Who makes the best U-joints?

[jwilliams3]

I am looking to replace my stock U-joints before they go out.

Which ones are good?



--Justin

 

[fj40charles]

I'd buy Spicer if possible. You could buy some CTM ujoints, but they're very very expensive. CTM's are used by hard core off roaders. I'd also, get the greasable ones.



Hope this helps. .



Charles

 

[Oxjockey]

What he said. But get the ones with the zerks in the cap, not the body.



Bryan

 

[illflem]

Don't know how true this is but I've heard many times that a greaseable joint is weaker than a non due to the hollow cross. Was DC looking at our best interest or just trying to save 12¢ on a zerk?

 

[Oxjockey]

Originally posted by illflem

Don't know how true this is but I've heard many times that a greaseable joint is weaker than a non due to the hollow cross. Was DC looking at our best interest or just trying to save 12¢ on a zerk?

If you take the caps off a standard 297x Spicer, there's a grease channel in there, too. Can't vouch for others, but I bet it's the same.



Bryan

 

[fj40charles]

Here is a question:



Do the u joints fail because they break due to high torque loads or do they fail because the needle bearings get dry/rusted from lack of grease and bind up?



I talked to Tom Woods (http://www.4xshaft.com/) about this and he said most if not all u joints fail due to lack of grease. A properly maintained u joint will last a very long time.



Charles

 

[Oxjockey]

Well, as you and I both know, there are two different environments involved with ujoint failure. Vehicles that spend most of their time on the road would probably benefit from regular maintenance, IE grease, but vehicles that travel in adverse conditions need the strength. Of course, many many times ujoints last 100k miles with the factory lube - I can't say I've ever heard of a catastrphic failure on a non-trail vehicle. Maybe some vibrating or binding, though.



Bryan

 

[BV]

Ujoint

Every u-joint that was every replaced on my rigs has had grease passages in them but most did not have zerks installed.



If it makes anyone feel better - I just replaced the neighbors rear Stock - Spicer - non-greaseable - u-joint on his 79 GMC Suburban that had an estimated 220,000 miles on it. Failure was lack of lubrication - It was dry as a bone, rusty and had scores in the cups and needles.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

When I had my clutch installed at Enterprise Engine Performance a year and a half ago I had one bad u-joint (the rearmost on the rear axle). So I told them to go ahead and replace it. They said they use the OEM u-joints exclusively because they are beefier than any of the aftermarket ones. We called around and couldn't find any in stock so I bought a spicer from NAPA and installed that and when I got home I ordered all new u-joints and a carrier bearing from the dealer to replace them all at once (I always replace them all at once, my theory being if one failed then the others aren't too far behind). When I compared the OEM u-joint to the spicer one from napa (had a zerk in the body) the OEM joint was WAAAAAAAAY beefier. It weight at least 30-40% more and had a ring around the center section on both side adding more rigidity. There was a grease hole in the yokes, but it did not go all the way through the center of the joint and the grease hole was approximately . 25 inch whereas the grease hole on the greasable spicer was about twice as big. It convinced me.



BTW, the original bad u-joint had 60,000 miles on it along with quite a few off road miles (lots of trips to the sand dunes) and a couple of michigan winters and it still had plenty of grease in the u-joint and there was no sand or contamination in there at all. Prior to this I would only buy greaseable u-joints so that I could grease them after off roading trips. After inspecting all of the stock u-joints that I had pulled out all of them had plenty of grease and no contamination - they all looked good with the exception of the rearmost that had roughed up the yoke (my guess is from axle wrap - I hadn't installed my ladder bars yet). 60,000 miles is a lot of miles for me on a u-joint. I'm going to continue running the OEM stock u-joints based on what I saw.

 

[jwilliams3]

Steve,

All I could find was spicer and brute force in town (I do not do business with our local stealer), they both look very beefy, but I havent compaired them too the existing U joint on the truck.

I will install the Spicers with the zerks, and carry the extra set.



Next I'll need some ladder bars!



--Justin

 

[CRWilliams]

Tried to get the brute force ones for my truck, I believe they are solid all the way through. They don't make them for the Cummins though. I wound up using a spicer, I guess I had better watch it closely.

 

[Briar Hopper]

Dave Mitchell told me that the OEM-style was stronger than anything else he'd found. I think it's better to be able to re-grease them, but I feel that the choice all depends on how you use the truck... ...

 

[DarrellB]

Originally posted by Briar Hopper

Dave Mitchell told me that the OEM-style was stronger than anything else he'd found.

If I was to take any ones advise on Ujoints it would be Dave's. That man is a lot harder on Ujoints than I will ever be. I think if you explode a clutch and not a Ujoint then he must be doing something right.



Darrell

 

[rrausch]

You might also get your driveshaft balanced while you are doing the U-joints. I had mine balanced when I had my trans done (ATS) and the difference is pretty noticeable. Much less vibration.

 

[hammersley]

If you want the best --- here tis!

http://www.federal-mogul.com/precision/overview.html





Heavy Duty Precision U-Joint





Heavy Duty Precision Universal Joints are high quality engineered parts

made in the U. S. A



These durable parts are:



Designed with dual grease fittings for easy maintenance.



Produced from the highest quality steel available.



Precision ground to stringent tolerances.



Have large grease reservoirs with radial grease channels for optimal grease distribution.

 

[Steve Campbell]

I do not off road much...

so absolute strength is not top on my list. I like greasable joints, but... ... the biggest problem I have seen in the past with greasable joints is..... toooooo much grease and then the seals (or more commonly one) go bad and contamination gets in there. My last pickup (82 chev 4x4) had 243,000 on the last factory joints I replaced. The "wheel joints" are usually the first to go (IMO) on a 4x4 due to the high angle of deflection. I always make it a practice to change them, if I already have the front end apart for some other reason.



Spicer and NAPA are all I have ever tried.

 

[lawdog]

In my old trucks I ONLY used the spicers with the Blue grease seals. .

 

[Texas Diesel]

Originally posted by Oxjockey

What he said. But get the ones with the zerks in the cap, not the body.



Bryan

Who makes these?



TIA