I have an 06 2wd. I crawled up under it this weekend seeing what kind of job it would be. It looks like I would unbolt mine from in front of the rear diff, drop it down a few inches and slide it off from the back of the transmission, replace the U joint and replace in reverse order
The noise I used to hear is mainly gone after I resurfaced the front rotors and replaced pads...but at 101k miles, I am anticipating it.