed that on cold starts and cold days (?!) my front left wheel does some tick tock sorta noise when turning sharp and you can feel her shaking a bit... Could this be still a U joint or might be a ball joint?
Cheers everyone

 

Please elaborate on the twisting of the rear axle. If you can twist between the yoke and shaft, then yes it's a bad u-joint. Did you remove the driveshaft to check?

U-joints for the driveshafts are DANA 51310X for the non-greaseable, Dana 5153X for the greaseable ones.

Shaking on turning could be a lot of things. Jack up the front end, try to wiggle the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock, if there's play (movement) it's usually a bad wheel hub bearing or bad ball joint. If you can wiggle it at 3 and 9 o'clock it could be a bad tie rod.

While it's up in the air, look at the ball joints and axle shaft u-joints for any obvious signs of failure. Inspect the boots for tears (a torn boot on any of those parts means you should replace them) and obvious movement.

 

For twisting I mean that If I grab the shaft After the car has been running and its warm, I can twist It by a few mills, in other words there Is a play that becomes obvious once the car Is warm.... Twisting It seems to produce the same dinging sound that I hear while starting and turning at Low speeds....

 

If not a bad uj than what could It be?

 

Nah the twisting of the shaft won't tell much. Keep looking.

 

Ah and she only does the noise in 2 wd...

 

Tick tock from the front left when turning sure sounds like a U joint. Get the greasable ones. You can change these out easily with 2 pieces of 2x4 wood and a steel hammer and a screwdriver. Watch a Utube. First use the screwdriver to hammer out the clips, clean them out good don't leave pieces. Spray some oil. Place 2 ears of the shaft on the wood pieces and hammer down on the shaft to drive it out, then flip it over do the other side. Once you get the hang of it you'll want to do them all. Of course it could be the hub too, but experience says U joint. LIttle noises are often just brakes dragging or dirty.