U joint service?

[EMDDIESEL]

Is there any maintenance that can be done on the U joints?. I never had a 4x4 for longer then 2 years and 70k, so i am not familliar with there life exectancy in our application. I just want to know if there is anything i can or should be doing to prolong there life

 

[John Berger]

If they have a grease fitting, just lube them regularly. I don't know of any maintenance that can be done on u-joints without fittings.

 

[Alan Reagan]

EMD, These are lubed for life. No maitenance. You know. Like the ball joints.



John, How's the rear end coming?

 

[John Berger]

I take it back in after work today. The service manager wants to try Indian Head sealer on the differential seal. We'll see. If it still leaks, it goes to Chrysler for resolution. We both agreed to that. I'll let all know. One nice thing about this service department. They aren't afraid to let you under the vehicle with the mechanic. I needed one look see with the yoke out to realize how to change one of these out. The only things I need are the right socket and an air gun that can torque to about 250 ft. lbs. There are only 159 shopping days left until Santa time



Sorry for going off topic.



EMD - check out NAPA for good u-joints with zerks. I changed out the rear u-joint on my truck just to learn how to do it (and how not to do it but that's a different story). The NAPA u-joint looks and feels alot sturdier than the Chrysler u-joint. Down here they run about 18 bucks.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I disagree on the NAPA u-joints being stronger than the Dodge ones. When I was having my clutch installed at Enterprise engine performance I found than my rear-most u-joint was bad while the shaft was out. They (Enterprise - Dave Mitchells shop - the smoke POURING pulling truck place) highly recommended using the stock u-joints as they were the strongest they've ever found and the only ones that hold up on their pulling trucks. Unforetunately they didn't have any on hand and noone had any in stock so I put in a NAPA greasable u-joint as a temporary fix and replaced it with a stock u-joint the next week. The stock u-joints are solid in the cross shaft (as opposed to hollow on any greasable u-joint) and have a boss around them, and weigh at least 30-40% more than any of the greasable ones. I've always run greasable u-joints on all my trucks in the past but after seeing my stock u-joint come out I'll stick with them. It still had grease in it, and had no sand in it at all (I off-road at the sand dunes regularly). I've since replaced the rest of the u-joints on the rear driveshaft (because I had to replace the carrier bearing and while I had it apart it made sense - 75,000 miles). JMHO

 

[John Berger]

You might be right Steve. I said they look and feel sturdier. I won't make a claim as to whether they are structurally better but I've never heard of one breaking under normal use. Dave Mitchell is not what I would classify as someone who uses his truck normally



Steve, could you e-mail me on what type of hp numbers you are seeing with your configuration and how it pulls with your trailer in tow. I'm waiting on 275's and I am curious about what I might expect. How much does your trailer weigh and what are you seeing for EGT's. TIA