universal joints

my dad was born in 1902,on our way back from Alaska in 1967 in a converted 1947 gmc short bus we had just crossed into mt when front u joint went out. we had it serviced in anchorage when we left.he had me pull it off no towns and it was a sunday,we made needle bearings out of casing nails,we had built a house in ak and limped into Missoula which was our home he could fix almost anything.and did

Ivylog wrote:

DUNEBUGGYDOUG wrote:
grease fittings will weaken a u-joint

While I guess this is technically true... so what? Lack of grease in the cup/needle bearings is what causes them to fail. I've never had a cross break.

X2 jb

On my coach I have zerk fittings on the u-joints that I grease before every trip, along with the entire chassis. Only takes about 20 minutes to grease everything so why not? I also have a carrier bearing that supports the drive shaft that does not have zerk fittings. The carrier bearings can also fail, which can make a lot of noise that sounds like a failing u-joint.

RayChez wrote:
I crawl under mine and grease them at least once a year.

X2

I have a 1993 Spartan Chassis with a Cummins 8.3 and Allison 3060 transmission. My joints have zert fittings and get greased once a year. It's easy and very cheap. I use an pneumatic grease gun powered by my air compressor.

Two friends of ours with newer coaches have had u-joint failures, one due to lack of any grease (right from the factory) and the other due to lack of new lubrication during routine preventive maintenance by a dealer. It is hard to believe the servicing person ignored this simple procedure, but when the failed joint was examined, it was obvious why it failed.

I crawl under mine and grease them at least once a year.

I haven’t had a car with a drive shaft and ujoints in almost 20 years. I have fittings on the drive shaft on the motor home. I have greased it. You want to be shure the grease comes out of all the caps. If it doesn’t you need to tear it down and clean and inspect the bearings. The best way is to tear down clean inspect and repack. You can do this to the ones that don’t have fittings.
Bill

Just one word of advice. At the company I retired from, the bean counters started replacing u-joints with Chinese ones. Those cheap things did not hold up with a darn. Busted in the most inconvenient places!!! In toll booths, at red light intersections, etc. Stick with the big brand names like Dana, SKF, and so on unless you want to be sitting in the middle of a intersection someplace and blocking traffic. Very embarrassing while sitting there waiting for a tow, especially when the leo says he isn't waiting for the tow company your road service called cause he wants you moved right now.

Off road racing I went through a lot of U joints.

In addition to the above.

Metal to metal squeaking/grinding noise from underneath this could also be a carrier bearing failing.

Clunking/thunk noise when you first take off in many cases you can feel it.

With the engine running and foot lightly on the brake shift from D to R and back to D you can hear a failing joint.

With the wheels chocked, engine off, E brake off in N from underneath look closely at the U joint while trying to move/shake the drive shaft look closely at the U join there should be no play in the joint.

If your a drag racer, you know that ujoints need to be installed so that the zerk is under compression as the shaft is driven. One thing to look for when inspecting them is the presence of rust colored dust on the cross by the cups. Also, many times they will squeak when driven in reverse.

I asked a similar question several months ago. The general consensus was "Spicer" for replacement U joints as the name to buy.