Having had one side of the drive shaft tulip pop out and all the balls go everywhere, it took me 2 hours to get the bug*er back into the housing,..
it happened a second time around with the other driveshaft.. so i thought id have a go at a planned approach, i found this way.. i could pop them back in in 5-10 minutes, with patients and calm.
first and foremost.. clean the joint of grease, its a nightmare to try and fit it back together with greasy hands. the balls will drop everywhere and pick up dirt / steel chips on the floor. clean the housing, the balls, and the cage.
then i found, to put a hole in the bottom of a cardboard box (driveshaft size hole, just poke it thru).. , and into a vice, hold the shaft, not the splines. Then remove the bottom retaining clip if you havent allready done so, and slide the rubber gator down until it holds the top of the houseing in-line with the bottom of the tulip
looking down from the top, line the housing & tulip up as follows...
Then put the ball cage around the tulip and put all the 'clean' balls into the holes through the cage, and rest the balls on the very top lip of the housing.. they are ready to go in, but just biting on the top lip of the housing. you should be abled to manage this with two hands
now, the tricky bit.. tease the ball cage down with one hand until the balls are just level with the bottom of the tulip.. and tease the housing up with the other, it helps to rotate your wrists a tiny bit, they should pop in ever so slightly..once in "a little" and still holding both ball cage and housing, bring the housing 'UP' and at the same time, the ball cage. you'll get the hang of it.
now remove the assembly from the vice carefully, lay it on its side, pack it with new grease and do the retaining clips back up.
The most effective part of the method is cleaning the balls/cage/housing, and using a cardboard box and a vice to catch the balls, before they run round the floor and pick up all the dirt.
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