2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission U-Joints - Expected Service Life?

[DLausche]

I am getting ready to replace a front right axle seal that has been leaking for a few years now. I am wondering if I should replace the stock u-joints on the front axle while it is apart. Truck has 122K on it. I do not have any signs that the u-joints are in need of replacement but the truck is getting up there in age now. Not sure if I should take the chance of wrecking the driver side oil seal by taking that apart if not necessary to do the u-joint now.



Same question for the rear driveshaft u-joints. What is typical life expectancy? Truck has the originals in it still.



Thanks.

-Deon

 

[CumminsPower98]

If they are tight and smooth with no sign of rust coming out of the caps, I would leave them. Also if you do decide to change them don't use the greaseable ones. They throw grease all over and don't last near as long as the stock Spicer sealed units. Some may think this is dumb advice but with 395k on my truck I have had some experience here.

 

[georgej]

Took my truck to get some prices on new U-joints and the mechanic asked if there was a problem or noise with them. I said I was just concerned because I had 108k mi. on the truck. He laughed and said he almost never sees a Dodge that needs U-joint I left them alone!

 

[2-ND TIME]

U-Joints

That is interesting because I would say the opposite. Mine have been shock loaded since new from engine bucking so this is hard on them. Also I wonder if being in a rainy climate is also hard on them? I have greaseable ones and pumped out the grease that they came with before install and in with the syn grease. Get greased at oil change time. This works for me. On one u-joint that was closest to the rear diff I thought I was doing a good job on that one and it didn't get enought grease so since then I want to see grease coming out of the caps. That was when the truck was fairly new. I even put grease nipples in the sway bars and they are still in good shape. Not like the rear one. Oh well not going to waste any more money on this money pit then I have too.

 

[TBartlett1]

I live in the North East and have owned four 4x4 CTD's and also 3 Jeeps, I also have a repair shop so I know what works and doesn't up here in the NE. I have seen sealed u-joints in driveshaft applications that have 10s of thousands of miles on them but rarely the u-joints at the steering knuckle. If you are the type that despises getting under your truck with a grease gun then the Spicer long life non-grease-able style may be for you, However they must be properly greased during installation!

I have never seen a grease-able u-joint fail prematurely that has been faithfully greased and purged. The fact that they throw off grease to me is no concern.

Climate has a huge impact on driveline u-joint life. A CTD in Arizona could possibly go years without greasing. In the North East with snow, salt and hot and cold temperature fluctuations moisture is drawn into the bearings which are quickly destroyed.

Corrosion also damages the sealing surfaces allowing the grease to escape and allowing moisture to enter. The only way to prevent damage is to grease and purge the contaminates.



To answer your question, yes I would replace the axle u-joints with the grease-able style because you will have the axle out.

A word of advice! Clean the bearing hub and knuckle bore so that they are easily assembled together then apply grease liberally to all points of contact to enable easy removal in the future, also coat the entire length of the bolts as they can also get stuck in the hub. Trust me, been there done that!!



Rear u-joints life expectancy????? If they are tight and there is no vibration leave them. They are easily replaced anytime.

My 1990 has 230k with original rear u-joints.

Aren't your rear u-joints grease able???



Tim

 

[CumminsPower98]

I admit I may not have kept enough grease flowing all the time. I was running OTR transporting RVs so I was putting on a lot of miles real fast and driving in a lot of slop and wet weather so it wasn't conveint to put the grease to them every few days. I didn't do the purging thing because I hate all the mess it makes. I would grease until it starting coming out so I did end up with a rusting problem on the cross joints. I really hated the grease bits that would get on the sides of my truck from the front cross joints. Anyway the sealed Spicers gave me much better and cleaner service the way I was using my truck. My cousin had over 300k on one of his rear OE joints so they can go the distance too. He is still on the original front cross joints with about 330k. I checked them when apart for front axle seals and they were still tight and smooth so I left them. They really aren't that hard too get at later as long as the hubs have been off before and installed properly with anti-seize.

 

[FLynes]

Mine is only 4x2, but I have 120,800 on the driveshaft u-joint and it's still in good shape.



I don't know how different the gassers are from diesels, but my '97 4x4 gasser had to have all the u-joints replaced at 96,000 miles. When the dealer put in a new 46RE, they took it for a test drive and the drive shaft u-joint snapped, leaving the mech stranded five miles away from the dealership.

 

[DLausche]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I am going to order a set of front axle u-joints when I order the axle seal kit and tools from quad4x4. I'll replace the front right u-joint while it is apart but leave the drivers side u-joint for later if/when I have problems with it. I am afraid of wrecking the oil seal if I take that axle shaft out. The drivers side seal sounds a lot more complicated to replace than the passenger side. I am going to go with greaseable u-joints. I have no problem getting under there and greasing a few times per year and I don't see how the mess could possibly be any worse than it is now. Axle has been leaking for almost two years now and there is crud and oil EVERYWHERE on that side.



The driveshaft u-joints are non-greaseable and original. They appear tight so I think I will just leave them for now.



Thanks

-Deon

 

[dfuller]

I perfer the the grease-able spicer u-joints as well. After forcing grease thorough all four bearing seals, just take a thin rag and loop it thorough the joint and wipe the grease away. Use a Q-tip to wipe the excess grease way from the zerk fitting.

 

[Hammer]

I had 125k on my original rear driveshaft u-joints and had one fail. I had them replaced with greasable joints and they only lasted 50k and now have failed and were replaced. The greasable ones were greased each service and still went away faster than the stock Spicer solids. So when I replaced them a week ago I used the Spicers again and will not use a greasable joint ever again.



I still have the factory originals in both my front driveshaft and front rear at 180k. They were both checked while we had the truck on the lift and are still in good shape so I used the old "if its not broke don't fix it" theory on them and left them alone. I also had the carrier bearing checked and it did not need replacement either at 180k... ... . Andy

 

[dfuller]

Hammer,

Very interesting. I also have a 1977 Dodge 150, 360 cu in, AT running Spicer grease-able U-joints which presently have over 180K miles on them without any problems. I use this truck to haul oak fire wood that I cut and haul about 120 miles to our house. So this truck get a lot of heavy use. I only lubricate the u-joints every 30 - 40K miles with high temp wheel bearing grease. What grease type were you using, hopeful not chassis lub ????

 

[Hammer]

I was using Amsoil's Series 2000 Synthetic in them. There is no comparison from your 360 truck to a Cummins. The torque of a Cummins is way more than your 360 will ever make and I am coinvinced thats its a deal where greasable u-joints just do not handle torque well. What you also have to keep in mind is the difference in conditions I drive in compared to California.

 

[dfuller]

Hi Hammer,

Glad to hear that you are using a very high quality grease. Certainly the weather conditions in your areas is more adverse given that salt is used during the winter. In my area the temperature in a lot hotter than in your area which is tough on bearing operating temperatures for the grease.

Regarding your comment about the torque differences between a 360 and Cummins... . agreed, but the u-joint sizing between the two is scaled accordingly to handle that torque. In my opinion the Mopar engineers could have designed the diesel u-joints more massive !!!! Like what they could have done with the automatic transmission and Dana 70/80 rear ends. Both are definitely weak links !!!

In closing I appreciate your comments.

Cheers,

Doug Fuller