Exploded U-Joint

[tacoma_AL]

Yeeeaaa, so I pull into the WMA to do a little fishing to clear the head today and get about half way back which is roughly 3 miles from the Ranger station check in, and hear a big loud pop and ping right as a get to the top of a nice little hill climb. So i stop and pull off to the side and go under to see what happened....well i notice the drive shaft isn't sitting right near the rear flange. The smart guy that I am, i carry spares and basic tools every where. After 1 hour of beating it to death trying to get it out I finally won and here was my prize

Needless to say :yikes: All I could think was thank god this didn't happen at 70 Mph on the way here or home.

But for a still OEM U Joint from 98 that lasted pretty good. Heres to another hopeful 13 yrs from an After-market precision auto U-joint.

Thought I would just share my day today.

Cheers guys/gals

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Ouch! That was likely showing some symptoms of wear before hand, given how much material is missing its likely been worn out for a bit. Notice any unusual sounds or vibrations lately? Do any damage to the yoke ears?

 

[tacoma_AL]

Thats what I started thinking but it never threw off any bad Vibrations or sounds. The ears were fine too so I believe the damage was contained just to the Joint itself

 

[Antichrist]

Was it a sealed u-joint? I'm assuming it was.
If the replacement is greasable, the service interval is every 5k miles for normal service. I do them with every oil change which is about 3k.
Also, I commonly read people saying "a couple shots of grease". It's actually "pump until you see new grease coming from around all 4 seals".

 

[ywen]

I've heard both ways - pump just a little bit vs pump until the new grease comes out..

Which is it!?

 

[bigwapitijohnny]

Good thing, really...

GLAD that you are safe...Sorry to hear that it happened...

Regards,

BWJ

 

[tacoma_AL]

AnitChrist - no it was a greasable unit, probably just 13yrs of driving was the limit for it.

ywen - i usually pump it until grease comes out of ALL 4 caps and wipe off the excess grease. Or what i can, otherwise you end up with a nice lil tiger strip on the underside of the truck

BWJ - yea I've seen what can happen first hand following a Cruiser to the trail head, caused him to get a lil sideways trying to pull over to the side and had a pucker moment :Wow1:

 

[Antichrist]

I've heard both ways - pump just a little bit vs pump until the new grease comes out..

Which is it!?

Until new grease comes out from around all 4 seals.
There are two reasons for lubing u-joints. One, of course, is to make sure it's lubed. The other is to purge them of any contaminates and old dried grease. The only way to achieve that for each journal is to grease until you see new grease coming from around all 4 seals. Sometimes this can mean a lot of pumping in of grease.

The people who say "just a couple of pumps" usually are operating under the mistaken belief that you will "blow the seals" if you grease them too much. That's not possible since the seals are designed to allow you to purge the u-joints. I have very occasionally seen the seal unseat, but all you have to do is take your finger and push it back in place.