Friends,

    First off please forgive me if I get some of the terms wrong!

    I have a 1996, PU, 360, 1500, SLT, 4X4.  As I was laying under the
front of the truck, hiding from the family, I was looking at the front
driveshaft U-joint.  Attached to the forward yoke, the end that goes
into the front differential, there seems to be a ring above and below
on the cross with a thin piece of metal, about the thickness of a bobby
pin, running between the rings.  It appears to have rusted away from
one of the rings and is just 'dangling' from and behind the top of the
cross (the way the U-joint is sitting now).

    If you have a Haynes Manual (1994- 2001) you can see the little
piece of metal (barely) on page 8-9 in Illustration # 10.14a at the
bottom of the yoke.  On my truck, using the photo as a reference, the
very bottom appears just to have rusted away and is hanging.

    I guess my questions are: What is this? and Can I use the four
wheel drive as it is?  Thanks all!

Steve