OK so today I wire wheeled about a 1/4 inch of rusty crud off of each half shaft (no fooling) and then beat the old U-joints out. Beat them out you ask?  Thats because my sweet new C-clamp (that I specifically bought to press u-joints) actually broke today and is now a J-clamp. Thanks China!  

Ya I got one of those J clamps from china too(or I mean had one. It got immediatly placed into the return to sender file). The balance of your half shafts are only as good as they were before the crud removal. Did you notice a vibration?
You should be able to just remove and replace the u-joints unless there is a hidden problem. Give it a cleaning and you should be good to go.

Cool! I didn't notice any problems with the rear for the short time that I drove it. I was just amazed at how much crud came off those things, eventhough there was no grease left in the U-joints I didn't notice any damage to the roller pins except where they had started cooking on one U-joint. I should be able to get into the diff today and check the yokes out. Fingers crossed!!!

Rust removal should have no effect on the balance of the shafts, unless they are so rusty there are holes in them, in which case, you have a more serious problem anyway!
I have(or I did have before it got stolen) a heavy-dooty ball-joint press that doubles as a u-joint press...works(ed) really well.

Good luck with the diff!!

You can "rent" a ball joint press from AutoZone.  When you take it back you get a full refund.   And it does work great for u-joints.

Cool, thanks guys! I'm going to rent one of those when I put in new U-joints.  Joel you must have heard me thinking when I was cleaning them up. I was expecting to see the inside of a half shaft every time I took the wire wheel to them. I swear with all the moeny I've spent on wire wheels I could've bought a sandblasting set up by now.

Shucks...that don't look so bad...
Try gettin that kind of rust off without damaging the original, "alligator skin" texture that they have from da factory...now THAT'S entertainment!

That one looks ok, really...just a little surface rust...

Seems about normal.  Not unusual at all.

I cleaned mine down to the bare metal and then painted them with POR-15. Talk about making a mess of a wire wheel and everything in the vicinity. They looked good when I finished them. That has been about 7 years ago. They are dirty and dusty and have some grease on them from the leaking rear but have held up well. 

Well while I'm waiting on my shocks and stuff from VBP to not be backordered, does anyone have any good horror stories about u-joints and wheel bearings from Auto zone or Nappa? Any recomendations?