u joints keep wearing out

I have had my tacoma for about 6 years now. put severa different lifts on it. after putting the lift on my u joints are wearing out really quick. I have replaced the front once and the back twice in the past two years. I do quite a bit of off roading but dont think they should be wearing out this quick. any suggestions on what is going on?

 

Have you ever greased them with a grease gun?

 

Bent drive shaft, happened on my pre-Tacoma and caused excessive wear. Hit it on a rock, could tell it was bent until I took it off and rolled it on a flat surface and could see that there was a slight bend.

 

ya i made sure the second time aroud to get the ones that i could grease. usually just do it when i change the oil. thanks though

 

i take it there is no easy fix to that? i will check it out. thanks for the tip

 

Junk yard

 

.

 

My money would be on pinion angle. Did the lift kit have shims in it? If not im pretty sure a parts store like ORD would be able to get them for fairly cheap. Usually a bent driveshaft can be felt, but sometimes not. The shaft could also be offbalance, but you would usually be able to feel that too.
Also you should replace the joints in pairs. Sometimes the wear in the front will have enough slop to wear out the rear. You replace the front because it eventually goes out, but now the rear has slop and can wear out the front sooner.

 

huh makes sense. cant beleive i didn't think of that. I usually dont get the semptoms for a while after i change one. i will try replacing both and hopefully that will fix the problem

 

Thanks for all the info everybody. should have it up and running in time to take it up in the mountains and be the the first one to my favorite lake this spring

 

I think my U-joints are also going. Whats it sound like when it starts going?? I have this PING noise whenever i reverse and then go forward again.

 

Crawl under your truck and grab the drive shaft at the end. Try to wiggle it, twist it, etc. move to the other end and repeat. If there is a lot of wear in the U-joints replace them. If they are fine put the trany in neutral and twist the shaft to check the diff for wear. (my ranger has the same ping and this is the culprit) If its the joints replace em, if its the diff use your discretion. My ranger has done that since I got it, and i put over 20k on it with no problems, but my results might not be typical.