U joints

I want to replace my ujoints proactiverly... what should I get and where at?
I got a 98with 8.25 in the rear if it makse any difference...

Kejtar

Personally, I only use Spicers. 1310 series at the axle end of the driveshafts. 297/760 or 260 series at the front knuckle u-joints.

I wouldn't bother changing them proactively UNLESS you've already got symptoms showing like hard rotation or something along those lines.

hmmmm I was thinking about getting some for spares but on the other hand if I change them now I can use the old ones for temp spares or is that a bad plan?

If you carry spares you should have the shafts to go with it. From the concesus on the board, half the time the u-joint goes it takes the ears of the shafts with it.

So it you were to put in shafts and a new set of joints that would be better and you'll have true spares.

hmmm....... don't know if I wanna go that far at the moment...

Chuck is referring to the front axles, and he's right. You want to carry spare fronts. Don't bother with spare driveshafts.......

I wouldn't bother doing a preemptive strike on replacing u-joints unless they're showing symptoms of failing.

ChiXJeff

cool... thanks guys

However.... along the topic of u-joints, I recently did a pre-emptive strike replacement of the front driveshaft ujoints. First reason being because of the not so normal driveline angles which can accelerate driveshaft u-joint wear. The second reason was more out of paranoia about the CV ball joint needle bearing failures at around 60,000 miles I've been hearing about.

I was having a rear driveline vibration issues a few weeks ago, so I removed the front driveshaft to eliminate that out of the equation. As long as I had it off, I dismantled the front CV assembly to inspect the ball joint needles. As luck would have it they were fine so I just packed them with more grease...but I've heard of others finding nothing but metallic dust there. As long as the CV was all torn apart, it only seemed fitting to replace the u-joints as long as I was there.

Ivan

Does anyone have a web site link to buy spicer u-joints.No one cares the damn things around here.
TIA

did you try your local stealership?? spicer is the OEM supplier

Web Site

The following is a URL for buying spicer u-joints on line.
http://www.petersoffroad.com/makepage.asp?cat=15

I run spicer u-joints in the front because they are much stronger then others, and subject to 4 times the torque on the front axle. On the driveshafts I use greasable junk ones because I replace them yearly.

If you do any water/mud off-roading, you may want to change them. One way you can tell that they are going, is when you grease them, you can tell if the exsponged grease is contaminated with water(light brown). Also when the grease does not come out of all four caps, you may have a problem if you are running water/mud.

Brokens pretty much on the money, But a spare drive shaft isn't a bad idea. I twisted mine in half during a jeep jambo but since i had a spare i was only down for 5 min.

An interesting note-

When i was disasembling the front end to install the Warn hub conversion on my '98 two years ago when it had barely over 45k miles on the clock, one of the axle joints was already dry!!!! That was a horrible state of affairs!! The lack of quality control and horrrible build standards on these Jeeps is/was amazing. I wonder how many joint self distructions in addition to strange and unexplaned vibrations were a result from pre-maturely drying out of those joints?! Fortunately the replacement joints that came with the kit are top quality and are end-greasable.

One might think that perhaps this Jeep had seen much hard use and maybe had driven the grease out of the joints, but was a city-used Jeep that i am not even sure if had ever been in 4wd.

Oh yea, then there was the problem with the u-joint loose in the 8.25 rear end flange itself. Not a problem with the joint itself, but that the yoke had been machined incorrectly so as not to be able to allow tightness on the joint caps. Noticed a weird rumble vibration at around 50 mph during the drive home from the dealer when had only 38k miles!! Not a wrench had been on that since from the factory...so was an original problem. Also found the joint loose in the D30 front flange too- Dang!!

With quality standards as this no wonder they had to quit making them!!

Rock on Broken!!!
Thanks:guitar: