U-Joints bad again

I have had my replacement u-joints on for only 2 years or so now, and they are bad again. They were the ungreasable variety. Would putting greasable ones on give me more life from them? I do not want this to be a every two year affair. Also, I am only getting a clicking during sharp turns now every now and then. Got a trip coming up soon, am I risking a failure by waiting?

Thanks,

Eric

how much lift? year?

ebishop said:

I have had my replacement u-joints on for only 2 years or so now, and they are bad again. They were the ungreasable variety. Would putting greasable ones on give me more life from them? I do not want this to be a every two year affair. Also, I am only getting a clicking during sharp turns now every now and then. Got a trip coming up soon, am I risking a failure by waiting?

Thanks,

Eric

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we talkin axle shaft ujoints or driveshaft ujoints?

If you have a lift and no t-case drop or sye, and you are talking about the rear ds, then you need either a t-case drop or sye. Make sure the pop is not coming from the track bar.

Wow, left out the most important stuff, it is a stock 2000, talking about the front two ujoints at the front wheel hubs here. Hope that clears up my vague post.

Eric

If they're clicking that isn't a good sign. Back when I knew nothing of jeeps or cars in general for that matter, my front ujoints clicked so badly on the slightest turns it was almost painful, they were the original factory ones. They were in absolutely horrible shape and luckily for me nothing bad happened. In my experience I have had bad luck with the maintenance free (ungreaseable) parts, as they don't last too long. Many of the greaseable models are actually heavier duty to begin with, and give you the comfort of knowing you can relube when necessary. That said, our Audi A4 has 68,000 miles on it and has not had one piece of chassis lubricated over it's life and it is still flawless.

Nope, no water at all, in fact this is not my DD, and has very few miles on it since I did these last.

I would get the greasable joints. we have 3 xj's and a zj and have never had any problems with the greasables.

By all means put in new greasable joints, and opt for the better ones, not the cheapest ones at the parts store. When your talking about an important part such as front end components, dont get chincy with your parts. If you have a trip that is coming up, I highly suggest you get those replaced. Go over to the midwest chapters forum and read the article about what happened last weekend to a guy who's front end came apart on him...he died!! I think my life as well as the others on the road is more valuable then $40 for some u-joints. That's my $.02........I'm OUT!!

XJ&TJ4ME said:

By all means put in new greasable joints, and opt for the better ones, not the cheapest ones at the parts store. When your talking about an important part such as front end components, dont get chincy with your parts. If you have a trip that is coming up, I highly suggest you get those replaced. Go over to the midwest chapters forum and read the article about what happened last weekend to a guy who's front end came apart on him...he died!! I think my life as well as the others on the road is more valuable then $40 for some u-joints. That's my $.02........I'm OUT!!

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get spicers.

Thats the thing, these are spicers, I dug out the receipt. I pulled the shafts and took them to an axle place to have the ujoints replaced. Maybe they used something else rather than what they charged me for.

Eric

ebishop said:

Thats the thing, these are spicers, I dug out the receipt. I pulled the shafts and took them to an axle place to have the ujoints replaced. Maybe they used something else rather than what they charged me for.

Eric

Click to expand...

There were some knock off Spicer U-joints around a few years back, maybe what you got was some leftovers from that debacle. Also (I know it's a pain) take the caps off the U-joints and check to see if the hole in the center is completely full of high temp. (preferably synthetic) grease. In the pre greasing part in the manufacturing, the hole (grease reservoir), in the cross doesn't get filled completely sometimes.
In fact the color of the grease is a big indicator of whether it's a knock off or not, along with the packaging. They got all the proper labels on the packaging, but the size and shape (dimensions) of the printing aren't exactly right. Something a person wouldn't notice unless they had an original box handy to compare with. They traced the knockoffs back to Egypt of all places, but that could have just been a stopover in the supply chain.