I know this is to long but I feel some history is important to the subject. I just bought this trooper about 3 weeks ago. I have another 89. I am kinda restoring it for my grandson someday. I am replacing the upper balljoints rebuilding one upper control arm. The left (drivers side) CV joint is ripped also. I have the history of this truck back to 1999. the right axle along with the CV's were replaced in 2004. So the left must have been good at that time. I have read a lot of info on this subject but still have ?s. How do I tell if the actual joint is bad. It is the outside boot. I have removed it, cleaned up the grease. Everything looks fine, lots of grease still there but the tear was bad. The previous owner is a downtwon Seattle guy. He said he never drove the truck in four wheel and stayed on city streets. I believe him. If I do need to replace the half shaft. Can I take the the axle out without removing the hub. Seems I read I could but the vehicle may not have been a four wheel. I like the Mecatech system I have been reading about on the forum. Thanks for reading this. Stan