4 Wheel Drive/SUVs: 2001 ford f150 4x4 rear drive shaft yoke, rear drive shaft, rear driveshaft

Question
I have a 2001 f150 xlt 5.4L extended cab off road 4x4. I recently was changing out two of my u-joints on the rear driveshaft and needed to put some heat on them to get them out. I unknowingly melted a gasket or seal that was on a collar on the drive shaft yoke. I am assuming this collar was for dampening or ballancing. Long story short, I inadvertantly broke the collar off. After some research, I couldn't find an independant part number on this piece, let alone, a part number on the yoke itself (independant of an entire shaft assembly). For some reason I was quoted roughly $1,600 for the entire assembly. Needless to say I took my chances and put in the new u-joints and reinstalled  the shaft. I drove the vehicle up to 70mph and it has been asymptomatic. Questions: is this collar absolutely necessary and what was its true purpose? Question: can I have the shaft ballanced in lieu the collar? And finally, could I purchase only the shaft yoke in the market place.

Answer
Brad,

That's some drive shaft if you were quoted $1,600.  I would contact some local drive line shops and see what they would charge to replace the yoke.  This collar and seal is usually used to hold grease for the slip spline.

Depending on which model you have, there are a couple of different drive lines, such as a double drive line or single.

You might consider purchasing a repair manual for the truck from your local auto parts store.  They cost around $20 and are great for any repair or trouble shooting you may want to do.  It should, also show an exploded picture of the drive line and the from that you can determine the purpose of the collar on your model.

Carl