I think my front drive is going out. Could use some advice please.

That's always a good question, one thing to realize though, is as long as the truck is in decent shape, it will never really depreciate much more than its current value.

You could spend $10,000-$20,000 getting everything tip top, and be good to go for a long time. Or, you could go drop $40,000 or more on a different truck, and be good for a long time, or spend the same $10,000-$20,000 on the newer one anyway.

If you like what you have, with the current economic climate we are in now, if I were you I'd keep fixing what you have.

 

I can not answer that and it sounds bad. Trucks with big payments out of service for emission problems sound worse to me. Maybe prioritize your repairs and try to work on a monthly budget. I doubt the spring is a first priority. The rear hangers are most surly worn out also. If the left hanger is worn more than the one on the right the spring may not be the problem. If only the left spring is replaced then it may lean to the right.

 

Then get rid of it if you absolutely hate it. Do you owe money on it?

 

I wouldn't want to drive something I hated.

 

No need you are above average for anyone that had your week.
Before u joint pullers we put a 20 ton jack on blocks and under driveshaft yoke. Removed the bolts from the top through shaft joint and jacked. Tapping the yoke outside the joint helps sometimes. Be safe!
If its a keeper swap it out. If your undecided or the money is thin pull the power divider section off first. You maybe able to put in a cluster gear or something and get out under $1000. Be sure the P/D is disengauging.

 

Learn something every day.

In the old days the tktktktktk from a axle back there is a kiss of death.

No one said anything about spinning the trans in idle checking the suspect gears while a second person eyeballs the rear of the trans where it will go into a drive shaft. If you had any kind of surface you would rest a material small with the shaft rotating away to see if there is any trouble going inside the transmission box.

I once tore a axle out inside the gear box back there, it took a bite out of a gear that was machined lengthwise about 14 inches and 2 to 3 inches wide. The bite was about two inches square when the truck got into it. I don't know if it came out of the rear of the transmission ( I think it does) or the two axles back there, however my experience was the same. Tow please. The good news was we never saw that truck again. Putting it into 3rd (GMC day cab... think it was a brigader) required the stick to be somewhere into the passenger seat before it broke bobtail.

 

If there's metal in the oil, and you replace the center section, I would absolutely do the wheel bearings and seals at the same time.