U-joint failure

Well I believe I have determined the reason for the squeaking coming from my drivetrain Classification. Things that should be in one piece that are no longer in one piece.


All of the grease zirks look suspiciously dry Like when I am getting truck serviced they are not lubing like they say they are.


Valvoline has some explaining to do. Just has a $100+ full service done 3 k miles ago

 

Why would anyone ever trust any of those places to do stuff they charge for? Jiffy Boob, Suckaline etc. they are as bad as the dealer. Get a grease gun and do it yourself. They’ll probably tell you to go eat glass and have a great day

 

They don’t look to have been greased regularly. If they were, you’ll see grease slung in a line on the bottom of your truck. Mine has a nice black streak. Can’t nobody say I haven’t been greasing mine.


BTW that first one looks like you have some thing tangled in it? Bailing twine perhaps?

 

Apparently he used the money to get some sweet headlights instead of taking care of a very important part of the truck. You know the DRIVESHAFT???

 

Its prob the cup coming apart. It has a spring/wire in it if im not mistaken

 

Just above the blue line in the pic below.
That’s the results of greasing. Some of it comes from not cleaning the excess grease off.
But I figure, with the frames rusting, it can’t hurt? Right?

 

IMHO....it looks more like a seal failure.

Needle bearings will sustain a lot of abuse with minimal lube. Needles are frequently run in 2 cycle engines burning a 50:1 fuel/oil ratio under high speeds.

The fibers could be the cause of the seal failure. Wrapped around and finally cut the seal.

Anyhow, doesn't really matter. Needs a new U-joint.

OP, this is an easy DIY task to add a squirt of grease to the U-joints when YOU change the engine oil.

 

He doesn’t change the oil changes so why would he grease that stuff?

 

Well...... in that case.

Suggest to replace all the U-joints with the non-greaseable sealed joints. Then no worries about lube monkeys skipping the step or having to do the maintenance on his own.

 

Sadly after my heart surgeries I have had to take a big reduction in the things that I can do and crawling around under the truck is definitely one of the bigger ones. Everything that I do now takes about twice as long as it did just a few short years ago. As long as I can keep what I am working with at table level I am good just slow.

 

I do a lot myself.
But I have been able to keep the oil changes to under $35.
And that’s paying someone else to do it.

I’d rather let someone else do it for that price.
Beats crawling around in the gravel driveway, and taking the old oil off.

 

They are definitely quite an upgrade thanks.

 

Every little bit helps for sure. Maybe if I just ran over a spray can of silicone that would lube everything up and rustproof it at the same time? Oh I never should have found where the emoji were at.

 

Okay sorry to hear that, but yet in your new Headlight Thread you say you are a Paramedic we don't have Fridays off. So I really don't understand the above sentence, but good luck to you.

 

Now I know what you were talking about earlier.
I was lost when you mentioned Headlights?

Anyways, I would say we are all in agreeance.
The u-joint is bad?

 

KUDOs for taking the high road.

 

I have a rear wheel drive only with no grease joints in the original U-joints. I was getting horrible vibration and after doing all the so called checks, was unable to locate the source. i decided to give the U-joints a go and found the one at the differential frozen. Now I have new ones all around with grease joints in them.

I bet a lot of people that complain about vibration could easily have u-joint problems too.

 

True, as replacing my Ujoint fixed my vibration issue on acceleration. However, it isn't cheap if you don't DIY. I went ahead and replaced my Ujoint because the zerk froze (closest one to the rear diff) and started to squeal (I grease them every 10k miles). Not even sure if it'll cure the vibration but it certainly did. Also fixed the driveline slack also.

 

Update

Some retelling is involved I copied another post of mine because I am exhausted and don’t feel like typing another novel on my phone

U-joints, a cautionary tale. Take them seriously. These were really not very noisy. Slight clunk when put into drive , some squeaking. Knew one needed replaced just because I noticed the dust seal was torn up. Did not give it much thought. Was going to get them replaced after first of the year when shop had time because I just didn’t want to mess with it myself. Well flash fwd to yesterday I had the truck up on the ramps get ready to run the wires for my air compressor and 2nd battery system and actually had room under the truck to take a good look at the driveshaft. Grabbed it and twisted… and it moved… A LOT. Both the front and rear joints were shot. So much free play I am amazed they were still attached. Note the pictures of oval and teardrop shaped arms. 5 of the bearing surfaces don’t even show signs of there ever being needle bearings in those caps. Just rust and more rust. I bought the truck at 79k and I have 122 on it now 40k in 1.5 years I have had the “Full service” from Valvoline because I am too old and fat to be dragging my self under the truck. I will be doing it myself from now on for damn sure. I am now however having retrograde heart failure because I drove 2k miles to phoenix and back on those joints just before Christmas. I knew I had issues so I resisted the urge to go off-road out in the desert. Now I am terrified to check out the front u-joints. The back ones took me 7 hours to replace. If you are getting your oil changed at one of these places make sure you insist they actually do a chassis inspection and lubrication

 

Those were BAD

Good to see you got them replaced.