3rd Gen U-Joints

[Jeremiah]

A U-joint went bad on my truck at 43,000 miles. Dealer recommended I replace all three. Going back through the posts, I see where it is a common problem that Dodge should not be proud of.



I'd like to know more about this and maybe I can present it to Dodge. But before I do I need more information from drivers whose u-joints have gone bad between, say, 30,000 to 60,000 miles. Are you:



1. 2WD or 4WD?



2. mostly solo highway driving?



3. lots of towing at highway speeds



4. mostly slow speeds, farm and ranch, etc. ?



5. other (mixture of everything, off-road, etc. )



Thanks in advance.

 

[yogibear]

I had one go out at 104K, and the other 2 went at about 160K. Mine is 03 , 2 wd dually. I do a lot of heavy towing. I went with greasable joints, Spicer # 5-188X, $23. 89 ea. They had to be ground down a little to fit, don't know how they did it, but I know they used a right angle grinder, and said it took very little grinding. Have 10K on them now, and everything is fine. Hope this helps.



Larry

 

[LightmanE300]

How did you know when they were going bad? I have an odd squeaking coming from underneath when going over bumps slowly and have yet to figure out what it is.

 

[yogibear]

It will do like Jeremiah said, sounded like going over rumble strips, like are along edge of interstate highways. That was with two going out at one time. The first one would rumble from start from dead stop, then would smooth out when I reach 25 to 30 mph, and got worse the more I drove it. When those two both went out, I was like Jeremiah, I just knew a transmission or rear end was going out, at a given speed the floor board under my feet would vibrate. I hope these greaseable ones will last longer. On my two trks. before this one, I had 330K on one, and 227K on the other, 96 & 00, and had no u-joint problems.



Larry

 

[Jeremiah]

Big diff in price

I had one go out at 104K, and the other 2 went at about 160K. Mine is 03 , 2 wd dually. I do a lot of heavy towing. I went with greasable joints, Spicer # 5-188X, $23. 89 ea. They had to be ground down a little to fit, don't know how they did it, but I know they used a right angle grinder, and said it took very little grinding. Have 10K on them now, and everything is fine. Hope this helps.



Larry

Thanks a bunch. Wow! $23. 89 each? Dealer quoted me $85 each. I checked DodgeParts.com and they're $92 each. But I couldn't complain if they went out at 100K or so. I am complaining at 43K. I've really taken care of my truck, serviced it regularly, etc. , and even changed out the axle fluids (that's bucks, I'm tellin' ya!) ahead of time.

 

[n5ifi]

I changed my u-joints at 70,000 miles and the truck was vibrating really bad on deceleration.

 

[C.Hughes]

I lost two in less than 60,000 miles. The dealership quoted me $142 a piece and they claimed they were on back order. My truck is 4wd and i do some towing not on a daily bases. It mostly cruises down the road about 75 to 80 mph.

 

[KDOHM]

I just replaced all three yesterday at 53,000 miles. They were a bear to do, old ones wouldn't come out - had to torch em out! Worked ok, but melted the slip joint boot (I know - dumba$$) so will have to have that replaced so I didn't save a dime doin it myself! Anyway, I think I paid about $28 each at local auto parts store. I do a combination of stop-go, highway, and towing (7500# 5th wheel and ~10,000+ hauling tractors, skidsteers, and ASV track loaders). Got to be almost embarrassing to drive with the noise coming from underneath the truck! I wish they'd have just put fittings in factory joints so we would at least have the option to grease em'!!

Kevin

 

[n5ifi]

I think DC knows about this problem and are silently fixing it.

When I took my truck in to have the injection pump replaced I had the u-joints replaced also. By coincidence, the u-joints went out at the same time as the pump. (pump was intermitant)

When I got the truck back it ran great except that it was down on low end torgue. The whole torgue curve was different in the truck. I complained about it and was told that this was normal with a new pump. I 'm not sure I believe that. I think they may have done a little changing while they had the truck. My truck originally had a big bulge starting about 1400 rpm and continuing up to about 2000 or so before it really started to fall off. The torque curve is different now starting at about 1400 but with no real grunt until about 1700 rpm. I have to drive the truck completely different now because of this. With no box of any kind my truck was originally pretty dang good. When I installed the Van Aakin it was a beast for sure. Now it is very tame with the box and has no power without it. I'm going to take it back in to see what they say.

