Front Driveshaft = Grenaded

[Cattletrkr]

Well, not really grenaded, but the CV joint is destroyed. The ball in the center broke. A local driveling shop told me to just get a new one, it's cheaper. Only place I could find one is the dealer. They're getting the back shaft w/ knuckel assembly, should be in Fri. AM.



Anyone else ever had this happen? I don't use 4wd too much and NEVER when going down the road. The most abuse mine gets is when I go into 4-low if I need to slow down backing my trailer. The u-joints around the ball went out about 43K back, but this time they appear to be OK. Or at least as OK as they can be given the circumstances.



Why would this be a problem? Any ideas as to what can cause this to be a repeat problem? I don't care to have to replace it again.



I felt a vibe Mon night. It got progressively worse and eventually I had to pull off the freeway. As I was slowing to a stop, I thought something was about to explode. I had to look at the tach to see if the engine was running 'cause the shaft was making so much noise. Grabbed a maglite and looked underneath. No puddles and the transmission and diffs were relatively cool to the touch. I ended up driving at about 8mph for 3-4 miles until I could get into a big parking lot. Crawled underneath again and wiggled the shaft and just laughed. Not much guess work as it moved probably 1/2" side to side.



Dad was on his way with a backup '03 CTD (his). In the meantime I decided to start taking the shaft out. I had all the tools except the Torx, which dad had in his truck. Long story longer, I managed to get 6 of the 8 bolts out, 2 on the front weren't going to budge. Dad pulled my trailer home and we came back with a flatbed to haul my baby home. Dropped it off in the mechanics lot at 1:30am Tues. Later (obviously) it took the mechanic all of 10 minutes to pop the bolts.



I'm trying to remember for sure, but I think that's the first time in 287K of driving a CTD that I've been stranded. I guess I can't complain too much.



If the pics turn out I'll post them.

 

[rbattelle]

I thought there was a grease fitting in those driveshafts for the center ball in the cardan unit?

Ryan

 

[RankRam]

I thought there was a grease fitting in those driveshafts for the center ball in the cardan unit?



Ryan

That started in 05.

 

[rbattelle]

Well there's the problem! That center ball needs to be lubricated. By failing to provide a grease fitting, Dodge ensured early failure of the center ball.

Notice they quietly corrected the mistake in 2005.

Ryan

 

[Slow Six]

I replaced the Torx head bolts with a regular hex head bolts. It is slower taking them out with a wrench, but I know I'll get them out. I use a grease needle and shoot grease into the centre joint whenever I grease the u joints. I don't know if it helps, but it is still holding in there. I found that the centre joints was lacking grease when I installed the new u joints some time ago. I was also told that the centre part could be damaged if bad u joints are ran to long.

 

[JVantreese]

Well there's the problem! That center ball needs to be lubricated. By failing to provide a grease fitting, Dodge ensured early failure of the center ball.



Notice they quietly corrected the mistake in 2005.



Ryan

Is 287,000 miles an "early failure"? Now I'm all for grease fittings but I think that any drive component that last over 250,000 miles is doing a fair job.

 

[ScottLewis]

I think Cattletrkr indicated "148Kas of 2/12/07" Not 287K. That was his total miles on CTD's. None-the-less even 148K is quite a few miles for a "Lifetime Lubricated" U-joint. I had one go bad in a Bronco with less than 80K on it. I know, it was a Ford.



Dan

 

[JVantreese]

I think Cattletrkr indicated "148Kas of 2/12/07" Not 287K. That was his total miles on CTD's. None-the-less even 148K is quite a few miles for a "Lifetime Lubricated" U-joint. I had one go bad in a Bronco with less than 80K on it. I know, it was a Ford.



Dan

OK, now I see the 148K in the signature. Thanks for pointing this out for me. I agree with your assessment that even at 148K it is not unreasonable for a part to fail.

 

[steved]

Well there's the problem! That center ball needs to be lubricated. By failing to provide a grease fitting, Dodge ensured early failure of the center ball.



Notice they quietly corrected the mistake in 2005.



Ryan

The best part about this is the fact he will get ANOTHER shaft without the grease fitting. I replaced mine last year and they gave me the same non-greaseable shaft as I traded to them... you would have figured they would have upgraded accross the board...



steved

 

[steved]

I think Cattletrkr indicated "148Kas of 2/12/07" Not 287K. That was his total miles on CTD's. None-the-less even 148K is quite a few miles for a "Lifetime Lubricated" U-joint. I had one go bad in a Bronco with less than 80K on it. I know, it was a Ford.



Dan

And my dad is running almost 260k on all but one of the original ujoints in his 99... I replaced every ujoint in my 04. 5 by 75k. There is a definate quality issue there... I still have a set of replacement spicer axlejoints that I bought 5 years ago for my truck as "spares", well they are now "spares" for my dad's truck... and they will probably still be sitting here for a long while...



