U~Joint Failure and You ..... How To Cope.

[ToolManTimTaylor]

O. k Here we go. On the way home from Job 2 Friday I was slowing down to a stop at a Light and felt a kind of binding vibration sending thru the Truck at speeds DESENDING from 15 MpH. Odd I thought, so on to the next light.



This time I shut off the radio and windows down listening for engine noise like the sound of a possible late unlocking converter or something and that wasn't it.



While coasting down my Long Cool Down That Turbo Cool Off Hill before my house I stopped mid way Shut the rig down and coasted in nutral down the hill and ... ... Tweak... ... ... ... . Tweeak... ..... tweak..... tweak... tweak. . tweak,tweak,tweak,weak,week,week,



Bingo I thought so! I couldn't Hear it over the engine nor Physicly find any slop in the shaft and had a hunch.



Oh Kaaye To the parts store on Saturday. Tell the guy at the counter I want a Sealed set of U~Joints (Replace 'em in pairs) for a 2001 Dodge ram 3500 4X4 Long Bed ... ... Diesel. Well On the screen there was a delema 2 Diesels (I figured that one out easily ONE being an H. O) But the Kicker was the U~Joints .....

2 Sizes 1. 067 (I think) and 1. 053 (I think) Say Whaaaat I didn't Mike 'em I just wanted U~Joints. SO should I just Pull the Alaskan Pipeline of a Driveshaft and hand it over to Connecticut Driveshaft and have them re~Joint it or bring the shaft to dodge and maybee juuust maybee ..... Naaaaahh.

<hr>

Truck Bio:

Y2K+1 3500 4X4 Quad Cab 4:10:1 LSD



Somewhat Powerpacked By Bank's (4 inch exhaust,High ram intake,~Minus~wastgate mod to 38 psi,~Minus~ottomind TLC +guages,K&N) ,Blue Chip Premium FMC DTT~93%TC~&~VB~TC Smart controller, Mag-Hytec's Double Deep Trans pan,DD III injectors+Van Aken+Autometer Guages. ,Piers Modified PDR HX turbo,Enterprise Engine PerformancePusher pump setup Front End Leveling Kit from Jakit with 255/85R16 BFG http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/ M/T's Custom Rhino Liner (see Tool Man's truck feature)DeeZee Black Diamond Plate Bed Rails And Tool Box , WAAG Side tubes with kick~outs Mopar Performance accessories-Sill plates-hitch cover-cargo aux lamp'n'Power, Hadley air systems 150 psi comp and air storage. DynaMat Sound deadening applied to entire cab and doors, Check out Tool's Stuff~>Here!<~

N. E. T. D. P

Three worded story ... ..... "over 1350 response posts - a new record!"

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

B.T.W

The Truck Has only 28,000 Miles

 

[rrausch]

I had my u-joints done when I got my ATS trans. At that time

I had the driveshaft balanced. MAKES A DIFFERENCE



There is less vibration at speed. Evidently Dodge doesn't expect these trucks to go very fast and so they don't balance the driveshaft very well.

The place ATS sent mine to did a great job of balancing AND they painted the whole driveshaft black. Very Cool



I would definitely recommend you pull it and take it to a place which can balance it. Just make sure when you get it back that the carrier bearing mounting bolts are VERY TIGHT!

 

[LarryB]

After 5000mi on my new driveline I removed it an had it shortened to install the 2sp. When I returned to pick it up the guy informed me that all the u-joints were showing wear marks and needed to be replaced. What! with 5000mi? We looked up the ratings for the u-joints and found max Ft/LB was 800 at 3000 rpm (or something close to that) Mmm. . I guess pulling a heavy load AND making lots of torque is not what DC had in mind when they speced the driveline size. Course, I haven't heard of too many u-joint problems, but it makes sense that DC would use the least expensive parts to keep the cost down.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Hey Larry How do you like the 2sp anyways? Hmmmmmm

 

[EShaw]

Does that mean we need to bomb our drive shafts as well?

4" or 5"???????Stainless?

Eric

 

[LarryB]

Tim



In retrospect I'm not real happy with this addition. I havn't pulled real heavy with it yet but some shortcomings are already showing. The Gear selection is amazing. No problem finding a gear to pull at whatever RPM I want. But, with the 4K gov springs I don't need all those extra gears. My powerband is so wide it just flat pulls at whatever rpm anyway. On the freeway I dont need OD below 65, and above 65 because of wind resistance my mileage actually drops a few percent, even in overdrive. So! No MPG gain at all as far as I can see.



Overheating is a problem. With any headwind above about 10mph I cannot use overdrive for longer than about 10min without the oil temp going above 230F. Dropping back to direct/5th the temp will slowly drop to under 200F. Pulling long hills in OD is out of the question.



I probably would have been better off to do the fully splined 5th gear and changed from 4:11 to 3:56 rear axel ratio. But all those gears to choose from is fun for a while.



Larry

 

[LarryB]

Eric

LOL @ "stainless". The driveline guy also said that 2 welds were showing some stress from high torque. This seems so unlikely that I question this shops motives now.



I checked on going to larger u-joints. Problem is no one manufactures the larger size yoke for the spline/shaft size I need for the 2sp. I actually had to go a size smaller behind the 2sp(same as used on the autos). I think a larger size is available for the NV4500 though.



Man! Change one thing and it effects three others.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"Man! Change one thing and it effects three others. "



UNH-HUHHhhh!



Welcome to the REAL world of power increases - and ALSO realize more perfectly WHY car manufacturers VOID powertrain warranties over modifications that SEEM unrelated to vehicle owners...

 

[JJW_ND]

I change my 96 5sp joints at 210,000 miles. Had shaft balanced twice inbetween that time. Never a seal leak on either end. I have the old joints and they could have gone back in with a little fresh lube (they were getting alittle dry). Very little were.



In those 210K miles, lots of abusive pulling (overlength and overloaded). Rough roads, and turned up engine last 100K. New set of rubber ever 32K until a found a commercial tire that would take the hard pulling.



I have heard "pullers" comment the factory zerkless joint is the strongest. Can't be improved.



I can only hope the replacements I have in now give me as good of service as the factories I took out.



I would not write off the factory shaft or joints. There very HD and will take lots of abuse.



jjw

ND

 

[BK]

One thing to remember guys. . the uj's and driveshaft tube are supposed to be the "fuseable" link in the drive line. Thats part of any driveline design.

Better a uj blows up than a spidergear or axle shaft.