Which brand u-joint do you prefer?

I think my front u-joint is going bad so I want to replace it. The oem part looks like 04371-04092 (supercedes 04371-04090 and 04371-0K070) for the 2013 2.7 4wd regular cab but I was wondering if any of the other replacement brands are as good or better quality. I'm not seeing a lot of cross references to this part # and most seem to be for the longer trucks with the 2 piece driveshafts.

 

I always use moog or moog hd series u joints and wheel bearings. Always had good luck/use with them especially when running heavier larger tires.

 

Had moogs in for a couple of years, now. Working good

 

Spicer

/thread


seriously... its what the OEM joints are. Someone can chime in with the Spicer part number for the smaller front driveshaft u joints with the center zerk fitting

 

I ordered

$32 spicer 5-1330-1X u-joint kit

spicer 5-1330-1X u-joints. They look exactly like the original. They were sold as heavy duty but the documentation in the box described them as light/medium duty.
About $80 something for three delivered from Rock Auto.
(Rear shaft all joints.) sorry can’t find the front u-joint part numbers.

 

Do those have the grease fitting in the body cross?

 

So far I see:
Moog 270 as heavy duty but the grease fitting is in the end of the cap
Moog 354 as premium and has the grease fitting in the body cross

$32 Spicer 5-1330-1X U-Joint Kit

Spicer 5-1330-1X which is light duty and has the grease fitting in the end of the cap

$26 Spicer 5-213x U-Joint Kit 1330 Series (OSR)

Spicer 5-213x which is light duty with grease fitting in the body

 

Pretty sure Matsuba is oem not Spicer (at least it is on first gen Tacoma’s and older pickups).

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/toyota-matsuba-matsui-u-joints-universal-joint.html

Edit; ok it does not look like these are the oem joints for 2nd gens but they should still fit and they’re made in Japan

 

Then is 2nd gen, not 1st gen section. Spicer made them for 2nd gen.

 

Yeah realized my mistake and edited the post

 

Spicer all the way

 

Just curious, does anyone know if there is really a difference with the oem ones from the access cab or double cab compared to the standard cab? Oem shows:
04371-0K080 for the dual driveshaft trucks
04371-0K070 for the standard cabs

edit: oops, had the wrong part numbers so updated it

 

Another vote for greasable spicer units

 

Just looking at pictures of the 2 you can see the first one has the c-clips on the outside. And second has c-clips on the inside.

The u-joint at the pinion should be the same for all Tacoma’s (c-clips on the inside).

I’ve only ever seen c-clips on the outside of the double cardan joints found on the front half of 2-piece shafts.

 

Spicer or lifetime warranty.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but why do the Spicer Ujoints comes with all those snap rings? Different thicknesses?

 

You guessed correctly. Use what ever fits the best.
Approximant measurements:
copper .0595"
grey .0605"
green .0625"

I just replaced three of these yesterday and used the largest snap ring that would fit.