Driveshaft Replacement Walkthrough

[oddball]

Yesterday, I had the displeasure of replacing the front right driveshaft for my 03 V6. This is a basic walkthrough of what you'll encounter and how to handle it.

Time
Took me 4 hours. Should take you 2 if you know this info, or 45 mins if your car loves you.

Supplies
Lug Wrench
Socket set with extensions
8, 12, 14, 17, 19, 32mm sockets
Breaker bar
Torque Wrench (if you're fancy)
Spray lubricant (if this is your first time...)
Packing grease (for CV shaft)
Elbow grease and a bucket of patience

Disassembly

1. First, jack your car up as high as you can and take off your wheel. Especially if you're lowered, the more room you have for this the better.
2. Next, remove the hub. This is a point of contention; some people on this forum have said you can slide the shaft through the hole in the hub after you take the driveshaft nut off, or can remove just the links and lower control arm and swing it up. You're welcome to try that, but you can't pull the TJ cup through there, and again, the more room to work the better.
   *I ended detaching everything, which is what all those sockets are for (I had to get an alignment after this regardless, so it was of no consequence to me); that meant the brake caliper assembly, rotor, pull rod, control arm, and strut. Here's how that looked: Some of these can stay assembled, but if you don't have the means to fully support them, hanging that much weight by the brake line is risky business.
3. The next step depends on your situation. I was replacing just the portion from the hub to the front of the center bearing. (bought at Advance for $60)
   So I needed to get the driveshaft out of the center bearing. I tried that with the inner shaft assembly still attached to the transmission for about 2 hours. Mine was stuck in there and I couldn't get a good angle on it. Rather than deal with that, do the following.
4. Remove the front part of the exhaust so that you can get a wrench onto the bolts that hold the center bearing onto the engine. I didn't have an O2 sensor socket so I just let it hang as far as I could and supported it.
5. Take off those 2 bolts holding the bracket that the center bearing is attached to the engine by.
6. Now, remove the whole shaft assembly, it should slide right out. The view from the wheel well should look like this. *Be sure to cover the grooved ends with shop towels or something so you don't mar them or get junk in them.
7. Once you get it out, set it on the ground and lightly pry the driveshaft out of the center bearing with a flathead screwdriver.
   

Assembly

1. Reverse! Reverse! Put everything back how you found it, making sure to regrease the shafts and lube any bolts you had trouble getting off.

Btw, my old assembly is still in good shape (long story), if anyone wants it they can have it for cost of shipping.