mortals VS dog bones

[serial14]

I'm the proud owner of a very new M923A1. It had 400 miles on it since it was rebuilt in Maine when I got it off GL. New tires, new paint, newly rebuilt drivetrain, etc. My logic was it should have little to no problems.... Foolish me.

Right after I got it I had a dog bone fall off the middle axle while i was driving. It was quite exciting drifting a 5 ton sideways down a hill! For the short term I got the dog bone pressed back on and welded on a keeper plate. A couple of days ago I was doing a pre drive check and took the time to really inspect all the dog bones. I noticed that at least 3 joints are starting to delaminate. All of the joints look like they'll fall apart given time... so I scrapped the drive for that day.

My question is... should I attempt to replace all these dog bone ends my self. Or is the task too difficult for a mere mortal? I know I don't have all the tools needed, but I'm 'pretty' sure I have access to all of them that are needed through friends. Having never done this task I'm not quite sure how it will go and frankly the magnitude of the task scares me. I know of several truck shops in the area that are capable and willing todo the work for me. So its kind of a question of... try it my self or pay for the labor of somebody else doing it.

The final question is of course... is it easy to find new joints? And is it a common thing for all the joints to start going at once?

Thanks

 

[hndrsonj]

There's a few posts with pics on here. It's pretty easy, just not really fast.

 

[serial14]

I've read various threads where guys have talked about replacing the joints. The procedure looks simple enough. I'm just not sure how much strength and "forceful negotiation" it'll take.