 

[bpenrod]

My rear one went out at 34k. It is a pain to do and I also had to heat the joint to pull the one cap off. I put in another DC one, no grease fitting but I'm hoping that after it goes the greasable direct replacement will be available.

 

[Jeremiah]

Thank you, bpenrod.

 

[Jeremiah]

U-joints

I changed my u-joints at 70,000 miles and the truck was vibrating really bad on deceleration.

Seems like a common problem. If Ford begins selling more trucks as a result of this, DC will fix the problem muy pronto.

 

[Jeremiah]

Brand loyalty

I think DC knows about this problem and are silently fixing it.

When I took my truck in to have the injection pump replaced I had the u-joints replaced also. By coincidence, the u-joints went out at the same time as the pump. (pump was intermitant)

When I got the truck back it ran great except that it was down on low end torgue. The whole torgue curve was different in the truck. I complained about it and was told that this was normal with a new pump. I 'm not sure I believe that. I think they may have done a little changing while they had the truck. My truck originally had a big bulge starting about 1400 rpm and continuing up to about 2000 or so before it really started to fall off. The torque curve is different now starting at about 1400 but with no real grunt until about 1700 rpm. I have to drive the truck completely different now because of this. With no box of any kind my truck was originally pretty dang good. When I installed the Van Aakin it was a beast for sure. Now it is very tame with the box and has no power without it. I'm going to take it back in to see what they say.

If DC values brand loyalty over making a few bucks they will share in the replacement cost. There's no reason for u-joints in well-maintained trucks to go out at low mileage.

 

[Jeremiah]

U-joints

I lost two in less than 60,000 miles. The dealership quoted me $142 a piece and they claimed they were on back order. My truck is 4wd and i do some towing not on a daily bases. It mostly cruises down the road about 75 to 80 mph.

Thanks, Mr. Hughes. I am compiling this list and will turn it over to a DC regional manager. Might do some good, might not. It might help future owners if they fix the problem. It would have been nice if the problem had crept in slowly, but it went downhill in a hurry. Glad I was in home territory!

 

[realsquash]

It seems that there are two joints used, a 1350 and a 1480. My QC SWB has the 1480's, the QC LWB's have the 1350's. What do regular cab LWB trucks use?



I guess my point is to be sure of what you're looking for.



Andy

 

[Jeremiah]

Which joints to use

It seems that there are two joints used, a 1350 and a 1480. My QC SWB has the 1480's, the QC LWB's have the 1350's. What do regular cab LWB trucks use?



I guess my point is to be sure of what you're looking for.



Andy

Now these are points worth considering! I will make sure the dealer puts the right joint in my long bed truck. Not to say they would not do it anyway, but I just found out the new u-joints are coming out of Pueblo, which means they're buying them from another dealer or supply house. Mistakes are easy to make on stuff like this and it wouldn't be unheard of for the dealer to go ahead and install 'em if they fit and not say anything about it.

 

[Jeremiah]

u-joints fixed, still some vibration

All three u-joints were replaced and that problem went away. However, the truck doesn't run down the road as well as it did. I can feel a vibration in the steering wheel that seems to get worse the faster I go. I'm wondering if replacing the u-joints made the driveshaft go out of balance.



Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Prairie Dog]

Sounds like they got the drive shafts out of phase.

 

[Jeremiah]

Drive shafts

Sounds like they got the drive shafts out of phase.

Is that something a dealer can handle or should I take it to a specialty shop?

 

[bpenrod]

Personally I would try to re-phase the drive shaft myself. All you need to do is unbolt the yoke and rotate it. If the got the yoke out of phase I would have someone do it since you would need to pop the u-joint of to re-phase it to the drive shaft.