I'm pretty sure that the noise I hear in my burb is a bad U-joint. They are the factory joints with 200,000+ miles on them. I want to replace them but.. They have that plastic/nylon retainer that must be melted to get the caps out. Anyone ever done this job that can tell me what I'm facing? I have done U-joints but, it's been a long time and it was on an F-150.

 

melt out the plastic, press out the old u joint. clean the yolk. install the new ujoint...the new joint will be help in place by clips into the grooves of the yolk and centered inner clips that fit between the yolk on the pinion.

 

When I replaced the ones in my 2007, I melted out the nylon injection, it takes some heat to do it, I used MAPP gas and kept the heat spread around on the yoke, having a second pair of hands is very helpful. (welding gloved hands)
You will know you have the yoke hot enough when the nylon injections starts to spew out of the injection hole. Be sure to get ALL of the old injection out of the yoke carrier.
You might could also consider taking the drive shaft and yoke assy to a shop and have them punch them out for you for a small fee...