As for that CV failing... there are lots of trucks running that same setup that have 300k+ and never been greased... that fitting isn't a "new" thing, but as most of you have seen, not many people realize they are there... They have been using these since at least 1975.



I would not say this is a "trend", but a single failure... and how do we know it ever had grease to begin with?? I have seen a lot of pre-greased driveline stuff that was either insufficiently greased or had no greased when taken out of the box. Again, I am not going to lose sleep over this as I don't think it is the "norm" we will be seeing.



steved

 

[Bertram65]

I have been hearing a intermittend grinding noise coming from the front end, it is speed dependant comes and goes, sometimes days between when it occurs. It sounds too fast to be a axle U joint so I think it must be the drive shaft. I jacked up the front end and spun everything but it makes no noise and it is tight. I think my next step is to take off the front drive shaft and have it checked. I have 50k miles on the truck, what size is the Torx?

 

[Cattletrkr]

I have been hearing a intermittend grinding noise coming from the front end, it is speed dependant comes and goes, sometimes days between when it occurs. It sounds too fast to be a axle U joint so I think it must be the drive shaft. I jacked up the front end and spun everything but it makes no noise and it is tight. I think my next step is to take off the front drive shaft and have it checked. I have 50k miles on the truck, what size is the Torx?

I had a squeal for about a week before mine went out. I thought it was the front pinion seal. I had the rear seal go out once and this sounded the same. The front seal has been leaking for a while so I figured it finally leaked out enoughthat it went dry. The morning before the driveshaft went out Iwas under the truck and looked at it and said to myself, "na, it hasn't been too long since I greased it last. " Guess I shoulda grabbed a flashlight and looked a litle closer.



T-30 is what it takes. One with a long skinny handle fits better. A 1/4" drive fits, anything bigger will be iffy. One with a T-handle works, but sometimes you need more leverage.



Are you sure it's not just your brakes?



We have a stalk chopper that has a CV joint on the tractor end of the PTO shaft. A grease fitting on easch joint, but nothing on the ball. That spins at 1000rpm for hours on end and makes a lot sharper turns than the shaft on our trucks. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure it's over 15 years old and the shaft is all original.

 

[JFlagg]

I have a life time replace now in DC's computer for my front drive shaft. The CV joint wore out twice in the first 100K, now ensuring me free drive shafts for life of my truck, even after the warranty is up. I think it has to do with the fact that it seems every new vehicle has "lifetime/non-greasable" U joints in them. I think if they had zerk fittings on them they would last longer, though, unlike most of the population, I would actually grease them regularly.

 

[rbattelle]

I agree with your assessment that even at 148K it is not unreasonable for a part to fail.

Yup, you guys are right. I typed without thinking things through. 148k isn't bad for a "lifetime lube" part. I have such a negative attitude about "lifetime lubricated" parts that I tend to jump on the opportunity to bash them.

Still would be nice to have a greaseable one.

Ryan

 

[Cattletrkr]

I just got back from the dealer with my new driveshaft. That would be a COMPLETE driveshaft, not just the rear portion that they thought they were ordering. Price was right though, $245 for the whole darn thing... junkyard found a used one in MI for $180. Why bother for that kinda $$$. New one DOES HAVE the grease fitting. I'm on my way out to the shop to put it in now. I'll bring the camera with and see if I can show you what happened to the old one.

 

[steved]

New one DOES HAVE the grease fitting.

I feel cheated... :-laf Leave it to DC to hand out failure prone parts...



steved

 

[Semicrazy]

Steved,

When back-servicing parts the general rule is to use up stock of the older parts so that they do not have to be disposed of and waste all that money of unused parts. It happens quite often, it is just unfortunate that you got the older sytle shaft before they ran out.

 

[steved]

Steved,

When back-servicing parts the general rule is to use up stock of the older parts so that they do not have to be disposed of and waste all that money of unused parts. It happens quite often, it is just unfortunate that you got the older sytle shaft before they ran out.

While I agree generally, replacing a problem part with a problem part is counter-productive...



steved

 

[Cattletrkr]

T-30 is what it takes. One with a long skinny handle fits better. A 1/4" drive fits, anything bigger will be iffy. One with a T-handle works, but sometimes you need more leverage.

Well that right there is probably why I had such a problem the other night. It takes a T-40. I tried one and it didn't work. I guess I shoulda tried harder. T-40 fits in the new bolts and the old bolts. OOPS!

 

[Cattletrkr]

Pic of old CV

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Pic of new one. Why I painted it I dunno. It was just too clean and shiny to let it get all rusty. It looks orange next to the toolbox, but it is red. And no, the paint on the workbench is not from the shaft... not sure where that came from.

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Here's a pic of the guy who helped with the removal of the old shaft. Good thing he was there to help, that sucker was tough.

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