Drive shaft? Exploded on highway

I shouldn't say this because as soon as I do it'll happen to me. Here goes. I once had a vehicle that developed a vibration, it came on slowly over time. Tires balanced ok, frontend parts seemed tight so I crawled under the car and started to shake what I could and found the driveshaft was loose. Look at the back u-joint and found a couple of rubber boots in pieces and the u-joints loose in the sockets and dry. I was on borrowed time. These were non-greaseable u-joints and I installed greaseable ones. So I'm under the impression that there are some signs of this type of failure before it happens, but they may-be subtle and you don't even notice it until it happens. I can see how aggressive tire tread may mask it.

 

That's good info. To be honest when I change oil I don't look at that. Just oil/filter , rotate tires, change air filter if I need to, and fluids.

But live and learn

 

When I bought my truck four years ago, that was something I had noticed about the truck. That it has grease fittings. Great! Didn’t look like the previous owner used them. Bad! Took a bit of grease at first but I lube up when I change the oil. Like you said, live and learn.

 

Detailed pics please.
Why are they facing the same way?

 

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No idea why

 

I have a feeling it flipped over when it broke and hit the road. Hopefully didn't pop up and damage anything underneath. We'll have to expect tomorrow

 

Have a driveshaft shop do a complete rebuild with grease fitted u joints.About $200.

 

If you aren’t going to remember to grease the U joints I would suggest getting the SPL u joints which are good for the life of the vehicle. Those U joints are supposedly a little stronger than the ones you grease as well due to the fact that there’s no hole drilled in the caps or the cross.

Either way if that driveshaft snap like that speed I would take it to a driveline shop and make sure it’s balanced in addition to having all the U joints replaced just to be safe otherwise you could be in the same situation in a short manner.