12 to 18 month wait for new vehicle!!

[hiddentacocatneddih]

As I said before,\ one of my Dakotas needed u-joints every 4000 miles... at the time that was a month of driving. I was working 7 days/week, it didn't leave much time for maintenance. When I finally looked at it myself and determined what was wrong, I knew that I had to drop the drive shaft to grease it. I got rid of the truck instead.

Something was eating up that u joint. misaligned yoke or something.

 

[Jstpssng]

Something was eating up that u joint. misaligned yoke or something.

No. The joint was so tiny that they couldn't put a grease fitting in the center. Instead, it was on the outside end cap and grease wasn't getting to all 4 caps. As I said before I finally learned to take the drive shaft out to grease it; but doing that after work once a week got old fast.

The dealer who I went to a couple of times said the same thing; yet if the drive shaft was messed up it would vibrate going down the road. What I couldn't understand was why that wasn't covered under the power train warranty.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

No. The joint was so tiny that they couldn't put a grease fitting in the center. Instead, it was on the outside end cap and grease wasn't getting to all 4 caps. As I said before I finally learned to take the drive shaft out to grease it; but doing that after work once a week got old fast.

The dealer who I went to a couple of times said the same thing; yet if the drive shaft was messed up it would vibrate going down the road. What I couldn't understand was why that wasn't covered under the power train warranty.

I had non grease able u joints in my lexsus for 20+ years and 300k+ miles without greasing. Something was wrong to cause the joint to fail that often. I would guess the slip yoke wasnt sliding like it should and was adding a thrust load to the joint

And greasing from one end is common or even not being greasable

 

[Jstpssng]

I had non grease able u joints in my lexsus for 20+ years and 300k+ miles without greasing. Something was wrong to cause the joint to fail that often. I would guess the slip yoke wasnt sliding like it should and was adding a thrust load to the joint

And greasing from one end is common or even not being greasable

I took it apart. The thing wasn't getting grease to all of the needle bearings. End of story. Whether it was poor design, or incompetence on the part of the mechanics I was paying it doesn't matter. They will not last without lubrication. When I started doing them myself I took the joint out, pulled an end cap and greased it until it was full. That took care of it, but it's rather tiresome laying under the truck in the snow after working a 12 hour day.

 

[spitter]

Many cars and trucks today have non greaseable u joints. Especially HD trucks because the hole drilled in the center through the x frame weakens the structure making them prone to snaping in half under heavy load. I run them on all my trucks and get over 200k with them.

 

[Jstpssng]

Many cars and trucks today have non greaseable u joints. Especially HD trucks because the hole drilled in the center through the x frame weakens the structure making them prone to snaping in half under heavy load. I run them on all my trucks and get over 200k with them.

It doesn't really matter what other vehicles are like; this was a problem with the truck I was driving.I was the one crawling under the truck in the snow to pull the drive shaft and grease or replace the joint. I was the one paying to have it replaced every month/4000 miles.
It was a little tiny thing, about 2 inches across each way, if I remember correctly.

 

[ovrszd]

Many cars and trucks today have non greaseable u joints. Especially HD trucks because the hole drilled in the center through the x frame weakens the structure making them prone to snaping in half under heavy load. I run them on all my trucks and get over 200k with them.

23 yr old SD with 280K miles still has 3 originals.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

It doesn't really matter what other vehicles are like; this was a problem with the truck I was driving.I was the one crawling under the truck in the snow to pull the drive shaft and grease or replace the joint. I was the one paying to have it replaced every month/4000 miles.
It was a little tiny thing, about 2 inches across each way, if I remember correctly.

Exactly. A problem with that truck. A drive shaft issue

 

[Jstpssng]

Exactly. A problem with that truck. A drive shaft issue

OK. You can make that diagnosis without ever seeing it... you must be a lot smarter than I am. But please explain why when I pulled the u-joint apart there was absolutely no grease in three of the four cross pieces. Also explain why when I started pulling the driveshaft, taking two end caps off and forcing grease into them almost the way you would a wheel bearing, I stopped having the problem. I put over 120K miles on that truck after I started doing the work myself and was able to get a year/50k miles out of the u-joint that way.

But I guess that I should have put a new drive shaft in. You must work for a dealer as a parts changer, just as some of the guys I had working on it did.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

Only getting 50k miles out of it means there is a problem other than just a bad u joint.

Sometimes you gotta dig deeper than surface level.

And no, I dont work at a dealer. I wouldn't wish being a mechanic on my worst enemies. Horrible industry. Horrible pay.