U joints...

I need to replace the U joints on a stock XJ front Driveshaft. I bought it used from a guy and it needs new joints real bad (sounds like a helicopter under my heep). Where can I get new joints? How much are they going to run me? And...

Are the U joints in the CV joint not too difficult to replace?

the most expensive thing in the front driveshaft is the centering ball, the little ball/needle bearing contraption in-between the two u-joints.

U-joints, I'd say 10-20 bucks a pop, and prob about 60 for the ball contraption. So the most you'd be looking at to rebuilding the whole thing is about 100-120.

That's just based on my local parts store's prices.

Last time I bought a 1310 it was $13.....you'll need 3 of them. If it were me, I'd go ahead and replace the centering ball while you have it apart. IIRC, the centering ball was about $30.

so what part number/size are all the parts that i need. i need the 3 u joints and that centering contraption.

anybody??? I need to get these parts today.

Just go to a competent parts store and tell them what you need. It's not that big of a deal......really.

Hale

The spicer PN for a 1310 joint is 5-153X

HTH

most likely not gonna find that centering ball part, as a whole at least, at any parts store. Only thing I've found local to me is a rebuild kit for the ball itself.

I bought a brand new one no problem...?

MoparManiac said:

I bought a brand new one no problem...?

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Same here.

Went to NAPA, they didn't have it in stock but I had it the next day.


Hale

Backroads said:

most likely not gonna find that centering ball part, as a whole at least, at any parts store. Only thing I've found local to me is a rebuild kit for the ball itself.

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I had very good luck with those parts by going to a driveshaft shop.
Many of them are also Spicer dealers.
My only problem is that the new centering ball assemblies have a smaller diameter ball that doesn't match the rubber boot.
I have not been able to find a greasable ball the same diameter as the original.
It seems that the new Spicer ball has the same part number even though it is smaller. I was told that the boot is not needed.

I am rebuilding my front drive shaft, the one with the double cardan joint, from '87, 4X4 XJ, Wagoneer Ltd. I have the u-joints (from O'Reillys, but made in the USA, not China, AutoDrive brand part #369/AD), but I am concerned about what and where to buy the ball, or ball kit for the inner parts of the Cardan joint. O'Reillys wants $61 for one by Precision, and I have heard warnings not to use Precision joints, etc, , and they have to order it from their warehouse. NAPA, when I gave them the Spicer number 211355X, could not find it, and then finally told me the part number changed, and that it was no longer available. They even checked by the year and model.... and no joy.

Are there any other alternatives? I already tried rockford and could only find the 404 ball replacement as a cross over from Spicer, not the entire part. Normally I would just go to Autozone here in the neighborhood, but what I have read here has me apprehensive about using them for this part. At this point I am not entirely sure what part or kit I need, in other words what all should I replace between the U-joints, just the ball, and spring or the entire assy? I have read somewhere that I should be able order just the Rockford ball / kit for $12.45 online, but it did not say where? I see mention of the entire part in this thread, for about $30, no details on where or who has it?

How can I tell if this "ball" needs to be replaced?

So far this all I have been able to find online:

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductList.aspx?PartType=979&PTSet=A

Well I finally just took it to a local driveshaft place
( http://www.ctdriveshafts.com/ ).

I got tired of hastatrying to find a new centering ball yoke assy, and this guy had the ball repair kit. He said I did not need an entire new centering ball yoke assy, just the ball-kit. The kit was like $35, and for $81 he included 1 new u-joint, used the 2 new U-joints I had bought elsewhere, and installed it all for just $81 total. Not Bad. The stealership wanted $130 just for the ball kit, special order, OUCH! Dropped it off at 4 pm, and I get it back at 10 am tomarrow! NICE!

I had these guys rebalance the custom driveshaft on my 85 diesel last year. They do really big drive shafts too!

Oh, and he showed me something I had never seen before, the old U-joints on the double cardan side of the front driveshaft had greasable U-joints ( I thought they were non-regreasable) that were greasable via a needle injection through the center of the outer steel end caps of the U-joints! I had never seen or heard of that before.

the centering assembly list price from spicer is like 55 dollars. my driveline guy sold it to me for 45 bucks.

IntrepidXJ said:

http://stu-offroad.com/axle/driveshaft/driveshaft-1.htm

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oh yeah... great info!!!
http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/driveshaft/driveshaft-5.htm

mage said:

oh yeah... great info!!!
http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/driveshaft/driveshaft-5.htm

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Hold your horses! The new centering mechanism is not identical to the old.
The diameter of the ball socket is a lot smaller than the old. That means that the rubber boot will not fit well on the new, with a big gap to allow dirt in.
Of course you can remove the boot exposing the ball and altering the OEM design.
I don't like the aftermarket part.