U joint failure

I babied my pickup. Still do. Everyone I know with 4x4 Dodge 3/4 and 1 ton diesels those sealed nonservicable u-joints simply don't last. And neither do the nonservicable front hub/wheel bearing assemblies.

 

I can second that. I have a 1 ton dually 4x4 with the cummins and they start squeaking at about 60,000 miles. U-Joints that is.

 

There was a video posted at the beginning of this thread. It is a Spicer training video and it stated clearly that all 4 seals must be purged of grease in order to properly grease a ujoint.

 

Each of us has our own comfort zone regarding grease jobs on our big trucks. I have generally followed a 2 wk / 5000 mile interval. A grease job is so quick and easy to do. Not sure why folks would not do it more frequently.

Did lose one U joint, primarily due to carrier bearing failure. But the rest have 704,000 miles on them and no problem

 

The only time LOCAL trucks get greased is when they get serviced. I've never had a joint go out in any trucks i've been driving. I've been playing in the dirt. The trucks get serviced every 10 - 15k miles. Roughly 2 months or less.

Only had 1 truck though, that I drove for 7 years.

 

As a former tow truck driver and owner, I agree that the drive line should always be disabled when towed with the drive wheels on the ground (from the front). In her case she stated they towed her from the drive wheels (rear) so there was no need to remove the drive shaft.

Had she been towed from the front recently and then a end-cap was missing from the drive shaft u-joint I would place the blame squarely on whomever reinstalled the drive line. As a tower it was my rule to never reinstall a drive shaft unless absolutely necessary such as when doing a tractor swap out. Otherwise it was the repair facilities job, especially since Spicer (the most common drive line maker) requires new straps and bolts every time the drive shaft is removed.

Another interesting fact regarding towing, should they not be able to remove your drive shaft for some reason, usually a pressed in u-joint that is frozen, make sure they remove all axles shafts. Many towers will remove one axle shaft from each differential and this can cause more damage than not disabling the drive line at all. When you only remove one axle shaft you make the spider gear spin continuously while moving. It is not designed to spin that long or fast but rather only as needed to equalize the torque distribution. Also, with full lockers you risk dropping a locking pin out of place. Last thought on towing and drive lines, the height that the tower lifts the front of your truck is also important, Eaton does not recommend greater than 10 degrees with the axle shafts in place, otherwise the lubrication is not effectively splashed on the ring gears.

P.S., with the increase in automatics, the Volvo I-shift and Mack M-drive are very susceptible to damage. Once the motor stops turning and the transmission has sensed a complete stop you can destroy the internals by simply tugging the tractor out from under the trailer to do a swap out. Before any movement without the engine running the Volvo and Mack drive lines must be disabled.

 

Probably for the same reason I don't do mine as often as I should... piss covered parking lots.

 

A question to the vets on here:

Are there any parts of the drive line that should be replaced as preventive maintenance?

Or do you just play it by ear and keep checking for play, cracks and etc?

It seems like a double edge sword because if someone doesnt do a great job putting things back together then u risk a failure when all you were trying to do was prevent a failure in the first place.

 

I carry a couple 10' runner rugs. Put them down. Doesn't take much time to at least grease the driveline.