U-joints keep going bad..
U-joints keep going bad.. I pull my driveshaft to do a gear swap and one of the caps fall off the u-joint. I look inside and all of the needle bearings are gone. They have ALL been ate up. What could be causing this? I have been through about 4 u-joints now. Could it be the yoke?
Launching!
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 241
Likes: 0
From: Mead, WA
What brand of u joint - Precision I would guess? Precision needle bearings are very weak.....
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12 Second Club
iTrader: (4)
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,712
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From: Between Bowling Green/Owensboro
Well I got my car up on a 4 post lift. We ended up adjusting the LCAs to move the rearend back so we could adjust the pinion accordingly. My driveshaft had absolutely no room to move on the old settings. Now it has about a 1/2 -3/4 of an inch of room. Im thinking that was the reason behind the u-joints going bad..
I was running a car with U Bolts. It would always eat the needle bearings with Spicer U Joints.
I replaced the U Bolts with those thick aluminum 'u joint girdles' as they call them, it solved the problem.
Launching!
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 241
Likes: 0
From: Mead, WA
Otherwise they will squash the caps, cause the dang things to run hot and purge all of the grease faster. Straps you can torque down... Or girddles... im surprised that nobody besides shoemike has pointed out that THIS ^^^^ is why you are burning up your u-joint. for a car that is driven on the street frequently it should not be set any further than -2 or even -1.... i run -2 and have to swap my u-joint every 6 months. and i only drive the car on the weekends. and like others have stated if you have also over tightened your u-bolts that will contribute to it.
When you change the U-joints, how are you doing it? If you hammer on the driveshaft welds to remove the U-joints, you can bend the driveshaft a very small amount which will cause this problem.
The racecar I drove two years ago kept destroying needle bearings. The car would get this strange vibrating sensation. When I took the driveshaft out to change the U-joints, I noticed the previous owner had done what I mentioned above. The only was to fix it was to get a new driveshaft, and that cured the problem.
The racecar I drove two years ago kept destroying needle bearings. The car would get this strange vibrating sensation. When I took the driveshaft out to change the U-joints, I noticed the previous owner had done what I mentioned above. The only was to fix it was to get a new driveshaft, and that cured the problem.
